Initialed declaration on the cooperation of Serbs from Croatia and Croats from Serbia
Traditional 15. international scientific meeting on ” Serbian-Croatian relations ” also marked a very significant event. The Declaration on Cooperation between Serbs from Croatia and Croats from Serbia was initialed at the gathering.
The declaration was signed by Tomislav Žigmanov , president of the Democratic Union of Croats of Vojvodina, and Milorad Pupovac , president of the Independent Democratic Serbian Party in Croatia.
The original creator of the Golubić declaration is one of the organizers of the “Serbian-Croatian relations in the 20th century” meeting , Janko Veselinović . Veselinović launched the initiative that such a declaration exists. He then drew up an initial draft of the declaration and sent it to the signatories for consideration.
“Since the countries are burdened by bad relations from the past, we felt it necessary to emphasize our need for mutual cooperation and to warn our countries that it is in our common interest to support and develop each other,” said Milorad Pupovac.
The initialed declaration on the cooperation of Serbs from Croatia and Croats from Serbia is the result of years of cooperation between the two minority parties. It takes an important step towards the expansion of institutional cooperation, said the president of DSHV Tomislav Žigmanov. “I believe that it will have consequences, not only when it comes to members of our community, but also the politics of interstate relations,” said Žigmanov.
The next step is the development of a concrete program of cooperation between the institutions of the Croatian people in Serbia and the institutions of the Serbian people in Croatia. That program will touch upon the issue of political relations, as well as new forms of cooperation between the two sides.
“There is no doubt that the circumstances in Europe and the world did not favor the cooperation between Croatia and Serbia, but there is also no doubt that the policies in Zagreb and Belgrade did not protect the area of cooperation, either from internal political or from global influences,” added Pupovac.
