(ANSA) - LUBIANA - Unsuccessful meeting between Slovenia and Croatia to resolve the issue of the borders between the two countries, which took place in Ljubljana - attended by both ministers - ahead of the Trieste Summit on the Western Balkans.

''Slovenia is willing to talk, but intends to comply with the verdict issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague'', said Slovenia's Prime Minister Miro Cerar, at the press conference held after the meeting. Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic reiterated that Croatia ''does not recognise the Court's verdict, sharing the choice made by his predecessors (ex-premier Zoran Milanovi) to withdraw from the arbitration process'' after a telephone tapping in summer 2015 revealed unlawful co-operation between Slovenian court judge and the envoy from Ljubljana, Simona Drenik. Despite the cordial collaborative tone and the relaxed atmosphere of the talks, both parties are far from finding a solution, even though they remain open to further discussion.

Plenkovic invited Cerar to visit Zagreb, so as to continue the dialogue on this and all the other bilateral issues still open. The verdict issued on June 29 by the PCA has in fact ratified the land borders along the river Dragonja, as well as the sea borders, allocating almost the entire Piran Bay to Slovenia.

Thanks to a 10 nautical-mile long sea corridor (width, 2.5 miles), Slovenia will have direct access to international waters without passing through the Croatian ones, while Zagreb has lost direct contact with Italian waters, since in the rest of the Adriatic Sea the two countries are separated by international waters. (ANSA).