The minister without portfolio in charge of coordinating activities and measures in the area of relations with the diaspora, Đorđe Milićević, said that the Vidovdan Diaspora Assembly, the largest gathering of representatives of our people from around the world with more than 250 delegates participating, was concluded successfully yesterday in the House of the National Parliament by adoption of conclusions and guidelines for future work on strengthening the ties between the motherland and the diaspora.

Assembly participants clearly condemned the terror carried out by Albin Kurti’s regime on the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, but also unanimously supported all the activities of the President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić and the Government of Serbia to defend the Serbian people and Serbian vital interests in Kosovo and Metohija.

Milićević said that the importance that Serbia attached to this gathering was indicated by the fact that an envoy of the President of the Republic, President of the National Assembly Vladimir Orlić, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Ana Brnabić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić, and an envoy of the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije addressed and supported the Assembly.

The discussions we had on the panels speak about the importance that the state of Serbia attaches to overall relations and cooperation with the diaspora, and desire for most of you to return to your motherland, now that the political and economic situation in our country is much better than in the decades behind us, said Milićević.

According to him, all speakers emphasized the importance and need for the diaspora to have its own department in the next government of Serbia, for our people from the diaspora to have their own house in Belgrade with doors that will always be open to them and where they will always be able to obtain the necessary help.

Regarding economic cooperation, the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Marko Čadež, and all participants in the panel made clear the desire of both the state and all our businessmen from the diaspora to move or bring their business, their knowledge and capital to the motherland.

It is in the mutual interest of all of us, but also of our entire nation. Businessmen from the diaspora can contribute to the economic development of Serbia by investing and employing our people, while making their own profit at the same time.

The working group to be formed immediately after the Assembly will consider all the suggestions and ideas of diaspora representatives to determine a long-term strategy and a draft new law granting a more favorable position to our diaspora when investing in Serbia.

Milićević, who takes over the powers of the minister of education by authorization of the prime minister pending election of a new minister, said that the Ministry of Education would do everything to open supplementary Serbian language classes wherever there was a sufficient number of students.

He praised all the teachers and coordinators for their great contribution to both educating our children and working to increase the number of students in supplementary classes in Serbian.

Also, as he stated, we are working on having a single condensed history textbook for our entire population in the country, the region and the diaspora.

Milićević said that the Vidovdan Assembly was an opportunity for all participants to connect with each other, regardless of the country where they lived.

I am proud of the fact that your clear message, regardless of where you live, work and what passport you hold, is that Serbia is your state. And your state will always be with you, concluded the minister.

Source: Government of the Republic of Serbia

Photo: Đorđe Milićević