The President of the Assembly of the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, Dragan Stanojević, said that everything coming from the Republic of Srpska to the diaspora was positive and that moves of the institutions of Srpska indicated a strong will and desire to strengthen all ties with people in the diaspora.

Stanojević said that the Republic of Srpska had to specify strategic goals and make an analysis of what the diaspora could do, or what it could help with.

– The Republic of Srpska should form the stance and list the things it deemed important, serve them through the representative offices, so that our people in the diaspora know them, lobby and break the blockades about what is important for Srpska – Stanojević said for Glas Srpske.

He noted that the diaspora could be a strategic partner of the state and that it had two-way, very good communication with the Republic of Srpska.

– If the diaspora, that is, our diaspora, were animated, like when we were bombed, when we kept receiving bulletins about the events in the former Yugoslavia, same as then, we would have the information on all that Srpska is experiencing, with which we could go to the media – said Stanojević.

He says that economic and cultural cooperation are ongoing, but that it is not used enough in the political segment.

– We have a lot of our successful people who have strong connections, both in the western and eastern countries. The motherland has not used that enough, and it is very important, when you have a media campaign that denigrates Srpska or Serbia, to have our people who know what needs to be conveyed to the local media at given moment – said Stanojević.

He says that the diaspora supported the decision of the Government of Srpska to establish and keep the Diaspora Register, and that they had invited individuals, associations and others around the world to join this register.

Stanojević points out that there is a will in Srpska to animate the diaspora, to include it in political life, to know the wishes and accept them.

– Generally, people from Srpska who are in the diaspora are bigger fighters and patriots. We see and recognize that very well. It would be good to continue the discussions from past diaspora forums held in Banja Luka, but also to have new gatherings of that type, i.e. rapprochements of Serbia and Srpska, i.e. the motherland and the diaspora – said Stanojević, who is also the president of the movement Fatherland and Diaspora Patriots.

Source: RTRS-SRNA

Photo: Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region-Politika