The event, at which the importance and role of the weekly for the Croat community in Serbia was underlined, was attended by the leaders of "Hrvatska riječ", representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Serbia, and associates of the weekly.
The two decades of work of the only Croatian language newspaper in Serbia, which is the only constant source of information for the Croatian community in their mother tongue, are even more important today because in the meantime many local radio stations that broadcast programs in the languages of minority communities have shut down.
"Our task and role is in a way specific, because a lot of what happens in the Croatian community or is related to it would remain invisible if 'Hrvatska riječ' did not exist," the weekly's editor-in-chief, Zlata Vasiljević, told Hina.
The "Hrvatska riječ" publishing house is the first professional institution of Croats in Serbia, established by a decision of the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in 2002, with the aim of "informing members of the Croat minority in the Croatian language on a non-profit basis".
In 2004, the founding rights were transferred to the national council of the Croat national minority - the Croat National Council. The first issue of "Hrvatske riječ" was printed on January 31, 2003.