For all those who have been here before us – thirty years of friendship and cooperation

This year, the People's Republic of China and Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrate thirty years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

The decision to appoint the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to China was made on 19 September 1997, and the first Ambassador of BH to China, Svetislav Mudrenović, handed over his letters of credence a year later, in September 1998.

The Embassy of BH in Beijing was officially opened in January 1999. On that occasion, Ambassador Mudrenović emphasized that, based on the Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina was dedicated to ensuring peace, stability and economic recovery for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina through cooperation with the People's Republic of China. The vision of the first BH ambassador to China was based on the Chinese policy of reform and opening up to the world, established by Deng Xiaoping, and China had insisted on this policy since 1978. He believed that this was the best way for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its people to recover from the consequences of the war that broke out a few years earlier. As an engineer and a long-time member of the Management Board of the Republic of Srpska Chamber of Commerce, Ambassador Mudrenović placed special emphasis on economic cooperation.

Given that it was necessary to start from scratch, several international agreements were about to be executed. Of particular note are the Agreement on Economic and Trade Cooperation, the Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investments, and the Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation. The possibility of abolishing visas for citizens of BH and China was first mentioned during this period.

One of the most important agreements was in the field of education and academic exchange. The first scholarship holders from Bosnia and Herzegovina arrived in 1999 with the ambassador and were students of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, Ljiljana Stević, from Banja Luka, and Bojana Slijepčević, from Sarajevo. Assistant Professor Ljiljana Stević, PhD, was given the opportunity to advance her knowledge at a prestigious university in China, the Beijing Language and Culture University. The Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade will remain the academic base of professors who participated in the establishment of the Confucius Institute and two Sinology Departments in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ljiljana Stević, Home Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Banja Luka, which was established in 2017, and Head of the Sinology Department at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka, justified the trust placed in her by the first Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to China and is today dedicated to the continuous cooperation in the field of education, academic advancement, exchange of students and professors, as well as the promotion of the culture and language of our people in the People's Republic of China and the Chinese language and culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Anja Mudrenović, granddaughter of Ambassador Mudrenović and a graduate sinologist at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, 20 years later also participated in the establishment of the Confucius Institute, and thereafter the Department of Sinology at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka.

Today, the Confucius Institute and the Department of Sinology of the University of Banja Luka have distinguished professors who graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, Assistant Professor Bojana Pavlović, PhD, founder of the Sinology Study Programme at the University of East Sarajevo, Selena Pjević, MA; the first author of the Chinese language curriculum in secondary schools in Serbia, Sonja Stanković, MA, who received her master's degree in the People's Republic of China, and Milana Bjelić, who speaks six other languages ​​in addition to Chinese.

Thanks to the leadership of the University of Banja Luka, headed by the Rector, Prof. Radoslav Gajanin, PhD, the University of Banja Luka is a leader in the number of active cooperation agreements with universities in the People's Republic of China.

In addition to celebrating thirty years of cooperation and friendship between our two countries, let us be reminded that ties between people and individuals are built on the commitment, vision, and continuous work of the people who laid the foundations for it and their successors.