REPUBLIKA SRPSKA CITIZENS ALREADY FEEL RESULTS OF FOREIGN POLICY ENGAGEMENT

BANJA LUKA, APRIL 30 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska has made significant progress with major powers and its citizens are already feeling the benefits of diplomatic activities, Serb member of the Presidency of BiH Željka Cvijanović stated.

"We have established normal relations and recognized that the other side is also coming with a completely different approach and policy, where there is no longer that sense of revenge", Cvijanović said. She added that citizens of Republika Srpska are protected from what was largely the result of a campaign conducted from Sarajevo over the past 30 years. She emphasized that the benefits include interest from serious foreign companies that previously showed no willingness to invest, as well as ongoing negotiations on infrastructure and major energy projects. "Access to the international financial market, the ability to be a credible issuer and to have credible investors who will buy bonds", she said. Benefits, she added, also include the possibility for the government to carry out its capital investments and to access the capital market whenever needed. "We have obtained good loans, with minimal interest rates and repayment periods. We already have credibility. If you have well-planned borrowing and project obligations that you want to meet through capital investments, then that borrowing is not a burden", Cvijanović said for ATV. Speaking about global disruptions, Cvijanović expressed satisfaction with increases in pensions, veterans' benefits and other social support measures. "Especially I am pleased with the increase in allowances for unemployed mothers, IRB loans. All of this shows care for our social categories. It requires a lot of effort. It takes skill to align and calculate everything", she said, adding that peace and security are the most important factors. Cvijanović noted that the new US administration has lifted sanctions that had been imposed, saying this shows a desire to treat all actors in BiH equally. "We have always asked for that. We never asked for any preferential role. Our colleagues from the Bosniak side suffer from that. We asked for equal treatment, and we received it", Cvijanović said. Cvijanović pointed to what she described as Sarajevo's need to ridicule every visit to Republika Srpska, stressing that such misuse of narratives will be overcome. She noted that for years, opposition voices from Republika Srpska claimed that the entity was isolated, while SNSD worked consistently on building international relations. Referring to Serb historical sites of suffering, she said the best way to internationalize them is through direct engagement. "We can talk domestically, we can teach our children about certain things, they must know history and what happened, but you can never internationalize it without visits of that kind", Cvijanović said.