Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska Zeljka Cvijanovic expects all people who perform any official function in the institutions of the Republic of Srpska or joint institutions of BiH to give their contribution to the celebration of the Day of the Republic of Srpska on the 9th of January and that members of the Third Republic of Srpska Regiment of the BiH Armed Forces would also participate.
In the "Openly Speaking" Radio Show of RTRS Radio, Prime Minister Cvijanovic stated that Republic of Srpska, in spite of many obstructions coming from the political elite of Sarajevo, would proudly celebrate the 9th of January, the Day of the Republic in a dignified manner. Prime Minister further said that obstructions would probably be prolonged but that Republic of Srpska would continue working on its political stability and strengthening of its institutions.
- the Republic of Srpska is awaiting the Day of the Republic at the moment when the relations within BiH are complicated what in itself is not any news – the Prime Minister said and added that it was not easy to preserve the institutions of the RS and that the dispute over the 9th of January was a fabricated issue of Bosniac political parties.
- 25 years is a serious time to exist and during that period we were building our institutions, defending our positions and trying to explain how BiH could become a functional state but unfortunately we had no partners to work with and build a normal and realistic state. As the result of the fact that we had no real partnership, today we have a state which very often acts hostile toward its citizens and became isolated within itself, unable very often to provide answer to any issue relevant for the people in both entities and I fear that it leads us nowhere-.
Prime Minister Cvijanovic emphasized that the barrier for normalization of relations within BiH was the political elite in Sarajevo led by Bakir Izetbegovic what has been confirmed by his latest statement that the President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic should have considered his decision better when he had decided to come to Banja Luka to attend the ceremony celebrating the Day of the Republic of Srpska.
As for the economic situation Prime Minister said that the Government managed to maintain financial stability in the past and that would be remain the priority of the Government.
- We have managed, as the Government and institution of the Republic of Srpska to reach out to our citizens and to treat just all social groups in our society. The Republic of Srpska has functioning institutions; we have the President of the Republic who has the legitimacy of the people and who is striving to keep all institutions in positive dynamics- the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister confirmed that the Government would continue with major infrastructure projects that generate employments and with activation of other industries and services.
Prime Minister Cvijanovic also commented the work of public enterprises in Republic of Srpska and said that she supported the position of the President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik that all managers of public companies who have unjustified losses should be replaced.
The Prime Minister said that the positive development for Republic of Srpska should be final realization of the Russian clearing debt to BiH and that in the following few weeks the funds could be expected in the RS budget after the BiH Ministry of Finance finishes the talks with the Russian side and BiH Parliament verifies the agreement.
With regard to the pensions, Prime Minister Cvijanovic stated that the issue of pension increment would be considered in the second quarter of the year. The Prime Minister announced new talks with the Trade Unions on 16 January when the Law on Salaries would be discussed and the aim was to remove certain discrepancies from the Law on Salaries.
The Prime Minister also referred to the issue of the "Ljubija" Mine and said that this matter had been on the agenda of the Government several times and would be considered again. The Government position was that the state capital in that company should be sold what should then be incentive for development and new employment and new legal status of this company.
Prime Minister Cvijanovic said that the aim of Program of Economic Reforms of the Republic of Srpska 2017- 2019 was improvement of the business environment and unburdening of the real sector of the economy that would result in more orderly system and more employment.
Speaking about the IMF arrangement, Prime Minister said that the next tranche depended on all levels of Government in BiH.
- I do not know if the next tranche would be released, it is up to all levels of BiH government. The Republic of Srpska fulfilled the requirements it was supposed to and the next tranche should be realized in January or February.
Prime Minister Cvijanovic stressed that the Republic of Srpska was leading in the process of European integration compared to other levels of governance in BiH.
Finally, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska Zeljka Cvijanovic said that the most important thing for the Republic of Srpska in the past years was that it preserved its political and financial stability and that people in Republic of Srpska should expect the same in this year.