2009 Congress will be in Serbia and Croatia

Maramures/Sighetu, 26 June 2007 (RuthenPress) – With a meeting of the newly-elected World Council on Sunday in the Romanian city Sighety, the three-day work of the 9th World Congress of Rusyns ended. The congress gathered more than 80 delegates and around 200 program participants and guests from nine countries of Europe and the North American continent.

Nine representatives of Rusyn organizations were elected to the World Council of Rusyns, and they will hold their posts for two years. For president of the World Council, Dr. Paul Robert Magocsi was elected, and Djura Papuga was elected vice-president. The World Council affirmed the proposal that in 2009 Ruski Kerestur and Petrovci in Croatia will host the 10th World Congress of Rusyns.

Evaluating the work of the 9th Congress and the period since the last congress, Dr. Magocsi pointed out the positive changes in the status and position of Rusyns and particularly pointed out the “vertical ascent in the resolution of the Rusyn question in individual countries of Europe.”

Djura Papuga said that this Congress worked in a tolerant atmosphere which means that many of the misunderstandings of the past have been overcome. He said that at yesterday evening’s meeting of the World Council a text of a resolution was passed that will be finally accepted in two week’s time.

What is interesting is that one of the important points of the future document is stronger cooperation among institutions of higher education with Rusyn language programs – those of Novi Sad (Serbia), Presov (Slovakia) and Krakow (Poland).