Slovenia agreed on Friday to unblock Croatia's EU membership talks following an agreement between the prime ministers of the two countries to solve the border dispute before Croatia's EU accession.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said in the capital Ljubljana that the two prime ministers had reached an agreement to unblock Croatia's EU talks, the Slovenian news agency STA reported.

Under the agreement between the prime ministers of Slovenia and Croatia, Borut Pahor and Jadranka Kosor, Croatia has for the first time agreed to have its European Union accession process tied to the settlement of the border dispute between the two countries.

Speaking to the press after the talks in Ljubljana, both prime ministers hailed the deal as a mutual success and a new chapter in bilateral relations, stressing it respected the interests of both countries.

Pahor told the press that Kosor sent a document to the Swedish EU presidency Friday stating that no document Croatia had sent to the EU as part of accession talks was prejudicial to the border with Slovenia.

Kosor wrote that no document or act from the period after June 25, 1991 (when both countries went independent from Yugoslavia) "has any legal effect at any arbitration court nor prejudges the outcome of any procedure."

The Swedish presidency was also informed that the border dispute will be resolved through international arbitration as proposed by the European Commission.

The European Union, which had tried for six months to mediate in the dispute but with little success, has said it was up to Zagreb and Ljubljana to find a solution in direct talks.

The border in the northern Adriatic bay of Piran was the major cause of the row between the two neighboring countries since their break from Yugoslavia in 1991. The row reached a peak late last year when Slovenia blocked Croatia's EU accession talks.

In the document to the Swedish presidency Croatia also pledged to settle the border issue so that a manner in which it will be settled is agreed upon before the Slovenian parliament votes on Croatia's EU accession treaty, according to Pahor.

In turn, the Slovenian government will ask the parliamentary foreign policy and EU affairs committees to authorize it to withdraw Slovenia's reservations towards Croatia's EU integration.

If both committees back such a decision, Croatia will be able to resume its accession talks with the EU, with talks on the bilateral border dispute resuming at the same time, according to Pahor.

Kosor said the Swedish presidency was also urged to call an intergovernmental conference for Croatia. She believes it would be called by the end of September.

Late on Friday, Zbogar presented details of the agreement at a joint meeting of the Slovenian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee and European Affairs Committee, which ended late in the afternoon.

Addressing reporters after the closed-door meeting, Zbogar said that the two committees were expected to approve the agreement next week.

Source: Xinhua