COOPERATION AGREEMENT IN TARTU, 21.1. 2016

DearMr. Pirsko, members of Estonian archives and dear guests!
Today the National Archive of Estonia and the Archives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened a new page in mutual relations. We have signed a Cooperation Agreement and therefore institutionally strengthened our relations.

On Tuesday in this beautiful country we opened an exhibition “Srebrenica Inferno” in which you were able to see a part of tragedy of my country that had to endure cruel aggression of its neighbors for almost four years. Thank you for allowing us to spread truth about just struggle of people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We have ended the war, but we are still not safe yet until we become a member of the European Union and NATO. We are decisive to become a part of united democratic Europe and western world. We ask for your help, because you know better than the others what it means to have a big neighbor breathing at your neck. This call is turned to you, our dear archive workers but also to the entire Estonian nation. 

Today we have signed Cooperation Agreement. We have jointly opened the doors of mutual cooperation. Please don’t ever close this door, keep them open, let us know each other better, cooperate and have a true dialogue. When the Archive of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina burned on February 7, 2014 in arson, the most precious thing for us was support we received from archives around the world. Of course, every help was also valuable but words of sympathy arriving from all sides were very important.

We are happy that we put our signature on this Cooperation Agreement, on a document that clearly says that we established a connection and that we, as archive workers, are talking in the same voice from today. This is a voice of encouragement and motivation. We invite you, as your first responsive move, to organize an exhibition in Sarajevo where we could serve as dedicated hosts. On that behalf thank you and welcome!