08.06.2024.
Governments of Serbia, Republika Srpska hold joint session
As part of the All-Serb Assembly under the slogan "One People, One Gathering - Serbia and Srpska", the governments of the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska have held a joint session at the Palace of Serbia, with President Aleksandar Vučić, President Milorad Dodik and His Holiness Porfirije, Serbian Patriarch, in attendance.
Minister of Defence Bratislav Gašić has also attended the joint session of the two governments.
During the session, the governments of Serbia and Republika Srpska adopted the Declaration on the Protection of National and Political Rights and the Joint Future of the Serbian People.According to President Vučić, Serbia and Srpska have never broken the agreement reached 10 years ago, despite the difference of opinion between them.
- Dodik said an important thing that we agreed on 10 years ago, analysing all our mistakes from the past. Ten years ago, we made our first agreement that we have never broken, namely, that the relations between Serbia and Srpska must not be affected by our potential differences in views on things, or opinions on certain issues - emphasized President Vučić.According to him, the declaration adopted today deals with Kosovo and Metohija, compliance with resolution 1244, but also with dialogue as the ultimate solution to the dispute between us and the Albanians and sticking to the agreement.
- We have agreed to Republika Srpska’s demands, because we are obliged to do so, there were things I was not fully informed about, but I accepted them along with Ana, Miloš and other members of the Government, because the people of Republika Srpska understand their problems better than we do - said President Vučić.According to him, difficult days are ahead of us primarily because of what is happening in Europe and the rest of the world.
- If you take a look at Europe and the USA, they cannot allow Russia to win, and Russia cannot allow to lose the war. And that leads us to a global catastrophe. That is why the preservation of peace is our vital interest. We were attacked, persecuted, we lost many people in the First World War, and in the Second World War as well. The anti-fascist movements in the former Yugoslavia consisted mainly of Serbs - said President Vučić and added that "by safeguarding peace, we build the future".
Memorial centres will be built in Donja Gradina and Belgrade, and there were times when we erected walls along the Drina River, he recalled.
- I don’t need to remind you that we were often ashamed of our people from Krajina, to whom we denied access to our cities and only permitted them to move along the highways, or that we always have something to say to those living on the other side of the Drina - said President Vučić. He is proud of being born in Belgrade but he has never claimed that he was better than anyone else because of that, he said, adding that his origins lie on the other side of the Drina.According to President Vučić, the Serbian national interests lies in the economy, without which neither the Cyrillic alphabet nor the Serbian language can be preserved.
- The Serbian national interest we have talked about today, insufficiently I would say, is the economy. We have named it EXPO 27. Economy is the essence and the first line of national security. Economic progress is of vital importance and it gives us strength - said the president.Serbia is under great pressure regarding the membership of the so-called Kosovo in the Council of Europe, President Vučić said adding that Priština has not fulfilled any of its obligations stipulated in either the Brussels or Ohrid agreements.
- At the same time, there is the adoption of the resolution on Srebrenica, which we agree was the place where the most horrible and gruesome events happened, which we fiercely condemn, but we have never got an answer to one question. If in 2015 a general resolution was adopted on genocide committed in all parts of the world, why did this specific resolution have to be passed eight or nine years later - the president said. He hasn’t even got an answer to the question of whether the resolution on Srebrenica has brought about peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina or in the region, he said, stressing that the resolution has brought "joy to some, and anger and rage to others".
According to President Vučić, Serbia must be open to dialogue with everyone, and the declaration clearly talks about the European perspective.- Like it or not, we have to collaborate with our partners in the West, because people will be asking for their salaries tomorrow and demanding their place in the modern world, and they will be surprised if we are unable to provide them with either - said the president. In the declaration itself, he added, there is a point dealing with the preservation of our traditional friendships, which we have always been able to cultivate, even in the most difficult times.
The region needs peace, President Vučić said.
- The declaration says nothing about separation. I'm asking you to think hard about how desperately we all need peace. I told Mile, I know that there are lots of loudmouths and people who make drunken vows in pubs. As well as those who lectured me about “Serbhood”, and when I brought the Serbian flag to the UN, they asked me to take it out, because it is forbidden to bring it in - said President Vučić, stressing that Serbia will "never leave Republika Srpska in the lurch".
In his speech at the joint session of the two governments, President of Republika Srpska Dodik said that the Declaration is the key national document.
- It has offered solutions to many challenges, it has provided us with answers about what we should do now, but in the future as well. This declaration will be adopted and confirmed by the national assemblies of the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska, and will become the property of every single citizen of our two countries - said Dodik.
He stressed the importance of pursuing a clear national policy.- Serbia and Serbs are recovering their strength. At this national assembly, we want to firmly say that we are members of one nation and that this is a legal, legitimate political definition, that we are not members of any territorial or other entities, that the Serbs who live in Montenegro, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and everywhere else are Serbian people, that they are neither Montenegrin nor Bosnian, and we must strongly promote that - said President Dodik.
As part of the All-Serb Gathering, several protocols and memoranda of cooperation were signed between the governments of Serbia and Srpska in the fields of culture, education, agriculture, trade, tourism, family care and diaspora.
Also, a series of meetings between businessmen and representatives of various associations and cultural institutions of Serbia and Srpska were held.
