Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers
The President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has met today in Banja Luka with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers, Elmedin Konaković.
The President of the Republic of Srpska stated that the harmonization of laws on foreign affairs was discussed with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers.
“We will have a joint commission next week in order to reach an agreement because this issue has not been regulated so far”, said the President Dodik.
The President of the Republic of Srpska said that development issues in BiH should not be subject to conditioning and that success can only be talked about when there is a situation where no one disputes any development project.
The President Dodik pointed out that Srpska has never made a problem regarding the southern gas connection and that this issue, in connection with which there is a certain degree of disagreement between Bosniak and Croat representatives, should not be conditioned by the eastern gas connection.
The President of the Republic of Srpska said that the issue about the gas pipeline has been going on for ten years and that it is still at the initial stage of starting negotiations with Serbia.
“That is not a final agreement, but the beginning of a procedure that is already complex and long-lasting, but we have been waiting to start”, said the President Dodik.
The President of Srpska stated that the Republic of Srpska is also interested in solving an investment worth about one billion KM in connection with the Buk Bijela hydropower plant, as well as the airport in Trebinje, and that he has nothing against modernizing the airport in Bihać as well.
The President Dodik reiterated that Srpska has nothing against the realization of investments in the Federation of BiH, which require the consent of joint institutions, and emphasized that Srpska has never blocked projects in the FBiH in previous years, although it has recently been forced to pursue such a policy.
“15 years ago, I signed an agreement to build a gas pipeline that goes through Greece and Albania and comes to BiH. I have never said that the Republic of Srpska is against it and that it wants to stop it. When the reconstruction of the hospital in Tuzla was supposed to be done, I signed it, but then we saw that the reconstruction of the University Clinical Center of Srpska could not be done”, added the President of the Republic of Srpska.
The President of the Republic said that Srpska has no problem discussing the US donation when it comes to defence helicopters, but also to other issues.
When it comes to fulfilling 14 priorities necessary for moving forward on the European path, the President Dodik said that Srpska wants to discuss all priorities and that it does not like that the European Union draws certain priorities and imposes an agenda.
“We agreed that the EU with its policy here is not stimulative in terms of maintaining the will for the European path and that these relations will have to be redefined”, said the President of the Republic of Srpska.
The President of Srpska announced that the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhely, is visiting Sarajevo in May, with whom he would discuss all issues, and assessed that Europe is focused on some other issues, but not on projects that have been agreed, but not implemented.
“They are trying to say that the situation is the same in BiH, which is not true. The formation of the Council of Ministers, the adoption of the budget and other legal acts are certainly not the same and were not visible in some earlier periods”, said the President Dodik.
The President of the Republic of Srpska stated that the issue of protection of domestic production should also be addressed.
The President of Srpska stated that the livestock fund in BiH was almost destroyed because protection and adequate measures were not taken in time, and the EU imposed its standards and closed some of its markets to producers from BiH.