18 April 2018 The National Assembly Speaker and the Croatian Parliament Speaker

18 April 2018 The National Assembly Speaker and the Croatian Parliament Speaker

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Gojkovic and Jandrokovic: Visit Important for Advancing Relations

The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojkovic met today with the Speaker of Croatian Parliament (Sabor) Gordan Jandrokovic taking the opportunity to point out that this, the first visit of a Croatian Parliament Speaker to Serbia sends a strong signal to develop and improve bilateral relations.


Gojkovic said that today’s visit opens a new door of cooperation between the two parliaments and the idea here is to encourage the development of relations between other levels of government launched during Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s visit to Croatia at the invitation of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic.

“Mr Jandrokovic did not take long to accept my invitation which shows that both sides truly want to advance parliamentary cooperation. This visit will be followed by an exchange of visits of working bodies, first and foremost the European integration committees, and the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Croatia will also be visiting the Croatian Parliament”, said Gojkovic.

The Serbian Assembly Speaker said that both sides hope that this visit will encourage the representatives of the executive to work hard on resolving the outstanding issues adding that dialogue is vital for finding a solution to these problems.

Gojkovic said that Serbia’s Euro-integration process is a focus of great attention and the support of Croatia as our closest neighbour is very important.

The Serbian National Assembly Speaker said that improving the rights of national minorities was one of the topics the meeting focused on and that opinions were exchanged on the models of representation of the Croatian minority in the Serbian Parliament, as well as on the information and education of both the Serb national minority is Croatia and the Croatian in Serbia.

The Speaker of Croatian Parliament Gordan Jandrokovic thanked Gojkovic for the invitation saying that it was an honour to be the first Croatian Parliament Speaker to visit the Serbian Assembly and that he was happy with the talks which are a continuation of the political dialogue launched by the meeting of presidents Grabar Kitarovic and Vucic.

“We live in complex circumstances, surrounded by a lot of international challenges and it is important to talk. We are aware that we have a lot of past outstanding issues, we are aware that we have to address them, but we cannot resolve them unless we talk in spite of those who criticise and may want a different development of relations between our two states. The Serbian and Croatian leaders bear a great responsibility and that is why it is important to talk and exchange opinions”, said Jandrokovic.

He said that the long period of no parliamentary meetings will now be broken by the meetings arranged between both the European affairs committees and parliamentary friendship groups.

Jandrokovic said that Croatia would like to see the enlargement process continue and that it is in Croatia’s interest that all the countries of South East Europe one day become full EU members. In that context, he said that Croatia is interested in seeing Serbia follow that path and is ready to offer its experiences of the negotiations process and all that it had learned in the course of it.

Jandrokovic also said that the two heads of parliament also discussed the protection of national minorities adding that he was pleased by the progress made concerning the Croatian national minority, most of all the opening of the Department of Croatian Language at the University of Novi Sad and the reconstruction of the house of Ban Jelacic and that it is important for Croatia to see the guaranteed participation of Croatian minority come to fruiting. Jandrokovic said that the pace will not be dictated by those who want to return the relations to what they were, “it will be by us who are interested in a better future for the Serb minority in Croatia and the Croatian minority in Serbia”.

Gojkovic and Jandrokovic agreed that economic relations and their further development are also very important and the opening of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce Office in Belgrade is an additional instrument to assist the cooperation between the two countries’ entrepreneurs.

The meeting was also attended by the members of the National Assembly and the Croatian Sabor, Tomislav Zigmanov and Milorad Pupovac respectively.



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friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

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