Organized by the Dobrica Erić Association for the Defense of the Cyrillic Alphabet in cooperation with the Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia, under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and with the support of longtime friends, the 26th Meetings of Serbian Countries started on 7 April 2023 in the Rajska dolina hotel in Jahorina, under the slogan Faith and unity - our strength.

With a musical welcome started the selection of the most beautiful song for the title first voice of the Meetings, where Vanja Tošić and Anastasija Vučurović won.

The Director General of the Republic of Srpska University Clinical Center, prof. Vlado Đajić, MD, Ph.D., attended the opening of the event.

On 8 April 2023, a solo concert by Srbski pravoslavni pojci from Belgrade and Kosovski božur cultural and artistic society from Kosovska Mitrovica was held before Istočno Sarajevo audience.

Srbski pravoslavni pojci performed three blocks of songs – spiritual, national and ethnic – from all areas inhabited by Serbs, from Kosovo and Metohija to the Republic of Srpska.

On behalf of the Kosovski božur cultural and artistic society, Tijana Nikolić thanked for the warm welcome considering that they were performing for the first time in Istočno Sarajevo.

A giant slalom competition was held today on the Poljice run in Jahorina within the Meetings of Serbian Countries. Rajko Lukić came first in the senior competition.

In a statement to journalists, Lukić expressed his satisfaction for participating in the sports part of the event, aimed to best contribute to the preservation of ties between the Republic of Srpska and Serbia and the preservation of the identity of the Serbian people through sports gatherings and meaningful programs.

On 9 April 2023, the cultural and artistic societies Gradimir from Belgrade, Srpski vez from Kumanovo and Veselin Masleša from Banja Luka performed before the audience in Pale.

The Head of Pale municipality, Boško Jugović, said that the Meetings of Serbian Countries was a magnificent event organized under the auspices of the Republic of Srpska Representation in Serbia and this year also the President of Srpska, Milorad Dodik.

Nemanja Knežević from the Banja Luka ensemble Veselin Masleša said that this was their second participation in this event.

‘We want to show our youth that the culture and tradition of our people is the most beautiful thing that we need to cultivate and preserve’, he added.

A Serbian kolo was organized as part of the Meetings of Serbian Countries event.

This year’s participants in the event come from Belgrade, Kosovska Mitrovica, Banja Luka and Kumanovo in North Macedonia.

The first Meetings were organized in 1995 and since then, with cultural, sports and humanitarian events, they have been gathering Serbs from the region and the diaspora, with the idea of friendship and preservation of culture, tradition, customs and the Cyrillic alphabet, thus contributing to the creation of close ties among Serbs.

Source: Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia

Photo: RTV (Srđan Ristić)