The Minister of Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska, Prof. Siniša Karan, PhD, said in Belgrade that he was proud of the Republic of Srpska’s appearance at the 68th International Book Fair, and that Srpska’s publishing industry was growing.

‘This is a major international fair of the written word, a manifestation of our culture, knowledge and science, and this should be emphasized in particular for several reasons,’ said Minister Karan after visiting the stands of publishers from the Republic of Srpska.

He stated that the publishing industry of the Republic of Srpska was on the rise, growing, and manifesting the progress and quality that cooperation with Serbia has given Srpska, allowing it to achieve great goals in this domain.

‘In any case, this is the promotion of our common identity of the Serbian people wherever they live, which is strongly manifested through the written word, culture, science and other things,’ said Minister Karan.

He noted that cooperation between the Republic of Srpska and Serbia had been intensive since 2006, when special and parallel ties were established, the backbone of which had been and remained culture, science and knowledge.

Minister Karan also pointed out the importance of the period after adoption of the Declaration on the Protection of National and Political Rights and the Common Future of the Serbian People at the All-Serbian Assembly.

‘I emphasize this in particular because it was precisely there that we recognized that our greatest bond, the recognizability of the Serbian people and Serbian identity, wherever Serbs live, and especially here, conditionally speaking, on both banks of the Drina, is precisely culture, the written word, knowledge, science, scientific thought,’ Karan said.

He stated that he wanted to articulate and affirm this political and national entity finally, to the point that Serbian identity would be fully recognized precisely through the written word.

‘We will do many good things in this way. First of all, we will raise the quality of our overall education, primary, secondary and higher,’ he said.

He added that one of these tangible manifestations of Serbian science, knowledge, culture, and identity could be seen on that day at the Belgrade Book Fair.

The Minister added that he had visited several exhibitors from the Republic of Srpska at the Fair, including stands of the Republic of Srpska, the Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids, the Andrić Institute, the Universities of Istočno Sarajevo and Banja Luka, the Center for Socio-Political Research of the Republic of Srpska, etc.

He thanked the Head of the Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia, Mlađen Cicović, and the Director of the Center for Socio-Political Research, Dušan Pavlović, for everything they had organized all these years.

Source and photo: Republic of Srpska Government