Tatjana Matić, State Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, took part in the Week of Parliamentarianism, a series of events and activities opening a forum for discussion regarding parliamentary democracy and citizen participation in democratic processes.
Tatjana Matić opened the programme “Inclusive Culture in the Daily Lives of the Citizens of the Republic of Serbia”, organized at the Eighth Belgrade High School. Speaking at the event, the State Secretary emphasized that creating an inclusive society should be the goal for all of us, that disabilities should not be perceived as individual characteristics, and they should not be allowed to be a reason for exclusion from the economic, social, political, cultural and community life.
The State Secretary noted that the line ministry, aiming to develop an inclusive society, tends towards establishing the best possible cooperation with organizations of persons with disabilities. Regarding the issue, Matić stated: “The line ministry has been organizing awards competition intended for non-government non-profit organizations for three years in a row. One of the proposed issues with a large number of programmes applying every year is ‘Improvement of Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities Using ICT’. We have supported 35 programmes dealing with this issue through these competitions. Excellent projects have been submitted for the competition, once again proving how the use of modern ICT tools can greatly improve the daily life of persons with special needs.”
Following the introduction by the State Secretary, the programme continued with a debate on the topic of “Persons with Special Needs, Equal Citizens of the Republic of Serbia”, and reading the best essays on the subject “By Helping Others, We Develop Ourselves”, written by students participating in the inclusive cooperation of their school with schools for the education of students with special needs, held during the last school year.
The Week of Parliamentarianism was organized for the first time in Serbia by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the Open Parliament initiative, during the period 19-25 October. The concept was modelled after “Parliament Week”, started in 2011 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Week of Parliamentarianism brings together partner organizations holding one or several events to contribute, inter alia, to initiate debate regarding some of the important issues, promoting openness in the work of the Parliament, as well as opening new communications channels between the citizens and Parliament.
