We must live together and we want to live together, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in the central Bosnian city of Banja Luka on Thursday presenting a large donation to the Serb entity of Republika Srpska (RS), adding that he will immediately sign a contract linking Novi Pazar, the capital of the Bosniak region in Serbia, to Belgrade as well as Sarajevo.
“We want to connect people in Serbia and I will immediately sign a contract linking Novi Pazar with Belgrade as well as Sarajevo. We have to live together and we want to. I know I'm not particularly popular among the Bosniak population because many lies are told about me but I don't have a problem with that because, in the end, those people will see what one has and hasn't done,” Aleksandar Vucic said.
He also touched upon the epidemiological situation in Novi Pazar, the capital of the Sandzak region, which was particularly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that they managed to get the number of cases down to 170.
“I will ask the Islamic community to be careful during Eid al-Adha. I will only ask, nothing more. We managed to get the number of infected with Covid-19 down to 170 in Novi Pazar and that's very good,” he added.
Following the news from Sandzak that their doctors are getting overrun by the number of patients, Bosnia has also sent three medical teams to help their colleagues out in the time of need.
The Serbian President arrived in Banja Luka on Thursday morning where he will hand over a donation worth €2.7 million, which contains 15 ambulances for health centres throughout the Bosnian Serb entity of Republic of Srpska (RS). He was welcomed by the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency Milorad Dodik and the entity President Zeljka Cvijanovic.
Serbia must take care of Republika Srpska, show responsibility towards it and be available to it. The people in the Rsknow this very well,” Vucic pointed out adding:
“Today we paid €540,000 for schools and health centres in Mrkonjic Grad and Sipovo. The money was transferred to the account (of the RS). We're investing in the Petrovo spiritual centre which we will work on together with the RS. We'll cover 90 percent of the costs of Petrovo memorial home where Serbs died in the most gruesome way, where children were killed only for being Serbs.”
According to him, Serbia also sent 100,000 Covid-19 tests to the RS and reiterated that this entity only needs to ask for whatever they need.
“We're not endangering anyone and we're not threatening Bosnia in any way. We support the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina but no one can deprive us of the right to support the RS and to support its preservation and to provide support to our people in the RS,” Vucic noted.
He also stated the data on Serbia's financial assistance to the RS for the past year, adding that Serbia had allocated €59.2 million to the RS, and pointed out that Serbia is happy and proud of RS’ every success.
Vucic recalled that Serbia agreed to completely build the bridge across the Sava river adding that Serbia is ready to take over the funding of the remaining 18.1 kilometres of the highway to the Bosnian town of Bijeljina.
Speaking of other reasons for his arrival to this Bosnian entity, Vucic revealed that he wants to hear what the Bosnian Serb Presidency member has to say regarding the Kosovo situation.
“The number one thing is that Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats and other peoples preserve peace in the Balkans. Our people are leaving because they don't have a certain future and because they're afraid of what will happen in that future. We're ready to hear out everyone and wee what they have to say,” Vucic concluded.
