VRANJEŠ: SRPSKA ESTABLISHED AUTHENTIC DIPLOMATIC POSITION

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 23 /SRNA/ – While BiH Presidency Chairman Denis Bećirović was addressing the UN General Assembly speaking clichés, the US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, was not in the assembly hall because, at that moment, he was meeting with the Serb Presidency member, Željka Cvijanović, whom doors are open to, BiH Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandar Vranješ told SRNA.

Commenting on the new diplomatic offensive by Republika Srpska and its visits to the United States, Israel and Russia, Vranješ said that this was another confirmation that Srpska had established its own authentic diplomatic position in international relations.

"We witness international strengthening of Republika Srpska's position, creating serious positive effects for Srpska," Vranješ told SRNA.

He pointed out that another good indicator was the fact that all of this had been met with hysteria in Sarajevo, where they are now realizing that they have been completely defeated and that having Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković in the Council of Ministers, or Bećirović, had not helped them in their attempts to promote their warmongering, chauvinist and anti-Serb narratives anywhere in the world.

"This can now be seen in just one picture. While Bećirović is addressing the UN and considers this some great foreign-policy achievement of his, at the same time the US Ambassador to the UN is not in the assembly hall. He is with Željka Cvijanović at that moment," Vranješ said.

He says this image speaks to Cvijanović's position in New York, who the White House personally invited for the first time in the history of this Dayton-based BiH to attend the traditional reception the US president hosts for heads of state during the UN General Assembly session.

Pointing out that Bećirović received an invitation to the reception because of his current position as Presidency chairman, Vranješ said that Cvijanović received an invitation for the first time on the basis of her own name, the fact that she comes from Republika Srpska, and all of her foreign-policy achievements during the past four years as a BiH Presidency member.

He emphasized that Cvijanović was personally invited by the White House to attend, regardless of the fact that Bećirović was also there, which demonstrated how much the position of Republika Srpska had been strengthened in the eyes of official Washington and the Trump administration.

Therefore, he says, what Bećirović said yesterday at the UN General Assembly was a narrative whose expiration date had passed, the one they had been repeating for the past 30 years and that no one wanted to listen to anymore.

"The most interesting thing about everything Bećirović said is that he was repeating clichés that have already been so thoroughly discredited that there is no one there anymore who wants to hear them or take them seriously. On the other hand, we can see how open the doors are for Željka Cvijanović," Vranješ emphasized.

Vranješ assessed that this contrast would result in more bilateral meetings and a stronger position for Republika Srpska in relations with other countries as well.

He says that, ultimately, this would also lead to a better position in terms of economic and foreign-trade cooperation, as well as numerous investments in Republika Srpska.

"There is no doubt that this is the direction towards which Republika Srpska's future foreign-policy initiatives in the world will move," Vranješ said.

Vranješ assessed that this demonstrated how unsuccessful all Bosniak attempts had been to achieve something through their foreign-policy agenda and how much the position of Republika Srpska had been strengthened on the foreign-policy front.

"All of this raises not only the reputation of Republika Srpska, but also its position, so that the official positions of Republika Srpska can increasingly be heard in other countries as well," Vranješ said.

Vranješ stressed that everything Milorad Dodik, Cvijanović and their entire team had done so far, beginning with cultivating relations with the Russian Federation and Israel, previously with Hungary, and more recently with the United States, demonstrated that they had been working in a planned and strategic manner over the long term, with the aim of increasing the reputation of Republika Srpska among highly influential countries.

He recalled that Dodik had visited Israel twice, while Cvijanović had been to the White House several times this year, this time meeting with the US president’s chief of staff, while Dodik was getting ready to travel to the Russian Federation for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.