The Speakers of the Assemblies of the Republic of Srpska and the Republic of Serbia, Igor Radojicic and Oliver Dulic, signed a protocol on parliamentary cooperation at Banja Luka today, as part of the commemoration of the sixteenth anniversary of the existence of the Republic of Srpska.

The ceremonial act of signing was witnessed by the Presidents of the Republic of Serbia, Boris Tadic, and the Republic of Srpska, Rajko Kuzmanovic, RS Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, the Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nebojsa Radmanovic, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nikola Spiric and the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Zivkovic.

Igor Radojicic expressed his pleasure at the signing of the Agreement stressing that it signifies a continuation of what previous convocations of both Assemblies had been doing, adding to it now the opportunity of cooperation between the working bodies, committees, commissions, deputy clubs and expert services of both Assemblies in 13 different fields.

Radojicic emphasised that the Agreement is open to all other parliaments wishing to cooperate, representing the basis for friendly cooperation in the whole region.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Oliver Dulic, also expressed his great pleasure at the signing of the Agreement, adding that the countries of the region have no surfeit of administrative capacities to waste on future affairs which makes it very important to share among themselves all the experiences concerning the processes of European integrations.

He stressed the need to have the two parliaments deal with issues specifically concerning the lives of the citizens and the increase of the standard and economic cooperation in the future, and much less with certain status issues they dealt with in the past.

“It is only in this way that we can contribute to our region becoming the region of proud and satisfied citizens. I am sure that the Agreement signed today is only the beginning and we are prepared to sign similar agreements with other parliaments in the region”, Dulic stated.

The Speaker of the Serbian Assembly pointed out that intensive future economic and political cooperation should bring down the walls separating the citizens, rebuild bridges and create an area of content people in the region.

The signed Agreement on parliamentary cooperation of RS and Serbia marks the beginning of cooperation of 26 assembly working bodies which should, according to Dulic, be the model for future cooperation of parliaments in the region.

The protocol on parliamentary cooperation foresees the cooperation of parliamentary committees and leaderships of the two assemblies under the previously signed Agreement on Special parallel relations of RS and Serbia.