The culture ministers of Serbia and Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb half of Bosnia, have on Monday signed a Charter on the ‘Serb cultural space’ which defined the “cultural and educational policies” of their two ministries.

Serbia’s Minister Vladan Vukosavljevic said the document marks the start of work “steered” at realising the cultural potential of the Serb people “as completely as possible,” and that it is an expression of Serbia’s responsibility to unite the Serb people through culture.

“Serbia and Republika Srpska are the foundations of that endeavour, and they will think and act as the Charter on the Serb cultural space dictates,” he said.

Natalija Trivic, the Minister from the RS, said that the two governments are committed to maintaining Serb material and immaterial cultural heritage, especially the Serbian language and the Cyrillic script.

“Signing the Charter represents a commitment, aspiration and decisiveness of the two ministries to define a shared strategic culture and education policy. Maintaining the cultural and national identity is our primary task,” she said.