The Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia held its sixteenth sitting on 9 December 2010. The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Branimir Djokic and attended by Miodrag Jaksic, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Diaspora, and Assistant Minister Vukman Krivokuca and associates.

The Committee members considered the Ministry of the Diaspora Activity Report for the period January-February 2010. State Secretary Miodrag Jaksic and Assistant Minister Vukman Krivokuca jointly presented the Report. Jaksic informed the Committee members on the activities of the Ministry of the Diaspora in the spheres of legislation, improvements in keeping the diaspora well-informed, improvement of economic cooperation with the diaspora, as well as cooperation with the diaspora in the spheres of education, culture, science and sport. Having adopted the Law on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, the Ministry of the Diaspora commenced drafting three by-laws, and the Law also established the institutional framework for: the Assembly of the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, Councils of the Assembly and Serbs in the Region, Council for Serbs in the Region, Council for the Diaspora and Budget Fund for the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, said Jaksic. He stressed that the cooperation with the RTV Serbia Public Service lead to the signing of the Cooperation Protocol on a joint satellite programme project to broadcast the national television in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia, launching the satellite signal on 1 January 2010. Assistant Minister Krivokuca pointed out that the Ministry had also invested considerable efforts in improving Serbian language learning in the diaspora this year. In addition, it organised several competitions of which Krivokuca highlighted the competition for children’s essays and artwork on the topic “Serbia – my fatherland”. The awarded essays and artwork were published after the completion of the competition.

The Ministry for the Diaspora initiated a fund-raising drive by the diaspora to help Kraljevo townspeople contain the consequences of the recent earthquake. By 1 December 2010 about 120 000 EUR were donated, and donors’ meetings were also planned so as to raise more funds, stressed Krivokuca.

The Committee members were also briefed on the work of the subcommittees of the Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia, as well as cooperation with the relevant sectors of the Ministry of the Diaspora.

In the continuation, the Chair of the Task Group for the drafting of the Law on the Serbian Emigrant Society, Janko Veselinovic, briefed all present on the Task Group’s work so far.