President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik spent the first day of the election campaign in Mali Zvornik with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. They visited the reconstruction works on the Karakaj border crossing, and also met with hunters and fishermen from the area. While Dodik referred to the border crossing between the two countries as an "administrative crossing," Vucic spoke of the connection between "Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina."

Dodik expressed gratitude to Vucic and emphasized the importance of the crossing.

“History has made this a border crossing, but we see it as an administrative crossing, not something meant to create a buffer zone from Republika Srpska to Serbia. This didn't succeed, and it's up to us and future generations to make it a historical fact that this is a connection uniting one people on both sides of the Drina,” Dodik said.

Vucic also touched on history, particularly the Austro-Hungarian period, stating that back then, all roads from Bosnia and Herzegovina were directed towards Croatia to “halt the connection with Serbia.”

“In recent years, we’ve built more connections and bridges than in the last 100-200 years. We celebrate ‘The Bridge on the Drina’ because there were almost no other bridges. Now, we’ve built the Sremska Raca, Bratoljub, and we’re renewing Karakaj and Sepak. We have plans to construct another bridge here if we proceed with a highway to Mali Zvornik, which is crucial for Podrinje and our connection with Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. We also need to fix the old one in Skelani, and then everything will be resolved. We don’t have a serious railway connection either. It's always been Samac-Sarajevo, then exiting to Croatia, and from there to Zagreb or Belgrade. Our Serbian communists cared the least about Serbian national interests, while others, especially Croats and Slovenes, cared more about their own people,” Vucic said.