TWO DECADES SINCE SIGNING OF SPECIAL PARALLEL RELATIONS AGREEMENT

BIJELJINA, September 25 /SRNA/ – The Agreement on Establishing Special Parallel Relations between Republika Srpska and Serbia was signed on September 26, 2006, in Banja Luka by the presidents of Republika Srpska and Serbia, Dragan Čavić and Boris Tadić, and the prime ministers, Milorad Dodik and Vojislav Koštunica.

The agreement had previously been adopted as an integral part of the Dayton Peace Agreement. On May 10, 2001, the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia ratified the Agreement on Special Parallel Relations between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska. Serbia, as the legal successor of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, assumed the obligations arising from that agreement. The need for the agreement arose following the breakup of the SFRY, as the citizens of Republika Srpska wanted to remain in a union with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The agreement was signed with the aim of developing cooperation in the fields of the economy and the use of economic resources, planning, privatization and denationalization, science and technology, as well as education, culture, sports, healthcare and social policy, tourism and environmental protection, information, the protection of citizens’ freedoms and rights, and the fight against crime. Citizens of Republika Srpska and Serbia benefit from the agreement in a number of ways in their everyday lives, particularly in terms of freedom of movement, culture, education, and the economy.