Cotric was unanimously elected into the organisation’s governing body for a two-year term by the votes of the representatives of 23 national parliaments.

This is the first time in the 19-year history of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy that a Serbian representative has been elected into the organisation’s top level management. Serbia has been a full member of the association of parliaments of countries populated by an orthodox populace, since 1995.

The President of the IAO General Assembly, member of the Russian Federation’s State Duma Sergei Popov said that this was “a recognition of Serbia and its Assembly’s efforts to preserve cultural and religious values and at the same time endorse human and religious rights and liberties, not only of orthodox Christians, but other religions as well”.

The IAO comprises Serbia, Russia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Armenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other states. Representatives of the US, Canadian and Australian parliaments also take part in the IAO’s work.