Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers

The President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik met today in Banja Luka with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers Elmedin Konaković.

The President of the Republic stated that it is necessary for BiH to function in accordance with the Constitution and that it is necessary to reduce international interventionism in order to take a step towards additional stabilisation.

The President Dodik pointed out that it is essential to reach a consensus on important issues and that it is necessary to create policies in accordance with the agreement of all factors in BiH.

“I discussed all issues with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers Elmedin Konaković. This is a good practice to reduce misunderstandings”, said the President of the Republic.

The President of Srpska emphasized that it is important that a new convocation of the Council of Ministers was formed, but that there are still open issues that must be resolved at the BiH level.

“There is no need to emphasize those things on which there is no agreement. We need to talk about what there is consensus on. We talked about solving open issues and I will personally direct a group of lawyers, and the minister will provide his team in order to create a mechanism so that there are no delays at all”, it was added by the President Dodik.

“We talked about the positioning in the ministry itself. Good practice was that the first three positions in the embassies should be elected from three nations and that should be reestablished. It will not be easy to do so right now. I think we have a good understanding”, said the President of the Republic, reminding that the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is crucial for foreign policy, but also that the role of the Minister is great.

The President Dodik reiterated that the Republic of Srpska does not accept sanctions against Russia, and that the Council of Ministers and the BiH Presidency will not give the green light for it, that there is no reason to stop the opening of the Russian consulate in Banja Luka, and that Srpska is against the introduction of visas to the Russian Federation.

“The basic principle of our cooperation is to regularly consult on each issue and thus to try to reach a consensus”, it was concluded by the President of the Republic of Srpska.