BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Yugoslavia and Bosnia established diplomatic ties today, eight years after Bosnia seceded from the former Yugoslavia in a bloody ethnic war.
"We are leaving difficult years behind us," Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said after a signing ceremony with his Bosnian counterpart, Jadranko Prlic. "We have to turn to the future."
Bosnia became the last of the four former republics that seceded from Yugoslavia in the 1990s to establish ties with Belgrade. Bosnian Serb troops launched a war in 1992 trying to prevent Bosnia's split from Yugoslavia.
Prlic said that the diplomatic agreement "creates conditions for wars to become unthinkable in the future." Relations between the two countries "will be open, honest and equal," he said.
The 1995 Dayton peace agreement ending the conflict, also signed by Yugoslavia, ordered both countries to recognize each other's borders and establish diplomatic relations.
But the regime of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had insisted that Bosnia first drop charges of aggression and claims of war reparations against Yugoslavia at the World Court. Bosnia said the country will continue pressing those charges despite the diplomatic ties.
Both countries still have to appoint ambassadors and to work out agreements on trade, traffic and customs.
"Yugoslavia will guarantee Bosnia's territorial integrity but will also insist on special relations with Republika Srpska," Svilanovic said, referring to the Serb entity within Bosnia.
He also said the two countries and Croatia should organize a trilateral conference to discuss the return of refugees.
Milosevic's regime had insisted that present-day Yugoslavia — now made up of Serbia and Montenegro — should be considered the only successor to the old federation's assets, a claim the other four ex-Yugoslav countries have fiercely disputed.
Milosevic's successor, Vojislav Kostunica, had dropped that claim, paving the way for mutual recognition. Svilanovic said that issues of succession and ownership would remain open and subject to further talks.
Slovenia and Yugoslavia established diplomatic ties Dec. 9, Croatia and Yugoslavia in 1996. Macedonia, the only ex-republic to break away peacefully, agreed to formal ties with Belgrade in 1994.
Both Bosnia and Slovenia stand much to gain by closer ties with Yugoslavia, whose 10 million people represent a potentially strong market for their products.