A session of the Subcommittee on Foreign Cultural and Educational Policy of the Committee on Foreign Affairs dedicated to Bosnia and Herzegovina was held in the German Bundestag on Friday, where the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Federal Republic of Germany, Damir Arnaut, gave an introductory speech and answered numerous questions from the members of the Bundestag.
Ambassador Arnaut attended the session at the invitation of the Chair of the Subcommittee, Hellen Demuth from the ruling CDU party, and focused on topics of particular importance for the improvement of educational and cultural cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Germany.
He emphasized that many communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina can learn a lot from the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of promoting a culture of remembrance and combating the denial of crimes, including the genocide in Srebrenica. He also spoke about the need to eliminate the discriminatory concept of “two schools under one roof”, and praised the active efforts of the High Representative Christian Schmidt directed against this, as he said, horrifying practice.
As Ambassador Arnaut stated, he asked German parliamentarians to advocate for a proactive approach of German and European politics in resolving these problems.
The session also highlighted the enormous contributions of our citizens in the scientific, educational and cultural fields in the Federal Republic of Germany, and particularly highlighted the example of over 1,500 BiH doctors in the Federal Republic of Germany, including leading experts in fields such as neurosurgery, urology, spinal surgery, cardiology, internal medicine, and the like. These experts, Arnaut emphasized, provide benefits to German society, but through the Association of BiH Doctors, they also promote numerous projects of benefit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During his interaction with members of the Bundestag, Ambassador Arnaut also spoke about joint projects of German and BiH students that have been launched in recent years at the initiative of the Embassy, the need for even stronger resistance to malignant propaganda and fake news by various actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and numerous other topics.
The session was also attended by senior officials from the German Foreign Ministry, responsible for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, ensuring that the priorities of German legislators were directly presented to the executive branch.
