Montenegrin Agriculture Minister Milutin Simovic and his Croatian counterpart Petar Cobankovic signed an agreement in Cavtat on 27 July according to which Montenegro will pay Croatia about $450,000 for 650 cows taken by Montenegrin paramilitaries and reservists from a farm in Konavle near Dubrovnik in 1991.

 President Stipe Mesic of Croatia and his Montenegrin counterpart Filip Vujanovic watched the signing of the document, which is the first compensation agreement between two former Yugoslav republics dealing with damages from the conflicts of the 1990s. In June 2000, Milo Djukanovic, who was then Montenegrin president, apologized to "all citizens of Croatia and especially of Dubrovnik...for all the pain and suffering and material losses inflicted by Montenegrins" during the Belgrade-led campaign against Croatia in 1991 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 June 2005). At that time, Montenegrin irregulars burned and looted properties in the Konavle, Cavtat, and Dubrovnik areas. A well-publicized photo appeared in newspapers around the world showing apparently drunken Montenegrin fighters carrying photos of their national heroes and enjoying the proceeds from looting the duty-free shop at Dubrovnik airport.