On the occasion of September 28, International Bosniak Day, Vice Prime Minister of the Government of North Macedonia and Minister for Inter-Community Relations, Ivan Stoilković, met with a group of educators from the country who teach in the Bosnian language. The meeting was also attended by the Director of the Directorate for the Advancement of Education in the Languages of Communities, Miroslav Tričković, and the Bosnian language advisor at the Directorate, Ismail Demirović.

The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere, during which opinions and views were exchanged on the current situation concerning ethnic communities in the country, with a focus on improving their position and promoting a multiethnic spirit.

In his address, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Inter-Community Relations, Stoilković, extended a special greeting to all Bosniaks living in the country and promised to make efforts in the future, in line with the resources available to the Ministry for Inter-Community Relations in the 2025 Budget, to ensure equal access for them, as well as for all ethnic communities.

“We must spread the multiethnic spirit; this is an ideal opportunity for us to preserve ourselves here. We all live here, and therefore, you will always have a friend in me,” said Stoilković, once again emphasizing his hope for good cooperation.

Expressing their immense satisfaction that this was the first meeting with representatives of the Bosniak community since the establishment of the Ministry, the educators vowed that through the “liljan” (lily) as the national symbol of the Bosniaks and the Orthographic Manual of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian languages, with grammar fundamentals, they would work together to elevate the culture of smaller ethnic communities to a higher level.

At the end of the meeting, the interlocutors agreed that this was just the first step, with the common goal of improving the position of smaller communities and achieving better results and new plans for the future.