The Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia has been donating books from Republic of Srpska publishers to libraries in Serbia for eight years. About 10,000 books have been donated so far, and today books from the Republic of Srpska were delivered to the Jovan Popović Library in Kikinda.

Before that, the President of the municipality of Kikinda, Nikola Lukač, received a delegation of the Republic of Srpska Representation in Serbia, headed by Mlađen Cicović, head of the Representation.

In addition to Cicović, the delegation of the Republic of Srpska Representation in Serbia included Borislav Maksimović, independent expert associate for development and improvement of cooperation in education, culture and art, and Anja Vukelić, independent expert associate for development and improvement of information cooperation and cooperation with international and non-governmental organizations. In addition to Lukač, the Kikinda party included Dijana Jakšić Kiurski, Deputy Mayor of Kikinda, Milena Živkov, member of the Council in charge of culture and education, Borislav Stojisavlјević, representative of Krajina all-around, Ognjen Jovanić, representative of Krajina all-around, Goja Rodić, president of the local community Banatsko Veliko Selo.

With words of welcome, Lukač said:

– The city of Kikinda has unbreakable ties with the Republic of Srpska and will continue to maintain and improve relations and ties with all cities in Srpska.
Mlađen Cicović and Nikola Lukač spoke about permanent cooperation of the municipality of Kikinda with the Republic of Srpska Representation in Serbia and agreed to include Kikinda in the big event Days of Srpska in Serbia, organized by the Representation every year, as well as in other events organized by the Representation within its ongoing work on cooperation between Srpska and Serbia, to the extent deemed fit by Kikinda. Naturally, economic cooperation was discussed, as well as cooperation in other areas.

The delegation was also warmly welcomed in the Jovan Popović Library, which became richer today by 250 books by publishers from the Republic of Srpska. – We stand ready to provide the library in Kikinda with any title from the Republic of Srpska that it needs and currently lacks. We also want to jointly organize literary evenings and meetings of writers and other artists and thus contribute to the preservation of our culture, tradition, our language and script. We are a single ethnic space and the most important thing is that there is shared readiness to work on preserving the national identity of our people, by granting that right to all other peoples, because there is no future if we are not all happy in this region. In every part of Serbia, we feel as both guests and hosts, so we say that we are in charge of cooperation between us on that side of the Drina with us on this side – said on that occasion Mlađen Cicović, head of the Representation of Srpska in Serbia.

The director of the Jovan Popović Library, Brane Marijanović, announced that this institution would also receive books for blind and partially sighted people.

– We will try to apply the experiences of the Republic of Srpska organization which has worked hard to enable visually impaired people to become involved in libraries in an adequate way. Also, we want to promote writers from Srpska here, as well as to present our authors to them – stated Marijanović.

The connection of the Republic of Srpska with Kikinda has always been unbreakable, and preservation of culture is only one in a series of priorities of the city of Kikinda. The Kikinda library plans to implement several projects in the field of cultural cooperation, with special focus on marginal groups in our society.

The delegation visited and became acquainted with the potentials of Banatsko Veliko Selo, a place inhabited mostly by colonists after the Second World War, and today a beautiful rural community for good life. The village has a Heritage House dedicated to the area from which the locals came, very good sports facilities, a stadium, a green oasis and a swimming pool.

– That children from the cities of the Republic of Srpska come to Kikinda, stay here and become acquainted with the mentality and way of life in Kikinda, but naturally that our children also go to the Republic of Srpska and learn customs and what life is like there – said Nikola Lukač, Mayor of Kikinda.

Banatsko Veliko Selo, as well as other communities in the city of Kikinda, abounds in offers from all areas of our society. The combining of nature and culture symbolically creates an even stronger connection between the two same peoples on both sides of the Drina.

Source and photo: Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia