August1st, 2022

The monument is dedicated to all generations of Serbs in Canada who preserved their culture and traditions for more than a hundred years.

It is installed in Mississauga next to the Church of  All Serbian Saints on Dixie with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Dr. Mitrofan of Canada, and under the patronage of Consul General Vasilij Petković and his wife Dragana and the Ecumenical and educational  organisation of All Serbian Saints in Mississauga. The monument was consecrated by rev. father Dejan Obradović, the elder of the church, and rev. father Miloje.

The author and donor of the project is the Serbian-Canadian artist Ljiljana (Lili) Otašević.

The monument was financed and donated to the Serbian community by Serbian-Canadian businessmen: Dragan Bakoč, Žarko Brestovac, Vićić Vladimir, Lazić Duško, Miletić Zoran, Milićević Dejan, Ostojić Mario, Pavlović Saša and Brestovac Jovan.

President hum. org. "For invisible heroes", on May 15, 2022, Zlatko Šarac presented Consul General Vasilije Petković with a Letter of thanks for "great support shown in organizing humanitarian actions to help veteran soldiers and their families" with the slogan "they helped without hesitation." Thank you for being willing to help when they need it. " On this occasion, GK Petković was presented with a Plaque of the association "Friends of the 72nd Special Brigade" from Pancevo.

05/31/2022

Today, the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, took the oath at the Eleventh Special Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in the Twelfth Convocation and took office in his second term.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Holiness, Dear President, Distinguished Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Distinguished President of the Republika Srpska, Distinguished Representatives of Religious Communities, Dear Friends, Distinguished Presidents of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Your Excellency, President of the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Cassation Prime Ministers, Members of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, President of the Provincial Assembly of AP Vojvodina, President of the Provincial Government of AP Vojvodina, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, there is no greater honor, greater obligation, and no greater pride than the fact that you lead your country , no better duty than to proudly present it.

All that, and the obligation, and the duty, and the honor, and the pride, I received from the citizens in the elections. They are an expression of the will of the convincing majority, which has indebted me and most of you again to do our job not always the way even that majority wants, but to do everything that is in the best interest of Serbia.

I want to be the president of all and the president of all, to be the first in terms of obligations and the last in terms of privileges, to work harder, not to ask for anything for myself, but to ask for everything, absolutely everything for our Serbia.

The great Confucius said that a compromise can be made with everything, except with ideals, and that is what I intend to follow, and for me, the ideal is Serbia and the well-being of its citizens. This also determines the priorities of my second term, those which, it seems to me, were public and clear even before taking the oath and which read: peace, stability, independence in decision-making, freedom of Serbia, security, health, Europe, work, work and Work.

Serbia is and will be, to paraphrase Marcus Aurelius, emperor, philosopher, exactly what and only what we make of it. It is the product of our thoughts, our dreams and our deeds, our ideal, our goal, our consciousness, knowledge of where we are geographically and historically and great care to never confuse, as has happened to us so many times in history, history and reality, geography and reality, empty desires and reality.

Today, I have the honor, but also the immeasurable obligation to address you as the president whose second term begins in the crucial times of modern history. There is no heavier, but no more sublime duty than the one I am entering for the second time today. And there is no goal that is more demanding, but also more honorable than the goal for Serbia to continue on its path, unique, into the future it has long deserved for its victims and sacrifices.

I am taking over the presidency at a time when the basic premise, in almost the entire world, has become that audacity and rudeness are an act of courage, and calmness and patience are a reflection of fear. We live in times when everyone speaks loudly, and few listen and hear even less often. The voices of reason are becoming quieter, and the vision of the future of all humanity is becoming more and more hazy and distant.
 
Today, perhaps more than ever, the whole world longs for truth and justice. The same justice that is woven into the first words of our beautiful national anthem and which still stands as an imperative without which there is no progress for a dignified man or the whole world. I will always fight for such truth and such justice, because there is no harder, but no more honorable way than that.

The world may never be the same again, but I point out to you that at least we will try to remain strong, confident and unwavering in our principles, that we as a country will continue to work for the common good while bravely advancing despite all adversity. we have done it so far.

Therefore, there is not a big enough word for our Serbia, which has always stood at the crossroads of different civilizations, religions and cultures, thus enriched in the best way, which encourages us to preserve this heritage even stronger, stronger and more determined than ever before. . Also, through us, the paths of other people's interests and ambitions, conquests and withdrawals, but also our victories and defeats, have always crossed, which have left deep scars in the entire existence of Serbia. Many came to us without respect and consideration, and left with hidden or open admiration for our small, and so great people, and for our small and so proud Serbia.

Just like this Gospel of Miroslav, our country had a strange and difficult historical path. Generations of Serbia have hardened through the most difficult moments over many centuries, often alone, but always upright. It is these generations, which throughout history have shown incredible human, ruling, artistic, military, moral and spiritual heights, that have woven this indomitable, libertarian, sometimes even defiant spirit into all present and future generations of our people.
 
To concretize things, the world is changing dramatically before our eyes on a daily basis, never again and never faster. The attack on Ukraine is a turning point in international relations. On the one hand, Russia wanted to break the domination of, as they say, Western and hard and soft powers, to prevent further expansion of NATO, Greater China does not want the status quo, that is. the inviolability of Western power and the influence of all others, while the West wants to preserve its own supremacy in the world, while calling for violations of international public law, both by Russia and their other opponents, such as the People's Republic of China.

It is true that the attack on Ukraine violated international public law, but it is also true that it happened dozens of times in the modern world, and that the key protagonists and today's great fighters for respecting the norms of international public law were often Western powers. After all, we here in Serbia can confirm that in the best possible way. Our country was attacked in 1999 without a decision of the United Nations Security Council, without our country occupying any other before that. After that, our country was still robbed. Despite the existence of Resolution 1244 and the existence in the legal order of that resolution, they still rob us of part of our territory, claiming that they are right, and we, if we accidentally say we think differently, are no longer for the future, we are not democrats enough, we do not understand the present. , we are already dealing too much with the past. If someone else did that, he would immediately be someone who destroys the international legal order, who destroys all institutions and who destroys world peace.

I am proud of Serbia today, which acts in accordance with the principles of international public law, which is able to condemn violations of international public law, unequivocally and clearly. But I am also proud of Serbia, which has neither anti-Western nor Russophobic behavior. Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Goethe and Hemingway are welcome here. This is something that Serbia can be proud of, even if it was one of the few countries in the modern world.

I said all this not because it is possible to derive pragmatic demands from this, but also as the President of the Republic, just as all other citizens of Serbia allow themselves, to save my soul and say what is on my heart. And don't think that what you all know I don't know. I know, I often know better than everyone else. I often see it and feel better than everyone else. But that does not solve our problem, and none of the problems will solve that in the future. The politics of running a country is not a politics of desires, but a politics of the possible, a politics of reality.

I talked to one of the greatest European leaders from today, we talked for seven hours and I guess the man wanted to listen to me and I felt the need to tell everything that is on my mind, to say everything - how we Serbs feel when we see what they are they did to us on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija and on all other issues in the Balkans. That great leader listened to me carefully, much smarter than me, with much more knowledge, he leads a great country, and around three in the morning he said to me: "Come on, now Alexander, let's cut this." I said, I'm listening to you, dear friend. He said: "I do not agree with you in everything, but to say that you are in favor of 80, maybe even 90 percent of the things you said right. And what do we do now? You run one country, you are the president of the country, you are smart enough to know that, regardless of the many injustices in the world, there are things that will not change. You cannot change the opinion of my country. We can repent later, but we will never admit it, because the great ones do not admit it. For us, tears of remorse and mistakes do not exist, they are intended for you, smaller countries. It remains to be seen what you can do to save your country in the future. It remains to be seen what you can do, to secure a future for the young generations in your country, what you can accept as reality and what we can do together. ”I first heard from someone, from Western leaders, that he said somewhere, not directly, but somewhere he said, "Okay, we're not always happiest with everything we've done in the past, but you have to come to terms with that." At least we got something, at least some I got a kind of personal satisfaction that night, which, of course, means nothing to our country. But, that great leader is right when he said that we must be committed to the future, that we must take care of the future, to see what we will do with our children, because they are not obliged to pay the debts of our generation or the debts they left us. our parents, neither our great-grandparents nor anyone else. We must leave them as clean a situation as possible for the future, so that they do not have to think about who they will fight tomorrow and what instabilities and problems they will face.

In line with that, I want to say that I am looking forward to the formation of a new parliament soon, I hope that all election activities will be completed soon, and I do not even want to answer those who made meaningless claims that I chose which parliament to take the oath. because I became president on May 31 and this was the only day I could take the oath. What to do, because whatever you do and how you do it, it will never be good enough or bad enough to make everyone happy.
 
The formation of the new Government is, I would say, of crucial importance, and having in mind the situation we are in, a difficult situation, we all have to think about it together today. I cannot do that alone, although I am someone who has received great support from the people, but the Government needs to do it, and it will certainly be done by those who have full legitimacy, and not in a technical mandate, stronger and stronger.

We have to deal with new sanctions and new miracles, in which we can be damaged again, so we will have to ask our European partners to help us with that issue, but that is already a question for them. In accordance with that, I expect that the new Government of Serbia will be formed by the end of July, and I will gladly start intensive consultations with representatives of all political parties in the country that entered the National Parliament as soon as the new National Assembly is formed. .

I want to say that I am convinced that the new Government will accept some of the advice and my requests. I believe that the prime minister-designate will make a decision to make the government minority inclusive, to include as many members of not only the Serbian people as possible, but to include Hungarians and Bosniaks in that government, Croats, Roma and representatives of all nationalities. who wish good to this country and who have only one homeland or one homeland, and that is Serbia, which they love endlessly just the way we love it and who plan to live here, and they and their children, just as we plan.

I want to thank all the representatives for that, I don't even like to say it in the formal-legal sense, I know it is said that way, to the representatives of national minorities, but I would say to people, wonderful citizens, peoples who do not belong to the majority people. who have always been with Serbia, helped Serbia and shared good and evil with us and together with us solved all the troubles and problems we were facing.
 
What I expect from the next Government, but what I will especially dedicate myself to as the President of the Republic, is under one - our European path. And now I'm sorry, because I know that I won't get applause for something like that, that's why I will dedicate the most space to it. Sometimes I like to be stubborn, to be grumpy, sometimes clumsy, but not because of myself or because I need it because of any points, on the contrary, points are lost on that, but because I think I am doing a good thing for Serbia.

When we talk about Europe, it serves as a stepping stone, it has become an obligatory part of our incidental mention, but also something that we can most easily criticize, attack every day, but again, when it comes in the afternoon or evening, we think how and how much we will seek support and help tomorrow. No matter how much we rightly say that they are not always fair to us, and I do not think that they are always fair to us, especially when it comes to political demands, we are also not fair to them. It is easy and nice for us to take taxpayers' money from the European Union, and we feel very good if we don't say thank you for that. It is easy, nice, for us to accept what suits us, what we like, but it is not easy and nice for us to hear words of criticism when we don't like something.

The European Union must not be a syntagm, it must not be something that has entered the dictionary just like that, but it must be our commitment. Precisely because of trade exchange, investments, but also because we want to belong to that type of society, we will have to do a lot in the field of rule of law, further democratization of our society, media freedoms and everything else. Of course, they exaggerate when they say that no different opinion can be heard, of course they sometimes use it for their political needs, but it is also true that we can always do better, not because of them, but because of us.
 
In accordance with that, we come to what I swore today, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, we come to the key political issue for us, and that is the issue of Kosovo and Metohija. The issue of Kosovo and Metohija related to the Ukrainian crisis will be even more prominent and even more difficult for us to resolve. Whatever they tell you, from any side, whatever anyone from the West tells you, Kosovo and Metohija will be a bigger and more important topic precisely because of what President Putin spoke about recently.

They will tell you that this is not the case and that Kosovo is not like some other examples in the world, they will repeat it to you without hesitation. The more they repeat it to you, the more you see it bothering them. That is why we will face it. I apologize for telling the truth to everyone, both to you in the hall and to those who are listening to this. Do you really think that I am so naive when you tell me ten times that it does not concern you and that it is not a problem for you, that you, a political veteran, try to sell it to me? I see how much it hurts you. You can think how much it hurts us, how much it hurts this country, how much it hurts the Serbian man, how much it hurts everyone in this country. Every day we have to listen to the pressures for you to satisfy your interests, without thinking for a second about our interests. We have a problem here and we don't have anyone to talk to in the desire to reach a compromise, in the desire to seek a compromise.

Also, I know that no one wants to hear this in Serbia, but we must seek a compromise. We have to fight for compromise. We must protect our people in Kosovo and Metohija. We must take care of the lives of our people, our elders, their children and their children who still live in Kosovo and Metohija, who still love the Serbian flag, who still speak the Serbian language. That is why we must seek a compromise.

Today, when we talk about that, even today they do not execute the judgments of their bodies to return to Visoki Decani what belongs to Visoki Decani, and no one is very worried about that. For the first time, we had a statement from Quinta, which sincerely criticized the position of the Albanian rulers in Pristina not to allow Serbs to vote in the elections for the president and the parliament of Serbia. It lasted half a day. The day after that, they could continue to do everything they did, because they will always have their support and no one should have any illusions about that.
 
Then we come to the part where we talk about the middle ground. How much understanding can we come across and how much rational acceptance of our arguments can we come across when we say - well, wait, do you expect us to take an equally strong stand against the Russian Federation? Now, put aside all our traditional relations, set aside everything else that we have no problems with gas supply, security of supply, that we have good relations, put it all aside, so what do you think, people, yes, on the one hand , every day you talk about territorial integrity, the protection of territorial integrity as the supreme principle of international public law, and then tell us - you, Serbs, forget to respect the supreme principle of international public law, but look that it is even worse than us, and because of everything is happening in the world, relations with the Russian Federation. And there is no problem that they will not be for you in the United Nations Security Council when it comes to your territorial integrity, because it is good for you to forget about your territorial integrity.

I only ask the representatives of those countries to be at least a little fair to Serbia, so that they say - we understand your difficult position, but, no problem, we are forcing you to do that. It is a language we can understand. It does not mean that we will listen, but it is a language that is much less hypocritical than the one that tells us that it is justice, that it is fair and that it is fair, because that it is fair, honest and that it is justice , you would not easily destroy the territorial integrity and destroy the territorial integrity of Serbia as you did.

I know, fortunately or unfortunately, what it is that people like and I come back again and again, I said this to save the soul, to know that I have it, because I know that many think I do not have it, and to know these things, mostly better than most, not to say by chance of all, but tomorrow we must have enough fuel, we must have enough food, we must have new hospitals, we must have new factories and we must maintain the best relations with to our Western partners and to be firm, firm, persistent and strong on the European path.

The new government must be formed quickly, also because it is necessary for us to deal urgently, urgently with the coming winter and to supply Serbia, above all, with energy. The situation is alarming and that is why it is important that we form the Government as soon as possible, so that we can dedicate ourselves to it, so that we can set aside a lot of money and provide security for the citizens of Serbia during the coming winter.
 
We have stable public finances thanks to the entire Government, the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank of Serbia, thanks to good work, stability, which we have maintained all the time. It is of great importance for us to preserve that stability.

Food. We have enough and we will have enough. All attempts to destabilize the Serbian market will fail because we are never deceiving. We never lie when we say that we have enough sugar, oil, wheat, sunflower, corn and everything else that is necessary for a normal and decent life.

There are big and key, essential, reform tasks before Serbia, which will hurt many - from the new and much more serious and responsible energy policy, education and science, which must be the essence, the pillar of Serbia's progress in the future. I would especially like to ask the Government not to be afraid of the reaction regarding the wider, more comprehensive and convincing, more convincing introduction of dual education in our educational system, because everyone was running away from it. It is easiest to wait only when the next salary will be and how much money the Ministry of Finance can provide, without seeing how much we lag behind Germany, Austria, Switzerland and how much, in fact, we are not ready to change ourselves, but we are ready to change everyone else .

We will continue, because the state must continue to invest in health care, because health care is becoming one of the pillars of both the development and survival of our nation. Further digitalization, development of robotics, artificial intelligence, but also care for climate change and environmental protection. We have many partners, from Norwegians to the EU, to the United States, with whom we have entered into significant projects in the field of energy security, safety and environmental protection, which need to be deepened.

As for the issue of our army, as the supreme commander, I will try to make our army, with its influence, stronger, to be the guarantor of security, peace, security and stability. We have heard countless times in the past months how Serbia will allegedly attack someone, how the Serbian army will threaten someone. They lied for days, weeks, as long as this crisis in Ukraine has lasted, for ninety-six days. Ninety-six days, every day you could read those lies a hundred times and in a hundred places. And after ninety-six days, no one has yet told us to apologize. Nobody has told us yet - sorry we lied from day one. And thank you to Serbia for acting as a pillar of stability and for never endangering anyone, and for never asking for anything from anyone, except for asking to be on her own, to have the right to keep her freedom, her sky and her country, alone, without anyone's help.

I am convinced, dear friends, that Serbia will jealously guard its military neutrality. We are not politically neutral. We are on the European path and we know our obligations, but we must preserve our military neutrality. All around us are either NATO countries or territories where NATO is located. There is no territory, entity, country other than Serbia, apart from Serbia, which is not in NATO.

Serbia is like a small island and some usually say or cite it as a problem. But let me tell you, what is the problem with trusting your people, trusting the heroic gene of your citizens that we were and will be able to protect our country and that we do not want to belong to any military bloc, that we just want to have the right to guard our borders, to guard our country, to have our soldiers and to protect our skies? Today, Serbia also has more financial strength to save its country than it had before. Even today, Serbia would no longer be easy prey for anyone, as, unfortunately, despite our big hearts, we were easy prey in 1999.

And that's something I'm proud of. So, we never attack, we never threaten, but I guarantee you one thing, and that is that no one will dare and no one, as easily as he once set out, satisfying his geopolitical interests, will be allowed to go to Serbia, not because Someone likes or dislikes us, and not only because today he does not have such interests as he once had, but because Serbia is stronger. And it is stronger thanks to the people and citizens of Serbia who invested in their army, who believed in their army and who know that the path of neutrality is the path to the future for the Republic of Serbia and for our citizens.

What is also important is that salaries and pensions will grow, inflation must not eat away. Imported inflation, mostly imported inflation, must not eat up their incomes, because we fought for a better standard of living for the citizens, and the Government will have to work hard on that issue and pay pensions.

And what is also important, and without which we have no future, and what we are all talking about, let me joke a little about us. We, all of us, when we go on television, all of us, all of us presidents, prime ministers, ministers, all analysts, all critics, all of us, whoever shows up somewhere, always goes and says: "Here, our village is deserted." Come on, go back to the village. Come on, go to the village. In the end, you realize that we are very nice in the cities. We live in cities, normally. All over Europe, all over the world, this is a trend and it will not change. And people who live in the city are not worse than those who live in the village and vice versa, people who live in the village are not worse than those who live in the city. And with all our efforts, and with all that we have done, we will hardly be able to change that trend.

And then on the same side you hear about how and how many children we have, there are not enough children, we have no one to leave the country to. And then, whatever you say on the subject, you will be the subject of criticism, because it will tell you that you have offended someone because you want to encourage natality or pronatality policy, because you have denied someone a right. Don't be angry. Today, we have much more, and television shows and newspaper articles about pets are more popular than children.

I'm sorry that I have to tell you this as the President of Serbia, I'm sorry that no one else has the courage to say that, because he knows that he will be lynched. I have been lynched hundreds of times and I have no problem with that. Divini are pets. And the dog, and the cat, and the parrot, and the horses, whoever has them in the village, are wonderful, you love each of them in your own way, but we humans cannot survive, we have no future if we do not have more children. We have no future, you can say what you want, our country will not survive.

Therefore, I expect the Government to continue with measures to encourage birth rates. And it's not an insult to anyone. There are people who cannot have children, there are people whose choice is not to want to have children, but we, as a society and the state, must make sure that we have those who will prolong the life of the state. A state without citizens cannot exist.

And I come back again, I will say a few more words about the neighbors and what we have to do.

What we have achieved in the previous period is very important to us. We have the closest and best possible relations with our Hungarian friends, I am talking to the Hungarian state, the closest, historically closest relations, and that is something we must preserve and cultivate. We have very good relations with Romania and Bulgaria, in the wider region and with Greece and Turkey. Thanks to the Open Balkans initiative, for which I will wholeheartedly advocate and fight, we have probably the best relations in history with Northern Macedonia and Albania.

I would especially like to thank the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Porphyry for the extremely wise decisions he made and thus further contributed to the friendship and brotherhood we have with the Macedonian people. It is something that history, Your Holiness, will judge, not a daily report.

Thanks to you and thanks to the policy we pursued, today Serbia is the most popular country in Northern Macedonia, with their population, today we feel them as brothers and we do not have any problems in those relations and that is a great thing we managed to do.

Our relations with Albania are getting better, stronger, stronger. Where we will have to pay a lot of attention, are our relations with Zagreb, with Croatia, to try to change a lot, to finally agree not to look at anything from the past in the same way, that our views of the past are different, different, but let's try to find the same glasses and the same binoculars for the future, and see what we can do together. The gates of Belgrade and the gates, and the gates of the Presidency, will always be open for good dialogue and conversation with Zagreb.
 
I expect the same with political Sarajevo, but they must know that we will always protect the interests of international public law, namely the interests of Serbia, respect for the Dayton Accords, respect for the BiH Constitution, BiH integrity, but we will always demand that the Dayton Accords be changed without consent. all three nations and that we will, understandably, be with the Republika Srpska, further develop our relations, whenever we can and if we can help the Republika Srpska and we are not ashamed of that, and we do not endanger anyone because we will try to always and in every way in the moment we offer a hand of support, a hand of togetherness and a hand of help.

It used to be said that my father was from the other side of the Drina, I was born in Belgrade by chance, so Serbs on the other side of the Drina always said that people in Serbia can never understand how much the Republika Srpska loves Serbia. I would say today, especially to our guests from Republika Srpska, that they should not doubt how many people in Serbia love Republika Srpska and that it is nothing less than how much Republika Srpska loves Serbia.

What is important for us is that we build good, friendly and close relations with Bosniaks, despite all the political differences, despite the fact that sometimes someone does not want to accept an outstretched hand. We have to do that because of the large number of Bosniaks living in our country. The events from Priboj must never happen again.

I will tell you just one thing from which you can best see how much these people love their country. After 37 years, as we managed to build networks of highways, railways, hospitals, factories after many decades, after 37 years we managed to bring two gold medals from the European Boxing Championship, but we did not manage to bring one medal.

It is about one Prijepolje man, Mamic or Memic, he will not be angry, he is a Bosniak, who fought so hard for Serbia, so wholeheartedly, it was a competition in Yerevan, I wish you could see it. And whenever he brought a medal, he would wear the flag of Serbia with pride. We should be proud of our Bosniak brothers and all those who are fighting for this country and build that future together with them. Now, in Serbian, I would like to spice it up, because we can't do without it, we can't have Serbs without conspiracy theories, the judges robbed him in the fight for a medal, and by overvoting he made the decision that he lost that match.

We cannot change the whole world, we can only accept it as it is and seek our place in it. What we can do, what we want to continue, is to change ourselves, to build our country, in every sense to build it, in every field of science, education, health, economy, infrastructure, sports, culture.

We will also build buildings, because, according to Ivo Andrić, they not only change the appearance and significance of the area in which they are located, but also have deep biological ties with the people who use them. There is an intimate and invisible connection between buildings and human settlements, a complex and vague, but constant exchange of mutual influences. Through the deeds of their individuals, the people create buildings in the image and opportunity of their deepest, often unconscious aspirations and characteristics, and those buildings are slowly and constantly influencing the character and habits of the people. We are getting better, the great writer told us, building himself and his country. This applies not only to structural buildings, but to everything we have built and to everything we have yet to build.

That is the key goal to which I will dedicate this mandate, my last one, so that when I leave this place, I know that Serbia is a better country than it was when I came to it. There is no sacrifice that I will not make for that goal and there are no things that I will not do, an effort that I will not be ready for. Because there is no compromise with ideals and that is the only thing with which there is no compromise. Everything else is subject to compromise and compromise is one beautiful, not ugly word. In the end, it is precisely because my only ideal is Serbia.

By placing my hand on the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and Miroslav's Gospel, I take on the burden of great responsibility. This is not only a responsibility towards this generation of Serbian citizens, but also towards its great predecessors, and especially towards the generations to come. Veliki Njegos says: generations have done justice.

I live in the belief that our policy will resist the court of time and that future generations, deprived of the emotions that direct participants and contemporaries always and inevitably have, will objectively evaluate our time as a time of stabilization and rise of Serbia from a safe historical distance.

Before I finish, dear friends, I want to thank everyone. I also want you here, from this convocation of the parliament or the old convocation of the parliament, because you have brought great and important changes for Serbia. You are the ones who dared to say - we do not want all the power in our hands, we want an independent judiciary. You were the only one who dared to say that and do it. You passed the most important laws, to save the people in the time of Kovid. You brought the most important measures when Serbia needed to be financially protected and preserved. You have done a lot of good for our people and citizens. It is history that will judge, not someone on a daily basis.
 
I want to thank all the former presidents of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, who have made a huge contribution to the progress of our country, who know what the state is, who with their presence today show that he who knows what the state is, never forgets duty and does not forget what the state is and always adheres to the basic principles that the state and the interests of the state must be more important than personal interests. So thank you all for being here today and for my infinite respect for all that you have done for our country.

I want to thank you, dear friends from Republika Srpska. I have worked with you, Željka, Mile, a lot in the past five years, a lot of good things, it seems to me, we have done for our people. It is certain that we made mistakes. Thank you for sometimes enduring my different views, for being able to understand that we do not have to have the same opinion on every issue, but we knew what our goal was, and that is good for our Serbian people, and that is always the case. good for the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska. Thank you for putting up with me.

Thank you, Your Holiness, for always being with our people, for always being there to share both good and evil.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my family, who have not had an easy time in the past five years. I don't want to whine, because it won't be easier for her in the next five years either, I just want to tell Danilo, Milica and Vukan that I love them endlessly and that my dad couldn't do anything without them.

Because of all the above, I will pray to God in the same way as the beautiful Rebecca West did while the Nazi bombs fell on her homeland: God, let me stick to Serbian! Long live Serbia! "

Source / Photo: www.predsednik.rs

05/25/2022

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, was in the Swiss city of Davos, where he attended the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. During his two-day stay in Davos, President Vučić participated in the Diplomatic Dialogue session on the Western Balkans, as well as in the discussion on establishing peace, restoring growth and achieving sustainability.

President Vučić conveyed that the dominant topic of the gathering in Davos was Ukraine, as well as that important topics were the upcoming winter and issues of energy, food and sustainability.

"It is important to hear what the plans are, by when the reference rates will increase, how they will play the game between growth and saving Europe from inflation, as well as what Serbia can do and keep the growth rate above average," he said. President Vučić added that the topic of the Ukrainian crisis prevailed over all other topics, that huge support for Ukraine was noticeable, without the possibility of hearing anything else.
 
"You used to be able to hear different, different things here, Xi Jinping and Angela Merkel also came, and now Davos has become a dominant place, exclusively of Western orientation. Everything else can be discussed, but within the given framework," said President Vučić. . He pointed out that he had good meetings in Davos with numerous European and world officials, adding that he spoke honestly and openly about the problems.
 
President Vučić participated in the session Diplomatic Dialogue on the Western Balkans and told reporters that Serbia is on its way to the EU and is grateful for the support it received from it, but that it is necessary to understand our position, and not just repeat it. what is expected from Serbia.

"The essence is that I was honest, open, talked about problems, pointed out a different view of the situation in BiH from most of those present, as well as different attitudes towards Kurti," said President Vučić, adding that he could not reveal details. he pointed out that they presented completely different visions of the future of the Balkans. He pointed out that there is trust between Belgrade, Skopje and Tirana, that economic cooperation is growing and everything, as he said, is going in the right direction.
 
President Vučić stated that on the sidelines of the meeting he also talked with the President of the Republic of Northern Macedonia, Steve Pendarovski, and briefly with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Andrej Plenković.

In Davos, the President also met with the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović, and invited him to join the meeting of the "Open Balkans" initiative in Ohrid.
 
At this year's forum, President Vučić also had bilateral meetings with world officials, representatives of financial institutions and leading companies in the world.

"I talked a lot about how we can position ourselves in the world today, and I also talked with the head of the American Exim Bank, about a big loan in the future for significant energy projects, for solar and later hydro projects. It was a great meeting, short "But concrete. I believe we will soon come up with concrete plans," said President Vucic.
 
During his stay in Davos, Serbian President Vučić also met with the founder and executive director of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Armenian President Vagan Khachaturian, with whom he discussed bilateral relations and the global situation.

Davos, May 25, 2022

Source / Photo: www.predsednik.rs

May 15, 2022.

The Serbian-Canadian humanitarian, non-profit organization "For Invisible Heroes" in cooperation with the association "Friends of the 72nd Special Serbian Brigade" from Pancevo organized the premiere screening of the documentary "Famous 72nd Special" and a video panel on the ZOOM platform with guests from the studio in Belgrade, at the Serbian Center at the Church of All Serbian Saints in Mississauga, May 15, 2022.

President hum. org. "For invisible heroes" Zlatko Šarac handed over GK V. Petkovic a Letter of thanks for "great support shown in organizing humanitarian actions to help veteran fighters and their families" with the slogan "they helped without hesitation". Thank you for being ready to help when they need it. "

On this occasion, GK Petković was presented with a plaque of the association "Friends of the 72nd Special Brigade" from Pancevo.

Pursuant to Article 91, paragraph 4 of the Law on the Election of Deputies ("Official News of the RS", No 14/22), the Republic Election Commission, at its session held on March 13, 2022, made a decision on determining the beginning and end of voting at polling stations abroad.

For the citizens of the Republic of Serbia who have got the Decision for voting at the polling station of the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto, the voting will take place on April 2, 2022, from 7 am to 8 pm local time (Toronto).

Please, be shore to bring with you valid Serbian Passport or valid Serbian ID card.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILUUF9Jk4eE&list=TLGG6SJoYpuktncwOTAzMjAyMg

February 16th, 2022

Molio da za detaljne informacije pritisnete na jedan od dva navedena linka:

Председнички и парламентарни избори у Републици Србији 2022. године

Predsednički i parlamentarni izbori u Republici Srbiji 2022. godine.

February 15th, 2022

Happy Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia.

Video recording of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia on the occasion of the Statehood Day of the Republic fo Serbia.

February 7th, 2022

Belgrade to get Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic attended today in Geneva the signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Serbia, the first of its kind in the Western Balkans.

The agreement was signed at the headquarters of that forum by Director of the Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment Mihailo Jovanovic and Managing Director and Head of the Forum's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Jeremy Jurgens.

The centre in Serbia will be the 16th in the network of centres of the World Economic Forum in the world and the first in the region of the Western Balkans.

The new centre will start operating on 1 March and will function as a non-profit organisation and a platform for public-private partnership and cooperation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, while the focus of work will be on artificial intelligence and bioengineering.

This centre will work within the Serbian government’s Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment and will cooperate with scientific institutes, state institutions and the private sector.

The signing of this document was also attended by founder and Executive Director of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab and President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende, with whom Brnabic had previously met.
Addressing the press, Brnabic pointed out that this agreement is the result of many years of joint work between Serbia and the World Economic Forum.

We started talking in 2018, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, then 2020 hampered us a bit, but we continued to plan in 2021 and here we are today, she said.

According to her, the centre will be focused on the development of artificial intelligence, biomedicine and biotechnology, and on the ways in which digitalisation can raise the productivity of companies and the entire economy.
This is what further leads to higher salaries, a better standard of living, as well as to an economy that is mainly based on knowledge, creativity and innovation, Brnabic emphasised.

Today, we have received great recognition for everything that Serbia has done in the field of digitalisation, development of high technologies and paradigm shift – from an economy that was based on labour-intensive investments to digital development.

That is why this agreement shows that Serbia has been recognised as one of the leaders in the economy and IT industry in the last six years, the Prime Minister pointed out and assessed that this is the announcement of the beginning of an even closer cooperation between Serbia and WEF.

She added that they will have a joint meeting with the 16 WEF centres for the fourth industrial revolution in the world every month, at which they will talk about what each of them is doing, since each has a different focus.
That is how we will hear what everyone is doing every month, learn from each other and I am sure that the centre in Belgrade will be one of the best, the Prime Minister said.

According to her, this gives us visibility, the opportunity to further establish Serbia as an investment destination, a country good for living and investing in new technologies and knowledge.

Jovanovic said that the ecosystem formed around the centre will use the infrastructure of the National Platform for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, the Centre for Genome Sequencing and the future bioeconomic centre – BIO4 Campus.

Izvor/Foto: Tanjug