Vucic: Serbia will own airport in RS, first planes to take off in 2021

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During the meeting in Belgrade, participated by Serbia's Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, BH Presidency Serb member Milorad Dodik, Republika Srpska (RS) President Zeljka Cvijanovic and RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said Belgrade would continue to financially and economically help the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We have analysed all our projects, and we will send additional financial support to RS before the end of the year and the beginning of 2021. We will inform the public about the amount of that aid, we will not hide anything,” Vucic said after the meeting.

He added that “it's our moral obligation and significant for people living in RS to preserve … what their grandparents and great-grandparents left them.”

He said the discussion included the airport in Trebinje, which would be owned by Serbia, and announced that the first plane would take off by March 2022, but that he would do his best to do so before the end of 2021.

“We are sure we will have the full support of the RS Government. These are not small investments, but I believe that the project will be profitable, and of great interest to Serbia, our people in Herzegovina, part of Montenegro and the whole of Sarajevo-Romania area,” Vucic said.

He added they were considering the reconstruction of the airport in Banja Luka, but that it would be dealt with later.

Also, Vucic said, Serbia and RS would form a joint industrial zone at the border part with Bosnia, in Bratunac, Ljubovija, Mali Zvornik, Zvornik and near the northwestern town of Bijeljina.

“We will build a 17-kilometre road from the bridge over the Sava river to Bijeljina. We talked about supporting agricultural production in grants of up to 12.5 thousand Euro. We talked about a program to support small businesses for purchasing equipment with 45 percent in the grant that we will provide. Other five percent is expected form people interested in financial support of the project, and 50 percent will be secured by commercial banks,” Vucic said.

He said that it was essential for the companies situated in Serbia to have the right to participate in various public calls in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole, including the textile industry.

“We (also) want to harmonise the school programs, mutual school excursions – for children from Serbia to get to know RS better, and children from RS to get to know Serbia better, special development of pedagogical manuals for Serbian language and literature, nature and society, history and geography, music and art culture. We will encourage primary and secondary schools, especially with the same names to fraternise, we will form an association of teachers of literature and history of Serbia and RS,” Vucic said.”We will organise joint competitions for students from Serbia and RS. We will pass a law on the protection of the Serbian language and the Cyrillic alphabet and make a joint declaration,” Vucic said.