– These are good Belgradians, who have made a great contribution to the development of our city. Given that Belgrade is the capital of all Serbs, it is very important that our people organize themselves and nurture ties from the areas of their origin – he said.

According to him, that will provide an additional contribution to the special ties nurtured by Serbia and Republic of Srpska, based on the Dayton Agreement.

– If we do not take care of each other, others will not take care of us – he said.

The president of the newly founded association, Vinko Pandurević, said that one of the goals of Romanija was to achieve best possible cooperation with the city and municipal authorities of Belgrade, as well as with the leadership of municipalities in the homeland, and stressed that the association would be open to all.

– We will model our work on the libertarian spirit and entrepreneurship of our homeland ancestors, who, above all, valued freedom and justice and their people of both the old and new times, as well as the libertarian spirit of the Serbian people as a whole – said Pandurević.

He noted that for many decades, people from the Sarajevo-Romanija region had lived in Serbia, tied their destiny with Serbia and made significant contribution to the development of society, but also maintained ties with their homeland.

– The second and third generation born in Serbia has its homeland and place of birth which is far from the homeland of their parents and grandparents. That is why we have gathered here to do everything to establish a strong thread of connection of all generations living in Serbia with the Sarajevo-Romanija region and the homeland of our fathers – he said.

The head of the Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia, Mlađen Cicović, extended his congratulations on the founding of the association, which, as he said, offered another space for the Representation to work very successfully on encouraging and strengthening ties between Srpska and Serbia and give full contribution to preserving the national identity.

He noted that the association would be supported in implementing all program activities, and above all in maintaining the connection with the homeland, promoting their homeland in an environment where they had permanently decided to live and contribute to the development of Serbia.

The mayor of Istočno Sarajevo, Ljubiša Ćosić, expressed his belief that the association would achieve its goals, and noted that the circumstances had made Romanijans leave the area en masse, causing a large number of them to live in Belgrade today.

He emphasized that, according to the 1991 census, 156,000 Serbs were living in Sarajevo which was the second most Serb-populated city after Belgrade.

– Today, Istočno Sarajevo with its 65,000 inhabitants, as the only city consisting of municipalities, is a bulwark of the Republic of Srpska. We are not asking for help, we have come to tell you that we feel you as our citizens. You are welcome there, whether coming to visit your homeland for a while or on some other occasion. We are stronger together – he said.

He stressed the desire for Istočno Sarajevo and the Republic of Srpska to grow and achieve cooperation with all people from that area.

The mayor of Sokolac, Milovan Bjelica, said that citizens of that part of the Republic of Srpska were particularly attached to Serbia ‘because if it were not for Serbia, they would have been treated as a rebel tribe.’

He pointed out that he was looking forward to every kind of cooperation, and that he expected new projects from tomorrow’s session of the Government of Serbia and Government of the Republic of Srpska, and added that Sokolac had projects and a development strategy and needed support.

Today’s founding assembly of the association Romanija in Belgrade was also attended by the heads of the municipalities of Rogatica - Milorad Jagodić, Han Pjesak - Slobodan Đurić, Pale - Boško Jugović, a member of the Serbian National Assembly, Svetozar Andrić, and many others.

The Association of Romanijans in Belgrade existed before, but it has been inactive for years.