The State Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Ivan Bošnjak, has presented to the Council of Europe the current legislative activities of the Serbian National Assembly aimed at further improvement of the status of national minorities. As the High Representative of Serbia at the CE Conference devoted to the 20 years since the adoption of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, he thanked this intergovernmental organization for its support and excellent project for promoting human rights and minority protection of in South East Europe, owing to which Serbia adopted the National Action Plan for Minorities and opened Chapter 23 in negotiations with the European Union more easily. Bošnjak said that the new set of laws in Serbia governing minority protection provides the opportunity for persons belonging to national minorities to voluntarily declare their ethnicity, which will be a cornerstone for the creation and implementation of affirmative action in employment, education, social protection, democratic participation and many other public policies. Modern technologies will enable the exchange of data among public registers, which will facilitate the rule of law, strengthen democratic processes and confidence in institutions. The Law on Official Use of Minority Languages allows the use of minority languages at all levels – from the highest, i.e. the level of the National Assembly to the level of a settlement – and the role of local councils for inter-ethnic relations in local self-government units has also been strengthened. The State Secretary also announced elections for national minority councils which are expected in November 2018 and expressed expectations that CE will take part in this process.