President

PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SERBIA

Biography of Rasim Ljajić, President of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia

Rasim Ljajić was born in 1964 in Novi Pazar, where he completed his elementary and high school education. He graduated from the Medical Faculty, University of Sarajevo. Between 1989 and 2000 he worked as a journalist for daily papers and periodicals in the region of former Yugoslavia.

His political engagement began in 1990 when he was elected to the position of the General Secretary of the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak. In 1994 Mr. Ljajić became the President of the Coalition for Sandžak, which renamed itself into the Democratic Pary of Sandžak.

After the democratic change which took place on 5th of October, 2000 he was appointed the Minister for National and Ethnic Communities in the Government of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

After the crisis in southern Serbia, in December 2000, he became the Vice President of the Centre for Coordination for the buroughs of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa. In the period between September 2005 and July 2008, he was the President of the Centre for Coordination for the same buroughs. In August 2001 he was appointed President of the Centre for Coordination for Kosovo and Metohija.

After the signing of the Belgrade Treaty in March 2003, Mr. Ljajić was appointed to the position of the Minister for Human and Minority Rights in the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro. Between 2003 and 2006 he was the Co-Chairman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation with Arab Countries.

From July 2004 he was the President of the National Council for Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTFY), and from July 2006 Coordinator for Implementation of the Action Plan for completion of cooperation with the ICTFY.

In 2004, the Belgrade weekly “Vreme” proclaimed Mr. Ljajić as the Person of the Year, while the European Movement of Serbia awarded him with the prestigious award “The Most European” in the sphere of politics. According to the rating agency “Pragma”, Mr. Ljajić was voted as the politician with best communication skills in Serbia.

On 15th of May, 2007, at the session of the Serbian Parliament, Rasim Ljajić was appointed the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, and re-elected on 8th of July, 2008.

He was one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia in October 2009, and he became its first President.

Mr. Ljajić is married and has two children.