State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Toncev had talks today with Mr. Miodrag Jaksic, the President of the Association of Expatriates and Serbs of the Region.
The interlocutors discussed intensifying cooperation between the state authorities and this organization, the oldest Serbian organization of this kind, which has since 1949 worked on the cooperation and promotion of ties with Serbian people worldwide.
Both sides estimated that it was necessary to include persons from the Serbian diaspora in all social, economic, cultural and other developments in their motherland and support the efforts made by Serbian organizations as well as individuals worldwide, with the aim of preserving Serbian identity and tradition.
Mr. Miodrag Jaksic expressed his gratitude to the Serbian state for the active role it played in the cooperation with its diaspora and informed State Secretary Toncev about the programme of the Association of Expatriates and Serbs of the Region in the coming period as well as about its activities that would present to the local public the achievements of our people outside the borders of Serbia, by hosting lectures, conferences, commemorative events, literary and art evenings on the premises of the Association in Belgrade.
State Secretary Ivica Toncev expressed his support to the projects put forward by the Association of Expatriates and Serbs of the Region, carried out in the build-up to a great jubilee to be marked in 2019 – the 70th anniversary of the Association – and announced an intensified and closer cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Association of Expatriates and Serbs of the Region.