Serbia-Republika Srpska parliamentary forum begins in Belgrade

BELGRADE - The fourth session of a Serbia-Republika Srpska Parliamentary Forum began in Belgrade on Thursday.

It was opened by Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic and her Republika Srpska counterpart Nenad Stevandic.

Brnabic said it was important to make parliamentary cooperation and initiatives important for Serbs on both sides of the Drina River as concrete as possible, and noted that greater involvement of the Parliamentary Forum was needed when it comes to building memorial centres in Belgrade and Donja Gradina, Republika Srpska, to commemorate the victims of Jasenovac, a WWII-era death camp in the then Independent State of Croatia.

Brnabic noted that Serbia was ready to fund the construction of both centres.

It is important that the Parliamentary Forum meets as often as possible to support authorities in both Serbia and Republika Srpska through constant discussions, she said.

"It is important that the Parliamentary Forum exists and meets as often as possible and that, through concrete initiatives, as well as through constant discussions and dialogue, we support everything President Aleksandar Vucic and President (Sinisa) Karan, as well as, of course, our executive authorities and our two governments, are doing, and what, of course, Presidents Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic have done previously," Brnabic said.

Stevandic said Serbia had never looked after Serbs outside of Serbia more than it did today and that building the memorial centres in Donja Gradina and Belgrade would be a culmination of those efforts.

"Donja Gradina is the place of the greatest suffering of the Serbs, a place where there were camps for children - the only such place in Europe, and probably in the world, too," he noted.

The Forum, comprised of 11 Serbian MPs and as many Republika Srpska MPs, meets twice a year.