Sweden has invited the prime ministers of Slovenia and Croatia to Stockholm on Wednesday to sign a border agreement between the two countries.

The meeting follows a decision on Monday by the Croatian parliament to back an arbitration deal with Slovenia, helping efforts to remove a major obstacle to Croatia's attempt to join the European Union.

Sweden, which holds the presidency of the European Union, said in a statement late on Tuesday that Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt had invited his Slovenian and Croatian counterparts, Borut Pahor and Jadranka Kosor, to the meeting.

EU member Slovenia blocked Croatia's EU talks last December because of unresolved borders. In September, it lifted a veto and allowed Zagreb to resume membership talks after the two prime ministers agreed to resort to international arbitration.

The dispute involves a sliver of land on the Istrian peninsula in the northern Adriatic and demands by Slovenia -- squeezed between Italy and Croatia -- to have direct access to international waters, which could force Croatia to cede some of the sea it sees as its own.