Minister without portfolio in the Government of Serbia Đorđe Milićević signed 13 contracts in Banja Luka on financial support for projects aimed at "strengthening Serbian national and cultural identity" in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its entity Republika Srpska.
The financial support amounts to 79 million dinars (675 thousand euros), the Government of Serbia announced.
The contracts were signed at a meeting of Milićević with representatives of "Serbian associations and non-governmental organizations from the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina".
The announcement states that "the largest part of the funds is intended for the purchase of equipment for cultural and artistic societies, textbooks and reading materials for Serbian supplementary schools, as well as sports equipment for Serbian clubs in the diaspora."
After signing the contract, Milićević said that "the national interests and goals of the Serbian people in the 21st century are peace, stability, economy and, above all, unity."
He stated that as part of the "All-Serbian Assembly", which was held on June 8 in Belgrade, he signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of the Republic of Srpska, which entails "strengthening the existing and creating even stronger ties between the motherland and Serbs living outside Serbia".
"I always say that the Drina was never the river that separated Serbia and the Republika Srpska, but the backbone that unites Serbia and the Republika Srpska," Milićević said.
At the extraordinary session, which began on July 23, the Assembly of Serbia is debating the "Declaration on the Protection of National and Political Rights and the Common Future of the Serbian People", which was previously adopted by the Government of Serbia.
In the document, which was previously confirmed in the Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, it is stated, among other things, that the Serbian people represent a unique entity.
The adoption of this document was condemned by, among others, the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Bećirović and Željko Komšić, as well as the European Union and the United States of America.
After the "All-Serbian Assembly" in Belgrade, the State Department called on political leaders in the region to "make better use of their meetings in order to promote regional stability and reconciliation."
The European Union said that the sovereignty, territorial integrity, constitutional order and international identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be violated and that any action against these principles will lead to serious consequences.
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