SERBIAN AND ALBANIAN CHILDREN CELEBRATED 18 YEARS OF COORDINATION BODY’S OPERATION WITH A PLAY THAT THEY JOINTLY PERFORMED

19. December 2018.

Bujanovac – The Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, in cooperation with students from Bujanovac elementary and secondary schools, marked the eighteenth year of its operation with a celebration that was held at the Cultural Center in Bujanovac.

The girls and boys from six primary and two secondary schools showed what most troubled young people in Bujanovac by jointly performing a play in the Serbian and Albanian languages.

The play was performed as part of the project “Our City, Our Schools”, while the young from Bujanovac presented the guide through Bujanovac, which was written in the Serbian, Albanian and Romany languages. The project was implemented in cooperation with the Coordination Body and the Group 484 non-governmental organization, with the support of the "Pestalozzi Children's Foundation" from Switzerland.

Zoran Stankovic, the President of the Coordination Body, said that during the eighteen years of its existence, the Coordination Body had achieved significant results and established good cooperation between the local self-governments and the bodies of the Republic of Serbia.

“What we can particularly emphasize is that a great deal of funds has, through the Coordination Body’s Office, been invested in the construction of infrastructure facilities in that period of time. We hope that we will provide even more funds for the functioning of the local self-governments in the forthcoming period and that this will be one of the signs of improvement of living and working in this region, "Mr. Stankovic said.

Mr. Stankovic cited the Subotica Faculty of Economics’ Department in Bujanovac, the out-patient maternity ward in Presevo, regular education for around 300 children and about 30 scholarships for students from Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, as successes of the Coordination Body.

Mr. Stankovic also said that all other state institutions functioned well, that the security situation was stable and that there were no inter-ethnic conflicts. Thanks to the citizens and local self-governments, a deterioration of the security situation was not expected.

Speaking of the project "Our City, Our Schools", Mr. Stankovic noted that the children clearly and loudly said what they wanted.

"They said very clearly and loudly that they wanted to live together in freedom, not to be divided and be an integral part of Europe and the world, since, owing to all their qualities, they deserve it,” Mr. Stankovic said.

Source: Sputnjik, “Blic” daily, Serbian Broadcasting Corporation and Coordination Body