Pelješac Bridge

Marjan Pipenbaher, the chief designer of the Pelješac Bridge in Croatia, has been declared the Person of the Year by the newspaper Delo. One of the most renowned European bridge builders and designers, Pipenbaher has designed more than 200 brides and viaducts in Slovenia and abroad.

The Peljesac Bridge, linking Croatia's Peljesac peninsula with the rest of the country, was fully joined together on Wednesday night, with the installation of the last, 165th segment of its steel span.

Milorad Dodik, the Serbian member of the state presidency in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has called a session of parliament in Bosnia's Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska, where he will urge MPs to block a lawsuit against Croatia over the issue of the Peljesac Bridge.

In the same time, as he explained, Chairperson of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina "declares the construction of the Peljesac Bridge as Serbian national interest".
He wrote it on his Twitter page, on the occasion of Dodik deciding to call for the protection of vital entity interests, thereby preventing the dispute with Croatia over the construction of the Peljeac Bridge.

China pledged on Friday to increase trade with Central European countries and provide more financial support for major cross border infrastructure projects to promote regional cooperation.

The Adriatic city of Dubrovnik, Croatia's best-known tourist destination, on Thursday and Friday will host the 16 + 1 summit, a Chinese initiative to strengthen business ties between China and 16 countries from Central and Eastern Europe.

In an interview with Croatia's public broadcaster HRT, Zeljko Komsic said, a day after he was elected, that"Croatia had "twice broken a convention on the law of the sea."

Bosniak politicians in Bosnia have savaged Croatia for starting work on a controversial bridge in Dalmatia, calling the beginning of its construction on Monday an assault on Bosnia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and an act contrary to international law. 

Bosnian officials reacted angrily to Croatia's signing of a contract on Monday to build the Peljesac Bridge on the Adriatic Sea coast in Dubrovnik, arguing that Zagreb must resolve its outstanding sea border issues with Sarajevo first.

The decision was made by a state commission in charge of controlling public procurement procedures.

The commission rejected the appeals of Austria's Strabag and of the Italian-Turkish consortium Astaldi-Ictas , after more than two months spent analyzing the complaints, Zagreb-based daily Vecernji List said.