9 January 2021

Serbia loves, respects and supports the Republic of Srpska, it is bound to do so not only by a prevailing opinion of its citizens, but also by international law and the Dayton Peace Agreement, and as result it is Serbia's duty to take care of the Republic of Srpska, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said this evening.

"The Serbian people in the Republic of Srpska should be proud of what they have created. The Republic of Srpska can be dismantled and diluted only by the one who created it, because it is a historical and political factor and an unchangeable fact", Minister Selakovic said in a video message at the ceremony held in Banja Luka on the occasion of the Day of the Republic of Srpska.

The Serbian Foreign Minister pointed out that Serbia today still respects the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, like it did in the past, while "proudly safekeeping its special and parallel ties with the Republic of Srpska and the Serbian people there", and stressed that, in addition, Serbia strives and will strive to build good and quality relations with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and with the other two constituent peoples.

"Serbia wants to help our entire region, to become the engine of economic development, which will have the labels of conflicts and difficult past replaced with the attributes of joint and successful progress and a future worth working hard and dedicatedly for", Selakovic said.

He stated that the common goal should be to catch up to the developed world, those who progressed in all fields, while the peoples of this region were dealing with difficult and bloody conflicts, facing with the horrors of war and all the challenges they generated.

Minister Selakovic said that the aspiration towards a society of European values comes, among other things, as a result of the desire to make up for all consequences of those difficult times and that what we need are development ideas and opportunities "which we will not wait for, but create them ourselves", as well as energetic and vigorous, competent business people and investments - what we need to do is keep up with the rest of the world in terms of technology.

The Minister said that Serbia has shown that this is possible and that he is sure that the Republic of Srpska wants to fight to achieve the same, adding that he is also sure that this fight will be significantly easier for all in the future if we are aware that we are in it side by side.

"At no point on its path of development has Serbia given up on its values and its unique features. The Republic of Srpska should not do that either. And economic development is not an end in itself and a supreme good but a clear path to make the societies we live in better and more prosperous, so that our children do not go abroad in search of happiness, but remain among their own, in an environment that encourages values such as talent, innovation and wit", Selakovic said.

The top interest of the Serbian people in the period ahead, the Serbian Foreign Minister emphasized, is the fight to preserve peace and stability, and that, as he noted, needs to be our national project that we build as a nation. Serbia and the Republic of Srpska need to remain united in this endeavour, even when confronted in these efforts with those for whom those goals are not a priority.

"There is only one Serbian people and it is indivisible in terms of values, we are bound by our language, culture, history and tradition, St. Sava's legacy, heroic past, common ethics, love for freedom and our red-blue-white flag, and it is within these values that we need to identify the interest of the Serbian people in the years ahead", Minister Selakovic said.

He asked if you should be united just to clash with others, as some others have often done, or instead to show that it is possible to do good when you do it not only for your own sake, but also for the sake of everyone around you.

It is the latter, Selakovic points out, that was the guiding idea of generations of our ancestors who always saw fighting the good fight as the fight for the benefit of all around them, not just themselves, and that we as a nation demonstrated how important it is for us to protect the dignity of ancestors while fighting for the future in which our descendants will live.

"Globally speaking, we are not a large nation in terms of population, but just as Nikola Pasic once remarked - there is hardly a greater and more important people than ours all the way from Vienna to Constantinople. This is why we remain a significant regional factor, and our responsibility for the future is very important and substantial", Selakovic pointed out.

Looking back at the year of "great temptations and problems" behind us, Selakovic emphasized that it showed that we could only fight the pandemic by supporting each other and by fighting together, while not having offended, humiliated or done anyone wrong.

Selakovic wished the citizens of the Republic of Srpska that the years ahead for them be years of progress and success and victories, whose significance will be "measured by kilometers of highways, new schools, hospitals, factories".

He pointed out that Serbia and the Republic of Srpska should continue to live in harmony and love, and that no one should dare set up barriers and obstacles between us, where bridges and extended hands of brotherhood should stand.

"Dear brothers and sisters, esteemed citizens of the Republic of Srpska, as I congratulate you on the Republic Day, I wish you that this day, 9 January, every year ahead be the day when we summarize how much we have helped Srpska, all its citizens and all our people. May every year this summary be better and a matter of pride to all of us. I wish you a happy Republic Day! Long live Serbia! Long live Srpska!", Minister Selakovic said.

Source: Tanjug