Tadić: Serbia to continue to support Serbs in region

Source: Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Serbian President Boris Tadić conferred in Belgrade on Thursday with representatives of Serbs from the region on cooperation, protection of interests.

Boris Tadić and RS President Milorad Dodik (Tanjug)

They also discussed enhancement of the position of Serb communities in the region and development of good neighborly relations.
Tadić underlined that Serbs should be loyal citizens of the countries they lived in and added that Serbia would continue supporting and encouraging all activities and projects aimed at preservation of the national identity of Serbs in the region.

The president also stated that the Serbian government implemented the decision reached at the previous sitting of the Council for Relations with Serbs in the Region, according to which Serbia took over the costs of consular fees for admission into and discharge from the Serbian citizenship for Serbs in the region, the president's press service stated in a release.

Representatives of Serbs in the region expressed satisfaction that the country had won the EU candidate status and underscored that Serbia's progress in the process of European integration held considerable importance for all countries and citizens in the region.

The Council for Relations with Serbs in the Region comprises the Serbian president, prime minister, foreign, religion and the diaspora, education, culture, and finances minsters, as well as Vojvodina Executive Council chairman, representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) and commissioner of the Commissariat for Refugees.

The Council holds meetings with the Serbs from the diaspora once or twice a year.

The Council for Relations with Serbs in the Region was set up in December 2009, and it is tasked with preserving the identity of the Serbian language in the diaspora and protecting the Serbs' interests.