Evening of National Minorities Held in Prijedor

05 September 2005

At the initiative of the associations of Czech, Slovenian, Roma and Ukrainian communities in Prijedor, the first �Evening of National Minorities� was held last Friday, September 2. The event was envisioned as an opportunity for the citizens of Prijedor to get together and for the national minorities to present their culture and customs.

The City of Prijedor is proud of its national minorities.

The event was held under the official patronage of Marko Pavic, the Mayor of Prijedor. This year, for the first time in history, the Municipality dedicated a special budget entry to finance the work of national minorities� associations.

Ljiljana Babic, the Deputy Mayor, emphasized that the 15,000 KM in budget support will probably prove insufficient, but could, nevertheless, assist the associations to maintain the preservation of their cultural heritage on pre-war levels.

�What I would like to happen tonight is that we have a true gathering of the minorities, but also of all citizens of Prijedor, for we all aim to make this city better and more beautiful, to bring back its old glory, which can be done only if we work together. I believe that we could achieve that�, said Babic.

�It took almost one year of cooperation of all national minorities� associations to achieve this idea of joint presentation of our distinct cultural heritage�, said Zvonko Mann, the President of �Ceska Beseda�, the Association of Czechs, and added that he is satisfied with the status and position of national minorities in Prijedor.

Ivan Perkovic, the Consul General of the Republic of Slovenia in B&H, expressed his pleasure over the fact that the authorities in Prijedor have offered a hand to the Slovenian, but also the other minorities in Prijedor, a fact that �Slovenia will appreciate very much�.

Alenka Uduc, President of �Lipa� association of Slovenian community, said that there are about 300 Slovenians living in Prijedor municipality. She added that the evening of national minorities is important both for the minorities and the municipality itself. Uduc commended the fact that this was the first instance of a municipal administration in B&H financing one such event.

All minority groups presented their folk dances, songs, poetry and customs. The culture and arts associations �Kozara� and �Mladen Stojanovic� from Prijedor also took part in the performance, as well as guest from Banja Luka and Prnjavor.

The Evening of National Minorities does deserve to become a traditional event, which will remind all the citizens of Prijedor that they are proud members of their respective nations who demonstrated that the co-existence is very much possible in these parts of the world.