Republic of Srpska President Attends Humanitarian Football Match of FC “Red star” veterans Vs. FC “Borac”

The President of the Republic of Srpska attended today in Banja Luka a humanitarian football match between veterans of the “Red Star” Football Club from Belgrade and the “Borac” Football Club from Banja Luka, organised by the “May We Have More Children” Foundation.

The Republic of Srpska President Željka Cvijanović said that everyone should gather around activities and support institutions and organisations from the non-governmental sector that want to build a better future.

“I support all activities that constitute a part of our effort toward a larger population of Srpska, and an improved demographic picture,” said President Cvijanović.

The President of the Republic expressed her satisfaction that the beginning of the “May we have More Children” campaign, organised by the Foundation of the same name, drew together such a large number of people who support the event, the aim of which is to raise awareness of the importance of increasing the birth-rate in the Republic of Srpska.

“This is something we need to gather around – to support institutions that seek to improve the living conditions of citizens, of young couples, which includes working on pronatal measures,” the President of the Republic noted.

President Cvijanović stressed that it is also necessary to support organisations from the non-government sector that want to move one step at a time, together with the institutions, toward a better future, with a clear goal, which is that the Republic of Srpska should have more inhabitants, that children are born, to have as many happy families as possible, to work toward solving their problems, but also to build a more certain future in the field of economy.

“It is a complex program, and this event is an integral part of something we have been doing for some time now, together with a team of experts, with the Government of the Republic of Srpska, and what I, as President of the Republic, coordinate.  These gatherings show that we are all aware that we need to be together when it comes to good things, and wishing there were more of us is more than a good thing,” said the Srpska president.

President Cvijanović underscored that in previous years, regardless of how difficult they were, Srpska always kept a fairly solid set of measures aimed at pronatalist policies, namely, at improving the demographic picture.

“However, that is not enough. We need to address some other issues, not just the financial ones. We need to work on non-financial measures – to determine the role of the family in society, to make life easier for mothers who are employed, to help those who do not find a job, to balance it with family life,” noted the President of the Republic.

President Cvijanović added that it is necessary to reform education so that children can get jobs after graduating from schools or the universities, increase salaries, so that workers know that they should stay here, and not take their children, the youth of Srpska, away abroad.

“I am satisfied that we have already and seriously embarked upon a major activity of implementing measures and achieving good results,” Srpska’s President underlined.