The Minister of European Integration and International Cooperation of the Republic of Srpska, Zlatan Klokić, said that 9 January, the Day of the Republic of Srpska would be traditionally celebrated also abroad.

– The celebration is planned for 8 February in Stuttgart, and I would like to thank the Representative Office of the Republic of Srpska in Germany, which was the first to organize the celebration of the Republic Day outside our borders – said Klokić.

He stated that the celebration of the Day of the Republic and the day of the adoption of the first Constitution of the Republic of Srpska would be held on 27 February in Belgrade, and in early March in Vienna, and that activities would continue everywhere where the Republic of Srpska has its Representative Office.

– The event has been held for several years, and it sends a message of unity, assembly and togetherness, and this is a way to preserve identity, language, culture and connection with the motherland – said Klokić.

He recalled that the Republic of Srpska had been created in peace and that our people protected it even beyond the borders of the Republic of Srpska.

The Minister announced the planned Back to Srpska project focusing on young professionals who completed their education abroad and want and intend to return to the Republic of Srpska. The project will provide institutional and any other support for returning to the Republic of Srpska.

The Minister stated that, based on the collected data, nearly a thousand people had returned to the Republic of Srpska from abroad in the previous year. The reasons for the return are patriotic, changes in Europe in the last few years, the way of life in the Republic of Srpska; and those who have returned say they have taken the right step.

The Minister announced the Strategy for Cooperation with the Diaspora aimed at improving cooperation, the institutions of the Republic of Srpska responding adequately to the demands of the diaspora, our institutions being proactive, the diaspora being more involved in the adoption of all those documents that will be of mutual interest, and the diaspora taking a more significant part in economic flows in the Republic of Srpska.

The ninth of January is celebrated as the Day of the Republic of Srpska, which was founded on that date in 1992 under the original name of the Republic of the Serbian People in BiH.

The name Republic of the Serbian People in BiH had been in use until 28 February 1992 and promulgation of the first Constitution, when it was replaced by the Serbian Republic of BiH, in use until 12 August 1992, when the Serbian Republic was introduced. In September 1992, that name was replaced by the current one – the Republic of Srpska.

This year’s Republic Day, 9 January, is celebrated under the slogan Living Hearth.

Source: Ministry of European Integration and International Cooperation – RTRS

Photo: RTRS