For the first time in 20 years, only conciliatory tones and talk of economy in Srebrenica

The cultivation of berries, specifically raspberries which are expanding, brought around 1.4 million BAM to the citizens of Srebrenica this year, who are privately engaged in this production, which gives a signal that citizens could live from their own work, instead of coming to the Municipality's door and asking for help from the Municipality, although there are fewer and fewer such cases - said the mayor of Srebrenica, Ćamil Duraković, after the first part of the two-day Development Conference concluded in Srebrenica on Tuesday, bringing together businessmen and politicians from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, including the state prime ministers of BiH and Serbia, Denis Zvizdić and Aleksandar Vučić, members of the BiH Presidency Bakir Izetbegović and Mladen Ivanić, the President of RS Milorad Dodik..., reports a reporter from the Patria news agency.

Twenty years ago, in this municipality in eastern Bosnia, one of the largest genocides in Europe after World War II occurred, in which the army and police of Republika Srpska, aided by units from Serbia, killed more than 8,000 Bosniaks.

Analysts assess that coexistence in such a place can only be restarted if both sides show a strong desire for reconciliation, but also if the economy in this area is raised to a high level.

It is precisely for this reason that the first Development Conference in Srebrenica was assessed by many as a new beginning for all its citizens, as well as for those living in surrounding areas.

On Monday, the Government of Serbia will transfer four million BAM to the account of the Srebrenica municipality, and through projects, an additional six million BAM will be secured, which will be spent on transport infrastructure or other areas. The President of RS, Milorad Dodik, also promised about three million BAM to Srebrenica, and the Council of Ministers of BiH plans to get involved in the development of the municipality.

- Today we showed that Srebrenica can still gather, unite, and send a new message. And that is that we all want to work together to improve life, bring people closer, connect people - said Duraković.

- And we managed to secure the conference in Srebrenica thanks to personal relationships, primarily with the Prime Minister of Serbia. Especially after the events of July this year, that personal contact, human contact with him remained.

We also have good relations with the President of the RS entity, Milorad Dodik, who previously came to Srebrenica, and with whom we established a new concept of cooperation.

The invitation for the conference was also accepted by Bosić, then Ivanić...

Basically, not a single negative word was spoken in Srebrenica today. During the break, you had the opportunity to see Ivanić talking to Dodik, telling him "see you tomorrow." So, today in Srebrenica there were only positive tones, which we desperately need to do something positive.

Duraković recalled that he hopes that the Srebrenica conference, in addition to the money from the Government of Serbia and RS, will already bring private investors tomorrow who will invest, primarily in Srebrenica's agriculture, but also in tourism and other branches of the economy, writes NAP.