Jaklitsch visits Slovenians in Sarajevo
Sarajevo, 13 March - Minister for Slovenians Abroad Helena Jaklitsch continued her visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday, meeting representatives of Slovenian communities from Sarajevo and from several other Bosnian cities or towns, including Kakanj, Breza and Zenica, her office said.
Ljubljana
Minister for Slovenians Abroad Helena Jaklitsch.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
File photo
The minister first visited Kakanj where she met representatives of the local Slovenian association, the Breza Association of Slovenians and the Encijan Zenica Association of Slovenians.
"The associations preserve the Slovenian language and culture through cultural, musical, folklore, sports, arts and other activities. They also acknowledge their links with their homeland and are sincerely waiting for the moment when they will be able to tour Slovenia again," the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad said in a press release.
The minister thanked all the associations for their efforts and expressed her support for their activities in the future.
On the occasion, she also had a conversation with a priest from the monastery of John the Baptist in Kraljeva Sutjeska, who expressed his willingness to occasionally say masses in Slovenian, the press release reads.
Jaklitsch then travelled to Sarajevo as part of her three-day tour of Bosnia-Herzegovina. There she visited the Slovenian Embassy and met Pavel Ocepek, who has been the head of the Slovenian language department at the Faculty of Arts in Sarajevo since October 2015. He presented to the minister the idea of a Slovenian classroom at the faculty.
The minister then met members of the Slovenian Cankar Sarajevo Association. During the discussion, they expressed the need for larger premises to enable all the planned activities to take place.