Željka Cvijanović

Željka Cvijanović
11th Prime Minister of Republika Srpska
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 March 2013
President	Milorad Dodik
Preceded by	Aleksandar Džombić
Personal details
Born	1967 (age 48–49) Teslić, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Nationality	Bosnian Serb
Political party	Alliance of Independent Social Democrats
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Banja Luka
Religion	Serbian Orthodoxy

Željka Cvijanović, née Grabovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Жељка Цвијановић; born 1967 in Teslic) is a Bosnian politician, Prime Minister of Republika Srpska for the Bosnian Serb SNSD party.^[1] She was minister of economic relations and regional cooperation in the previous government.

Before going into full-time politics, Cvijanović was an English teacher. She studied at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, the Faculty of Philosophy in Banja Luka and the Faculty of Law in Banja Luka. She is a professor of English language and literature and also holds a master's degree in diplomatic and consular law from The Banja Luka Law School on "The International and legal status of the EU".

Cvijanović worked as a teacher of English and as a senior interpreter and assistant for the EU Monitoring Mission in BiH. Then she was an advisor for European Integration and cooperation with international organizations to the RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik; as Chief of Cabinet Affairs of the RS Prime Minister; and managed the Unit for coordination and European integration.

In the 2010-2014 parliamentary term she was an expert-external member of the Committee for European Integration and Regional Cooperation of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. On 29 December 2010 she was appointed to the position of Minister of Economic Affairs and Regional Cooperation in the RS Government led by PM Aleksandar Džombić, and on 12 March 2013 she was appointed by the RS President Milorad Dodik as RS Prime Minister, being the first woman in that position.

At the Bosnian general election, 2014 Cvijanović stood as a candidate of the incumbent coalition SNSD-DNS-SPRS for the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She lost against the opposition candidate Mladen Ivanic (PDP) and was reappointed to the RS Prime Minister office in the 15th Government of Republika Srpska.

She is an SNSD member, also a member of the SNSD Executive Board, and of the SNSD Main Board.

Married, has two sons.

References

1. Zeljka Cvijanovic new Prime Minister of Republic of Srpska