"I cannot attend that inauguration for the reasons I have already given," Josipovic told the press in Zagreb on Wednesday after his talks with Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, who arrived in Zagreb for her first official visit to Croatia.

The relations between Croatia and Serbia are increasingly better and I would like to see the continuation of this trend of good relations, the Croatian president added.

In his previous statements Josipovic said that the further cooperation between Croatia and Serbia cannot depend on the good political will of only one side, as partnership required the two sides.

"I have clearly said that the new Serbian President (Tomislav Nikolic) should show by action that he embraces the highest European values on which we want to build our bilateral relations. Unfortunately, the views he has advocated to date and which he has reiterated in his recent public addresses including his statement about Vukovar having been a Serb town and denying genocide in Srebrenica are far from the European values," the Croatian president said in his interview with the Turkish Anadolu news agency.