SARAJEVO, July 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The presidents of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia on Monday, July 15, voiced their commitment to launching a new era of stronger ties between their countries, still bearing the scars of the bloody 1990s war.

In a final declaration at their first summit since the end of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, the Balkans leaders stressed their will “to open a new period in ties between the three countries and in the region,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The future, it said would be “characterized by a general orientation towards European integration” and determination to continue on the path of democracy and the rule of law.

The statement was signed by Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Croatian counterpart Stipe Mesic and the members of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, Muslim Beriz Belkic, Serb Zivko Radisic and Croat Jozo Krizanovic, amid heavy security measures.

They also emphasized the importance of good relations between countries in the volatile Balkans region, saying they were the “only basis on which it is possible to build and maintain the stability of the region.”

“We have clearly stated that borders are not to be changed,” Mesic told a press conference after the signing ceremony.

It was stressed that “in order to burry illusions of all those who though that a Greater Serbia and Greater Croatia could be created at the expense of Bosnia-Hercegovina,” Mesic added, referring to political and territorial aspirations of former nationalist regimes in Bosnian neighborhood during the country’s 1992-95 war.

The presidents also pledged full cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, a willingness to facilitate the return of refugees and to cooperate in all other areas, AFP said.

Presidents called upon their respective governments to take further steps on the basis of the declaration.

There is a need to tackle the issue of nearly 430,000 refugees in the region “trilaterally, with synchronized actions by the three states,” Belkic said.

During the talks Bosnia “demanded from its neighbors not to support political options which advocate division” of the country, Belkic said, referring to Bosnian Serb and Croat hardliners still strong in the Bosnian political scene.

Bosnia also urged Croatia and Yugoslavia to support the creation of federal systems of communications, intelligence, education and military force.

The 1995 Dayton peace accord split Bosnia into highly independent entities, The Serb’s Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat federation, linked with weak central institutions.

The summit was the first since the talks in Dayton, Ohio, where the then presidents of the republics that once made up Communist Yugoslavia came under heavy international pressure to end Bosnia’s war, AFP said.

Kostunica said that “such trilateral meetings should continue to be held in the future.”

The post-war leaders of Yugoslavia and Croatia faced a demand from Bosnian Muslim public to apologize for wartime atrocities, but the issue was not discussed at all.

Belgrade-backed Bosnian Serbs fought Muslim-led government troops in Sarajevo, while Bosnian Croat forces, who had earlier formed an alliance with the Muslims, turned against them in 1993 and 1994, with the backing of Zagreb.

Croatia was also engulfed in war with rebel ethnic Serbs, backed by Belgrade.

The last trilateral talks among the presidents of the three Balkan countries brought together then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnia’s Alija Izetbegovic and Croatia’s late autocratic ruler Franjo Tudjman.

Milosevic is now on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on more than 60 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Tudjman died in December 1999, while Izetbegovic stepped down last year as the Muslim member of the Bosnian presidency and head of his nationalist Muslim Party of Democratic Action.

Relations between the three Balkans countries remained tense until moderate leaders started taking power in 2000.

After Milosevic was ousted in October 2000, Sarajevo established diplomatic relations with the new reformist Yugoslav authorities.

But the lawsuit Bosnia filed against Yugoslavia for genocide and aggression before the International Court of Justice in 1993 still clouds relations.

The suit was not discussed during the summit, Belkic said.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Yugoslavia and Croatia faced a demand from Bosnian Muslims to apologize for wartime atrocities as they met their Bosnian counterparts on Monday.

The nationalist wartime governments in Belgrade and Zagreb are accused of backing Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat troops who persecuted Bosnian Muslims during the conflicts.

The massacre of more than 7,500 Muslims in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serbs in 1995 is considered to be Europe’s worst single atrocity since World War II.

Beriz Belkic, the Muslim member of Bosnia’s tripartite Muslim-Serb-Croat presidency, told Sarajevo daily newspaper, Dnevni Avaz, an apology from Belgrade and Zagreb was “absolutely necessary”, although he recognized it was not likely to come soon.