The Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia held its sixteenth session on 2 December. The Minister of the Diaspora, Vojislav Vukcevic, and the State Secretary of the Ministry of the Diaspora, Aleksandar Cotric, took part in the session.

Mr Vukcevic told the Committee about meetings held by Ministry officials with Serbs living abroad, as well as about their views on the issue of Kosovo and Metohia. Special attention was paid to the conference organised by the Serbian Unity Congress in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. He added that, thanks to the efforts of Serbian expatriates, the Serbian Caucus in the United States Congress numbered 29 people, both senators and congresspersons, who represent Serbia’s interests. Serbian organisations, especially active in the US, France, Germany and Great Britain, as well as the recently founded Institute of Serbia and Montenegro, based in Brussels, Belgium, strive to promote Serbia’s position on the issue of Kosovo. These individuals and organisations organise news conferences, send out press statements, give interviews, and meet with government officials in the countries where they live. In addition, they regularly send humanitarian assistance to the Serbian communities in Kosovo, host visits by Kosovan children abroad, and wholeheartedly apply themselves to ensuring that Kosovo remains under Serbian sovereignty.

Mr Cotric underlined that the influence of Serbian expatriates depended on their numbers and organisation, as well as on the influence their adoptive countries have in forming international public opinion.

The Committee resolved that Committee members Sanja Cekovic, Radoslav Zdravkovic, and Zeljko Tomic, along with Ministry officials, should start creating a media plan to set out activities to be undertaken to promote Serbia’s views in negotiations on Kosovo and Metohia.

The Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia asked the Chairman of the National Assembly for a report on business travel by deputies so that the Committee’s activities could be planned in advance.

The Committee also discussed the entry of the draft Amnesty Bill into Assembly procedure. It was agreed to invite the Minister of Justice, Zoran Stojkovic, and the chairman of the Legislative Committee, Milos Aligrudic, as well as the Minister of the Diaspora, to the Committee’s next session, so that opinions on certain issues could be harmonised and the adoption of the law speeded up.