Although the Serbian community in Hungary is not numerous, it is very well organized and enjoys great institutional support from the Hungarian state, for which I am very grateful, said the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska Nenad Stevandić, who spoke in Budapest with the governing board of the Serb Self-Government in Hungary (SSM) about the position of the Serbian minority in Hungary and continuation of cultural cooperation.

The delegation of the SSM governing board consisted of the President Vera Pejić Sutor and Member of the Hungarian Parliament Ljubomir Aleksov.

‘Visits from the Republic of Srpska to Hungary are becoming more frequent and this strengthens the relationship between the two nations and two countries’, Stevandić said after the meeting and added that the Republic of Srpska participated actively in the development of the Serbian community in Hungary.

He said that there were Serbian schools in Hungary nurturing the Serbian language, history and tradition and that through the support of Hungarian institutions, the cooperation of the two nations was moving beyond the borders of Hungary, to Serbia and Republic of Srpska.

‘Hungary and the Republic of Srpska have great cooperation. And just as the Serbian and Hungarian governments have had the best relations in history in the last ten years, I expect that the time to come will be a time of even better relations between us, both institutionally and between the nations’, said Stevandić.

He noted his expectation for this relationship to be reflected also in stronger economic cooperation and reminded that Hungary had helped the Republic of Srpska by supporting farmers in machinery purchase.

The President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, Dr Nenad Stevandić, visited Nikola Tesla Serbian primary school and high school in Budapest and presented books to the school library on that occasion.

President Stevandić told the students and employees of the school to remain guardians of Serbian tradition and culture.

‘Our nation is great, because the same folklore is danced in all countries of the world, we pray the same in all churches and write in the same Cyrillic script. Our recognizability keeps us together and preserves our tradition, and that is what makes the greatness of our nation’, said Stevandić to the audience and thanked the school director and her colleagues for their efforts invested in educating students.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska presented the school with a gift – books from the Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids, with the donated books including also audio editions of the public institution Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired of the Republic of Srpska. The authors are native writers from the Republic of Srpska and Serbia presented in two editions Jedan pisac, jedna knjiga (One writer, one book) and Otrgnuti od zaborava (Torn from oblivion).

Source: INFO Drina – Banjaluka.net

Photo: RSNA