Vucic: All crucial national affairs discussed with patriarch, Dodik

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday his meeting with Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik earlier in the day had addressed all crucial national affairs for Serbs and that joint meetings in Republika Srpska had been agreed for the near future.

In a post on his buducnostsrbijeav Instagram profile, Vucic noted that a proposal by Dodik to hold Remembrance Day commemorations for the victims of Croatia's 1995 "Operation Storm" - in which 250,000 Serbs were expelled from their homes and around 2,000 killed - in Prijedor on August 4 had been accepted at the meeting.

"With Patriarch Porfirije and Milorad Dodik, I discussed all crucial national affairs for the Serbs. Important joint meetings in the territory of Republika Srpska were agreed for the near future and the patriarch and I accepted a proposal by President Dodik that Remembrance Day commemorations for all Serbs killed and expelled in the armed operation 'Storm' be held in Prijedor on August 4," Vucic wrote.

Vucic's meeting with the patriarch and Dodik was held behind closed doors at Vila Mir in Belgrade.

Before the patriarch joined them for the meeting, Vucic and Dodik discussed the situation in the region and upcoming important meetings of Serbian and Republika Srpska delegations.

In an earlier Instagram post, Vucic said he and Dodik had agreed that all state authorities of Serbia and Republika Srpska hold a joint meeting in the territory of Republika Srpska as soon as possible.