The agreement on the establishment of cooperation between Istočno Sarajevo and Niš should be a type of bequest to future generations to not forget the brothers on the other side of the Drina and to do everything to preserve the identity of the Serbian people, said the Mayor of Niš, Dragana Sotirovski.

The agreement was signed yesterday (12 December 2022) by the Mayor of Istočno Sarajevo, Ljubiša Ćosić, and Sotirovska in the Niš City Hall, and the signing was attended by the Head of the Representative Office of the Republic of Srpska in Serbia, Mlađen Cicović.

Sotirovska said that she was extremely honored to have signed this document on behalf of Nišians, which would mean a lot to this, but also to generations to come.

‘This document should perpetuate the cooperation between two fraternal nations and two important cities – Niš and Istočno Sarajevo’, noted Sotirovska. She said that Serbs from the two sides of the Drina had done a lot together so far, adding that they would do everything to strengthen that cooperation further by devoting themselves to joint tasks both in the Republic of Srpska and in cities in Serbia.

‘I believe that the unity and synergy of our people is established through these official documents, but also by thus leaving a trace of our togetherness’, emphasized Sotirovska.

Ćosić and Sotirovska pointed out that this agreement had institutionalized and strengthened the cooperation of the two cities, whose municipalities had been cooperating successfully for years in the fields of culture, economy and in all other fields of importance for the population.

Cicović also welcomed the signing of the agreement, noting that he was very pleased to have attended the event that formalized what the Republic of Srpska and Serbia were already doing.

‘The assistance and support for Srpska and Serbian people in BiH has never lacked. The cooperation in the last 10 years has been at an extremely high level. Srpska and Serbia define all their strategic projects jointly, and work together to establish a culture of remembrance. Together, we remember our martyrs who built their lives into the foundations of both Srpska and Serbia’, said Cicović.

He explained that presidents Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vučić had established the cooperation between Srpska and Serbia with the preservation of national identity as the most important and key task, starting from the fact that a nation respectful of its past would best define its future.

‘I believe that today’s agreement will contribute fully to our defining that path in the best way in the coming period, despite all the challenges, and to the overall cooperation between the Republic of Srpska and Serbia’, Cicović assessed.

Recalling that the cooperation between Istočno Sarajevo and Niš had existed even before this agreement, which formalized it, Cicović said that he expected the relations between the two cities, as well as between Srpska and Serbia, to be even better, stronger and deeper.

He announced that next year in Niš, the Republic of Srpska Representation would prepare even better the Days of Srpska in Serbia, which had been held in this city for a full decade.

Source and photo: Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia