Bosnia and Montenegro to Sign Border Deal

Bosnia's Council of Ministers - the government - was due to ratify a draft agreement on the border with Montenegro on Thursday.

Bosnia's Minister of Civil Affairs, Sredoje Novic, confirmed that all activities towards reaching an agreement on the border between the two neighbours were now finished.

Novic said the two countries would soon sign a agreement that will finally determine the exact border after the last disputed piece of territory was demarcated.

Podgorica has authorized Interior Minister Rasko Konjevic to sign the deal for Montenegro.

Bosnia and Montenegro have been negotiating a border agreement for almost four years. The dispute in the 268km-long border centred on the zone between the eastern Bosnian town of Foca and the Montenegrin town of Pljevlja.

"We have now reached the final stage of the ratification process. Bosnia and Montenegro will be the first [states in former Yugoslavia] to resolve the border issue," Bosnian media cited Novic as saying.

The EU has praised Montenegro for its policy of fostering good neighbourly relations. However, the most recent European Commission progress report, published last October, noted that Montenegro had yet to complete the border demarcation process with Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia.