Serbian Cultural Centre Opens in Istria, Croatia

"Croatia wants to be a country where everyone has the opportunity to affirm their culture and tradition," Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said at Thursday's opening of the Serbian Cultural Centre in the town of Pula, on the tip of the Istrian peninsula.

"Croatia is ready to lend a hand to all people of goodwill, including friends from the Republic of Serbia," Josipovic said.

Accordingt to him, the Cultural Centre will have great importance for all representatives of the Serbian community in Pula and the rest of Istria, and its setting up is proof that Istria is a multicultural center and that Croatia wants all its citizens, regardless of their religious or national affiliation, to enjoy rights and freedoms.

The Serbian Cultural Centre is housed in a building in the centre of the town, in the immediate vicinity of the Serbian National Council.

Jasmina Mitrovic Maric, envoy of the Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolic, said that this center should become a gathering place whose doors are open to all citizens of Istria County and to tourists as well.

The opening of the center marked the start of this year's Serbian culture festival in Istria, which is devoted to the Serbian writer Milos Crnjanski and saw the staging of a fragment of the drama "Milos Crnjanski in Timisoara".

An exhibition of paintings by authors Ljiljana Lazicic-Putnik from Pula, Ljiljana Simic from Rovinj, Elida Stanojevic from Leban and Visnja Prola from Belgrade was staged as part of the celebration.