The President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has met today in Belgrade with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
The President of the Republic said after the meeting that the focus of today's conversation was on the construction projects of the airport in Trebinje, HPP “Buk Bijela” and the highway Rača-Bijeljina.
“We discussed maintaining further attention to the projects of the airport in Trebinje, HPP Buk Bijela and the construction and completion of the highway route from Rača to Bijeljina, as well as how to coordinate activities to open the Kuzmin-Rača and Rača-Bijeljina section at a similar time”, said the President Dodik and thanked President Vučić for, in addition to being very active, always finding space and time to meet and talk, to see the efficiency of certain projects and to move ahead. Бук Бијела и градње и завршетка трасе ауто-пута од Раче до Бијељине, као и како координирати активности да се у слично вријеме отвори дионица Kузмин-Рача и Рача-Бијељина“, рекао је предсједник Додик и захвалио предсједнику Вучићу што, поред изразите активности, увијек нађе простора и времена да се састану и разговарају, да сагледају готовост одређених пројеката и да се крећу даље.
The President of the Republic of Srpska said that at the meeting in Belgrade he informed the President of Serbia about the internal problems that are very difficult at the BiH level because the situation is completely burdened with constant demands to dismantle the constitutional and Dayton position of Srpska.
“I informed him that they culminated in ignorant, cynical and rude demands that property should now be set up as an issue at the BiH level so that they would deal with that property,” said the President Dodik.
The President of Srpska said that he conveyed to the President of Serbia the points of view of Srpska if they insist on it and if it is not resolved, but not in a way to put the issue under the carpet and wait for some future time or with the blockade that they have made regarding the property, since, because of this, Srpska is not able to talk to investors, and even the concessions that have been undoubtedly given at every opportunity have been questioned.
“All we want is for the Constitution of BiH to be respected,” said the President Dodik.
The position presented by the President Vučić, the President of Srpska stated, was rational and realistic, and that is respect for the Dayton Agreement, BiH and its integrity, but also respect for the rights of the Republic of Srpska, which are recognized in the same document and given in the constitution itself.
“We in Srpska appreciate that the involvement of a part of the western international community and political Sarajevo leads to the further degradation of the constitutional position of the Republic of Srpska and that we have reached a moment when we cannot postpone this issue,” said the President Dodik and added that the defense and reaction of Srpska to all that, which is being considered most seriously, is to make a decision on the independence and secession of the Republic of Srpska, if issues related to property and other issue given by the Constitution of BiH continue to be problematic.
„Ми ништа не тражимо осим тога што је ријешено Уставом и Дејтонским споразумом.
“We are not asking for anything other than what is settled by the Constitution and the Dayton Agreement. We have to escape from the playing field of various diplomats and quasi-diplomats in Sarajevo who only fulfill the wishes of the Muslim Sarajevo in an effort to degrade the position of Srpska,” said the President of the Republic of Srpska.
When it comes to NATO, the President Dodik said that Srpska follows Serbia's position in this regard and it is very clear - neutrality and non-adherence to any military bloc.
“But we are not in favor of being put in a position through insidious activities and fraudulent processes where one day we realize that we are being called into question and that we have to accept something,” said the President Dodik.
Therefore, added the President of Srpska, cooperation with NATO is possible.
“We have now suspended it until we define our position, but the NATO membership is out of the question. All of these are issues that are very difficult at the level of BiH,” said the President Dodik.
The President of the Republic believes that the President of Serbia understood the message very clearly and Serbia, as the guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, must take care of all the details that are important precisely for the preservation of that agreement, and therefore of the Republic of Srpska.
The President Dodik said that the joint session of the governments of Serbia and Republic of Srpska, where the question of building two memorial centers dedicated to Jasenovac in Belgrade and Donja Gradina would be discussed, will be held in Banja Luka.
After the meeting with President Vučić in Belgrade, the President Dodik said that the timing of the session is a technical issue, that the governments must agree on it and that it will follow in the next two weeks.
The President of Srpska pointed out that he has been in power for a long time and that there has not been a year or power arrangement in Serbia that he did not insist on building something like that.
“Only with the President Vučić do we have the understanding that we will finally start working and we will make that decision,” said the President of the Republic of Srpska.
