Министарство спољних послова, Управа за сарадњу с дијаспором и Србима у региону од 01. фебруара до 12. фебруара 2024. године расписује КОНКУРС за суфинансирање пројеката који својим квалитетом доприносе очувању и јачању веза матичне државе и дијаспоре, као и матичне државе и Срба у региону.

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On Sunday, September 4, 2022, a new Serbian center was opened at St. George's Church in Niagara, and Canadian Bishop Mitrofan consecrated it in the presence of more than 350 guests.

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

January 12th, 2022.

Workshop for presentation of supportive business environment for research and development activities in Serbia, with a focus on the tax incentives package which will be in place from March 1st 2022.

November 12th, 2021

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stated today that severe examples of endangering the Serbian cultural, historical and spiritual heritage in Kosovo and Metohija are proof of the important role of UNESCO in protecting and preserving heritage.

At the 41st session of the General Conference of UNESCO in Paris, Brnabic emphasized that four jewels of the Serbian medieval cultural heritage in Kosovo – Visoki Decani, Pec Patriarchate, Gracanica and Bogorodica Ljeviska, have been preserved thanks to the fact that they are inscribed on the endangered world heritage list. Hundreds of other sites and monuments are endangered.

The Serbian heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is of immeasurable importance, not only for the national identity of Serbia, but also as a part of the esteemed European and world heritage, she underlined.

Source/Photo: www.srbija.gov.rs

November 2nd, 2021

"Your Excellences,

distinguished delegates,
dear Sarah,

At the very beginning, I feel obliged to thank Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Her Majesty’s Government for exceptional hospitality.

I feel privileged to represent the Republic of Serbia at this important place and at the highest-level world forum, in working on the most important topic of today – promoting climate awareness.

We all agree that we must make investment into climate and environment.

We all, likewise agree, that future generations must be educated in order not to repeat the mistakes we made, by hurting the only Planet that makes life possible.

I am very honoured that the Republic of Serbia is co-chairing this year’s Conference as a Non-EU representative of the Eastern Europe Group.

In concrete terms, we see the special contribution of our expert team in finalising negotiations on the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which refers to the establishment of the global market and non-market mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to remaining provisions referring to advanced transparency framework and common timeframes for Nationally Determined Contributions, which are the key provisions of the Agreement that have not yet been covered by the decision that is to be adopted by the Conference, i.e. all member states.

We, therefore, believe that this is an exceptional opportunity for Serbia to give its full contribution to the finalization of negotiations, which, we hope, will secure full implementation of the Paris Agreement.

As a result of strong economic development, modelled for Serbia by 2050, the impact of the implementation of climate measures to employment will be optimal, through new jobs creation and creation of new industries which have not existed so far.

One billion euros was raised at the first green bonds auction in Serbia, which clearly confirms the trust of international investors in our green agenda, but also to the economic and political stability of our country.

Incomes from green bonds issuance will be used for financing renewables, energy efficiency, sustainable water management, prevention of pollution and circular economy development and biodiversity preservation.

And as you can see, dear friends, my people made a terrific speech for me, but I am going to add a few more words and a few more questions for those that are coming from big powers and that haven’t answered yet several questions:

Number one is: how are we going to finance all these activities?

We’ve heard the story of trillions of dollars that are at our disposal. My question would be: what would be the interest rate, what would be the terms for taking these amounts of money, and actually how are we going to tackle that issue?

Number two: how are we going to treat the nuclear power plants? Are we going to shut them all or are we going to build them more?

Then, how are we going to build more renewables if we already started endorsing populist movements against wind parks, new hydropower plants, and are we going to put in jeopardy the level of our public debt to GDP ratio if we raise huge amounts of money?

How are we going to treat natural gas, and how are we going to secure decent prices of natural gas and electricity power as well?

And, I came here using an electric car from Edinburgh to Glasgow. But, how are we going to do mining and refining of lithium, nickel, cobalt and many other very important minerals?

In the end, we all know what is our final aim, what is our final target. But, it’s not a fairytale – we’ll have to work a lot, we’ll have to be 100 per cent dedicated, and we’ll have to be more honest with each other.

The health of people living in Serbia depends directly on the implementation of this Agenda, just like the health and life of each living being on Earth depends on arrangements that will be reached here and on national implementation of the respective arrangements.

Perhaps it is the right time to listen and hear the cry of Mother Earth because if we lose this race against time, our children will inherit an irreparably polluted Planet.

Thank you very much for listening to me."

October 15th, 2021

``Distinguished President of the Security Council,

Esteemed members of the Security Council,

Distinguished Special Representative,
I would like to thank Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. Guterres and Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIK Mr. Tanin for the report submitted and for their efforts made towards the implementation of the UNMIK mandate. I would also like to thank the members of the Security Council for the continued attention they have devoted to the issue of Kosovo and Metohija. The Republic of Serbia highly values the activities of the Mission of the United Nations in Kosovo and Metohija and supports it in carrying out its work as efficiently as possible, pursuant to the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, and undiminished in scope, aiming to build and preserve lasting peace, stability and security in the Province.

Mr. Tanin,

Please accept the expressions of our gratitude for your engagement and the cooperation we achieved during your term of office.

Mr. President,

Deep regret and concerns are raised by the fact that the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija in the past period has been marked by an increasing number of various ethnically motivated attacks and incidents targeting Serbs, which was also stated in the Report; that the provisional institutions of self-government (PISG) in Pristina continue to take unilateral steps and refuse to implement the agreements reached in the Brussels dialogue; and that institutional discrimination against Serbs, attacks on the sites of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the undermining of the economic sustainability of Serb communities in the Province have continued.

We are witnessing that dangerous provocations by Pristina are taking place every day, at an accelerated pace, thus seriously threatening the safety of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and directly violating the agreements and arrangements reached within the Brussels dialogue.

The latest violent incursion of the so-called ROSU units into the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, on 13 October, is the ninth incursion of its kind. Tear gas, shock bombs and unbridled violence are becoming a matter of everyday life for Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, and that must be stopped immediately.

In the last attack with firearms and chemicals used by Pristina special forces, 71-year-old Verica Djelic died as a result of chemicals used in the intervention, 10 unarmed civilians were wounded, one of them 36 years old Srećko Sofronijević was critically wounded in the back with of an automatic rifle. A three-month-old baby, who miraculously remained unharmed, was also the target of the shooting.

The false excuse for the latest unilateral action, as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell called it, was the fight against organized crime and smuggling. Ladies and gentlemen, Serbia is strongly against organized crime and smuggling, but the members of the UNSC should know that such an important and general global goal, which we all share, was cynically used for an armed attack on unarmed civilians, which began with an automatic rifle raid of pharmacies in which patients of Serbian and other nationalities are supplied with vitally important medicines. Four days before the local elections in Kosovo and Metohija, in order to gain votes in an irresponsible and inhumane way, fully motivated by separatist goals, the current PISG regime used medicines on which people’s lives depend to prove its position on the status contrary to UNSCR 1244.

Only a few days earlier, another provocation on the part of Pristina led to a dangerous crisis, when personnel of the so-called ROSU unit, armed with long firearms and reinforced with armoured vehicles, were deployed to administrative crossings between central Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija - Brnjak and Jarinje – in order to remove Serbian license plates and replace them with temporary ones, thus violently preventing the free movement of citizens.

These events do not fall within the reporting period covered by the latest Report of the UN Secretary General on the work of UNMIK, but it is incumbent upon us to address them on this occasion, in order to have everyone understand how dramatic the situation on the ground has been and how serious the consequences of Pristina's unilateral actions can be.

The incursions of heavily armed Pristina police formations, composed exclusively of Albanians, into the north of Kosovo and Metohija, under various pretexts and motives, with the use of excessive force, are provocations that have an extremely dangerous potential to destabilize the already sensitive security situation on the ground. The goal of the latest incursions of Pristina’s special force personnel into the north of the province was to provoke the Serbs and additionally intimidate them with a demonstration of force, as well as to provoke Belgrade to react hastily in some way.

It is obvious that with such moves Pristina aims to erase the 10 years of dialogue, which is the only way to resolve open issues. These provocations once again demonstrate that the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina, not only do not intend to implement everything agreed in the Brussels dialogue, but that their goal is to completely deny dialogue as a means of resolving problems. An effective response to Pristina's lack of credibility and their dangerous play with fire, which could have unforeseeable consequences, cannot be provided by calling on "both sides" for constructiveness and restraint, which has long been a manner in public communication of some important factors in the international community. There is only one source of destabilization, it has a name – and that is the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina - and after the events of 13 October, it is clear that it can and needs to be stopped by urgent and decisive action of the international community. It is now quite obvious that these are no longer sporadic and isolated provocations by Pristina, but that this is an organized campaign of ethnically motivated violence and discrimination against Serbs.

We also express our concern over the latest imposition of tariffs by Pristina on certain products originating from central Serbia, which was made public on 8 October. We remind you that the unilateral decision of Pristina to impose duties on products from central Serbia in November 2018 resulted in a de facto complete trade blockade and a long-term stalemate in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. In contrast to Pristina, which persistently seeks to raise barriers towards central Serbia through unilateral acts, Belgrade is persistently and consistently working to liberalize the flow of people, goods, services and capital, which is the basic goal of our "Open Balkan" initiative. North Macedonia and Albania joined this initiative, but Pristina did not.

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

In the period from March to September this year, which is covered in the latest Report, close to 100 ethnically motivated attacks were carried out against Serbs, their private property, religious and cultural heritage sites. The increase in the frequency of attacks was accompanied by the strengthening of the intensity of ethnically motivated violence, which more and more often targets children, the elderly, women, the few returnees present there, as well as churches and other property of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

This systematically intensifies the ubiquitous sense of insecurity of the remaining Serbs, but also deters potential returnees, who are in fact being told that local Albanian communities can attack them with impunity and prevent them from returning to live in their own homes.

The most striking example of the position of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija is the case of the displaced person Dragica Gašić, who moved into her apartment in the municipality of Djakovica again in early June. In that town – to which local Albanians proudly refer as a place forbidden to Serbs - Ms. Gašić, on her return, first faced physical and verbal attacks by citizens of Albanian nationality living there. Instead of being provided protection, that seriously ill woman then became a victim of institutional persecution as well, that the local self-government bodies and the police unleashed against her. Since this is a person who is the first and only Serb returnee to Đakovica after more than twenty years, it was to be expected that, at that moment, at least civil society organizations would attempt to protect her rights. However, NGOs from Djakovica soon joined the activities aimed at the expulsion Ms. Gašić, including those receiving funding from international donors for projects related to strengthening democracy and the rule of law.

I must also mention the latest attack on the house of the only remaining Serbian woman in the center of Pec, retired teacher Rumena Ljubić, whose windows were stoned twice in just 24 hours on 13 October.

Dragica's and Rumena’s fate is a frightening reflection of the real situation of human rights that almost every one of over 200,000 displaced Serbs and non-Albanians would face in Kosovo and Metohija - provided that they gather the courage to return to their homes in the Province after more than twenty years. I would like to remind you again that since 1999, only around 1.9% of internally displaced Serbs and other non-Albanians have achieved a sustainable return to Kosovo and Metohija.

Therefore, I believe that the aforementioned will encourage the members of the Security Council and the international presence on the ground to devote priority attention in the future

to the issue of the return of displaced persons, which is an important part of the UNMIK mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

I therefore thank the Secretary-General in particular for keeping this extremely important issue in focus and for calling again, in the conclusions of his Report, for the creation of conditions for the sustainable return of internally displaced persons and the sustainable reintegration of returnees.

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

Serbian medieval monuments in Kosovo and Metohija, including monuments that, due to their exceptional value but also constantly being subject to threats are inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger, are still among the most endangered cultural heritage in Europe.

I wish to recall that there are over 1,300 Serbian churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija. Attacks on Serbian cultural and religious heritage are at the same time attacks on the identity of Serbs in the Province and directly affect their sense of safety.

A striking example of disrespect for Serbian cultural and religious monuments in the Province is the case of the Visoki Decani monastery. The monastery, which has been the target of attacks and shelling several times since 2000, is still secured by KFOR forces due to being under a threat. It is faced with a series of hostile actions, and the perpetrators are not deterred by the fact that this is a World Heritage Site. Despite frequent declaratory statements, even the decision of the so-called "constitutional court" of the PISG in Pristina five years ago confirming ownership of Visoki Decani Monastery over 24 hectares, is not respected. We welcome the assessment made by the UN Secretary General in his Report.

Dear Mr. President,

The Republic of Serbia remains committed to finding a compromise political solution, as prescribed under Resolution 1244, which will ensure lasting peace and stability. We firmly believe that dialogue and the implementation of the agreements reached are the only right way to resolve all open issues.

As a state committed to the respect for international law and a member of the United Nations, Serbia opposes any attempt at establishing an artificial balance between the parties in the dialogue, as well as the relativization of responsibility for unilateral acts.

We note with concern that not even eight years after reaching the Brussels Agreement, the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities has not been initiated, although Belgrade has fulfilled all its obligations under that agreement.

There are also numerous and repeated examples of Pristina violating or obstructing agreements reached in dialogue, in the areas of energy, justice, freedom of movement and visits by officials.

One such example is the verdict sentencing Ivan Todosijevic to two years in prison, which is also pointed out in the Secretary General's Report. The Brussels Agreement was directly breached, which was also stated by the representatives of the European Union. With its conduct Pristina caused immeasurable damage to the reconciliation process in Kosovo and Metohija.

Despite the interpretation from the European Commission that this is a violation of the Brussels Agreement, because Todosijevic had to be sentenced by a panel consisting of the majority of judges of Serbian ethnicity, Pristina still does not take any action in this regard.

Pristina also continued with the practice of banning Serbian officials from entering the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

We believe that it is important that the international community, and especially the European Union, as the guarantor of the agreement, firmly insists that the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina start implementing all the agreements reached.

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

As before, the Republic of Serbia remains fully committed to resolving the issue of missing persons, as also demonstrated through full cooperation with relevant international mechanisms as well as participation in the work of the Working Group on Missing Persons. We expect that the representatives of the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina will fulfill their obligations.

Bearing in mind everything I delivered here today in my address, we hold the position that the international presence in Kosovo and Metohija, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, is still necessary. In addition to UNMIK, the presence of KFOR as the main guarantor of security and EULEX, due to its engagement in the field of the rule of law, is also important. I would like to emphasize once again that Serbia fully supports respect for international law, comprehensive implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and activities of UNMIK in an undiminished scope and with adequate financial resources, so that the Mission fulfills the mandate entrusted to it under the Resolution.

Thank you.``

Belgrade, Republic fo Serbia, October 11th-12th, 2021

A high-level meeting dedicated to marking the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, participated today in the High-Level Meeting, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement, and pointed out that this is a unique opportunity to discuss all issues of common interest and build new bridges of friendship. and cooperation.

"Dear friends, welcome home! Belgrade has been, is and will be a proud host to every human being who carries the soul of peace. The basic idea, around which our predecessors gathered when they founded this movement, is peace," said the president. In his address, as co-host of the Commemorative Gathering, Vučić added that peace is the basis for the development of political, cultural and economic cooperation. He thanked the heads of delegations for their presence and for pointing out an exceptional part to Serbia, as the host.

"It is a great privilege and honor for us all to gather in Belgrade today, where, I hope, in the coming days, you will feel at home," said President Vučić and stressed that he was convinced that the world of dialogue, peace and compromise is achievable and possible. He told the participants that this is an exceptional opportunity to discuss the future and that the international cooperation is the only way to the overall well-being and prosperity of all humanity.

"Despite numerous ups and downs, the history of the Non-Aligned Movement is, I am convinced, a success story," said President Vučić, pointing out  that the United Nations Agenda 2030 emphasizes and promotes three great goals - peace and security, development and human rights.

"Having in mind the mentioned agenda, the UN established the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace, and on April 24th, 2019, we celebrated that day for the first time. Serbia, as the legal successor of Yugoslavia, the founding country of the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement, is a proud promoter of policy of multilateralism and respect for international legal norms ", said President Vučić and added that he was convinced that Belgrade, as a centuries-old symbol of the crossroads of civilizations, a point of contact and meeting between East and West, where different civilizations, cultures and religions have always met, can encourage to dialogue and the construction of new bridges of cooperation.

President Vučić stated that the wish was to pay tribute to the first conference of the Non-Aligned in Belgrade, which was  held in 1961, during the block divisions, and which gave great historical significance to the creation of a different vision of the world.

"That vision is based on mutual cooperation and respect between states and peoples, and there was no room in it for the domination of one state over another. I hope, however, that we will not only talk about the past, but also about the future we want to build together, because I am convinced that the world of dialogue, compromise and peace is still possible and achievable ", said President Vučić and reminded that a large number of leaders in 1961, at a time of global turmoil and insecurity, had the courage to articulate an alternative path in the then bipolar world, despite the fact that the Movement then consisted of states of different identities, cultures, religions, and political and economic systems.

"We should not forget the essential role that the Movement played in preserving peace and security in the world and the process of decolonization, which promoted equal social and economic development of all countries," President Vučić underlined.

"The future of equals, where the same rights apply to all, is the direction this Movement has taken from the beginning, it is the idea that most countries in the world still strive for today. What we are advocating is not just a matter of interest for each individual country, but one of the greatest civilizational steps forward, which this world must take if it is to survive as a world, and not as a kind of camp in which there is no place for all, whose keys are held only by those who are rich, and those who agree to be exploited will be liberated ", President Vučić pointed out and added that the right to decide one's own destiny is not a sin, but that it is a right that should belong to everyone, regardless of their size and wealth, strength or power at their disposal.

"I think we will agree that today's world is different in many ways from 1961. Globalization, increased interdependence and the development of new technologies have undoubtedly made the planet smaller, but they have also affected our daily lives. At the same time, it is not just a word. "The number of challenges we face, which also know no borders, but the nature of all this is far more complex. That is why today, perhaps more than ever, it is necessary to work on strengthening multilateralism and the multilateral world order," said President Vučić. and stressed that each new challenge reminds us that no country is an isolated and self-sufficient island, and that cooperation and solidarity are the only path to individual and collective prosperity.

"I think this is the basis on which the members of the Movement stood united despite their differences. The Non-Aligned Movement has been and always remains a symbol of a freedom-loving part of the world ready to fight for its independence, autonomy and sovereignty and I am deeply convinced that continue to fight for these goals, because that is something that needs to be fought for, "said President Vučić and told those gathered that Serbia knows how difficult this fight is.

"Of all our struggles, the most painful is the one aimed at preserving sovereignty and territorial integrity, that is, resolving the issue of Kosovo and Metohija. Fighting for its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Serbia simultaneously defends the universal principles of the UN Charter and international law, but also some of key principles on which the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries was founded ", concluded President Vučić and especially emphasized that Serbia, despite all challenges, remains strongly committed to finding a compromise solution that would guarantee lasting peace and stability.

High Level Commemorative Meeting on 60th Anniversary of the Non Alignment Movement -NAM held in Belgrade 2021.(for more, please click on the title).

26 September 2021

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has discussed today by phone with the General Secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg about, as the General Secretary said, worrisome situation in northern Kosovo and Metohija.

President Vučić said that Serbia had not violated either Brussels Agreement or Resolution 1244 by anything, by any single move or in any manner jeopardized peace preservation.

“The complete occupation by armored vehicles of northern Kosovo and Metohija has lasted for seven days and it is conducted by Priština and everyone in the international community “are thunderously silent”, said Serbian President. “However, everyone is worried all of a sudden when they spot Serbian helicopters and airplanes at the territory of central Serbia, because apparently they should not exist, or should not take off until they receive the approval from Kurti or someone from the international community”, says President Vučić.

Serbia observes all international agreements it signed, Serbia will always conduct responsibly and seriously, but Serbia is still asking when the formation of SMC will start and when Kurti’s armored units will be withdrawn from northern Kosovo and Metohija.

Finally, with the gratitude to General Secretary Stoltenberg for the fair relation and wish to listen to the Serbian side, President Vučić asked about the norm and international regulation violated by Serbia? Today, yesterday or any time?

The two interlocutors agreed to stay in constant touch due to necessity of the preservation of peace and stability in the entire region.

 
Source/Photo: www.predsednik.rs

25 September 2021

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic warned today that Pristina has seriously jeopardised local and regional stability after sending heavily armed special units to the north of Kosovo who are exerting ` against the peaceful Serbian population.

Brnabic spoke at the general debate of world leaders, as part of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

We bring the Prime Minister's speech in its entirety:

Mr. President,

Mr. Secretary General,

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have the great honor to address you today on behalf of the citizens of the Republic of Serbia.

Esteemed Excellencies Mr. Abdulla Shahid, Mr. Volkan Bozkir and Mr. António Guterres, I would like thank you for the active engagement, dedication, and leadership you have shown during these difficult times for the United Nations and all of humanity.

Serbia shares your conviction and we remain fully committed to supporting your efforts.

This year, we come together at a decisive moment in our history.

Covid-19 has shaken our foundations to the core.

At the same time, we are increasingly witnessing and experiencing effects of climate change.

And, finally, we are seeing significant shifts in global partnerships and alliances, trade wars between traditional partners and allies, protectionism instead of openness and free market, and overall uncertainty at an unprecedented scale.

Some of the pressing and extremely emotional issues that we have locally, in the Balkans, are still unresolved and while we are trying – and Serbia is especially dedicated to this – to change the future by working together and creating alliances, through initiatives such as the Berlin process or Open Balkan, others are trying to disrupt these processes, and instead of focusing on the future, they want to recreate the past – whatever the cost of that may be.

But, let me start with COVID:

COVID-19 pandemic has exposed critical weaknesses in the architecture of global governance. It has threatened to erase the progress many nations have achieved in recent years.

It has placed nations at a junction between isolation and collaboration, between panic and hope, between chaos and order.

The pandemic questioned some of the basic tenets of the open and cooperative international order.

Global exchanges, international communication, cross-border trade have all seen a vast decrease.

Curfews, restrictions on freedom and lockdowns of entire societies have created uncertainty in many segments of the individual lives of our citizens or – for that matter – our own individual perception of what freedom in today’s world even means.

For Serbia, this pandemic threatened to undermine everything we have been doing for the past 7 years, to crush all of the results and accomplishments of difficult reforms we initiated in 2014, and to propel us back to the times of high unemployment, rising public debt, uncontrollable deficit, and overall desperation.

Much as in any other country, COVID-19 has tested our nations’ resiliency and, this time, unlike during the global financial crisis – which was of much more limited scope and incomparable in consequences to COVID-19 pandemic – Serbia stood strong.

The reforms we undertook in the pre-COVID times made us more resilient than ever.

The fiscal consolidation, the budget surplus we had, efficient and predictable investment environment, became a lifeline that saved us from a recession during the pandemic and one that ensured we could support our citizens and our economy during these, most difficult of times.

Despite the effects of the crisis, Serbia has managed to preserve financial and economic stability. In 2020, we recorded a decline in GDP of only 0.9% – one of the best results in Europe. Our public debt remained below 60% of our GDP, average salary continued to grow by almost 10%, while despite the pandemic the number of people employed increased by over 3%.

The recovery in this year has been stronger than expected – our GDP will grow approximately 7%, and perhaps even stronger.

Prior to the pandemic, we have opened our borders to investment, technology, and ideas, and we managed to create peaceful and stable environment that allowed us to pursue rapid domestic transformation, with innovation and knowledge-based economy as the foundation.

The innovative advances we had made allowed us to diversify our capabilities when the virus hit – through e-Government, online education and digital textbooks, or central software system for a successful vaccination rollout.

We invested heavily in health infrastructure and strengthened the health system in order to respond to the current crisis, eternally grateful to the health care workers for their dedicated struggle.

Our decision to put geopolitics aside, and people at the center of our policies, is the reason we were able to acquire vaccines quicker than most other nations.

We did not discriminate between manufacturers, did not care whether vaccines are from the East or from the West, but chose to negotiate with all vaccine manufacturers deemed safe by regulators. This openness gave us the ability to purchase vaccines from around the world, giving our citizens the unique freedom to choose which vaccine they prefer.

Excellencies,

Serbia believes in solidarity between nations, multilateralism and helping others when in need.

Since the beginning of this year, we have made it our mission to support our neighbors, and all those in need, with COVID-19 vaccines and we have also allowed foreign nationals to come to Serbia to receive the vaccine which will protect their lives.

In total, Serbia has donated or allocated over a million doses of vaccines – of which 230.000 doses to the region; 300.000 doses for foreign nationals which came to Serbia to get vaccinated; and additional 570.000 doses to countries of Africa and Asia.

We will keep doing so, to the greatest extent possible, and until COVID-19 is behind all of us.

That is why we have also taken steps to acquire the technology to produce at least two types of COVID-19 vaccines to help improve global access so we can all be safe and victorious.

However, as stated by dignitaries of some of the largest nations during this General Assembly, there are other pressing issues that all of us need to keep addressing without any delay and in a bold manner – and that is climate change.

Serbia has redoubled its efforts to make our country safer and cleaner for its citizens, and by doing so, contribute to the fight against climate change and for environmental protection.

We are strongly committed to the implementation of the sustainable development goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We are committed to global efforts and will continue to work actively to meet our obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

We are about to submit our revised Nationally Determined Contributions to contribute to this critical global effort. We have already announced our intention to reduce greenhouse gasses for at least 33.3% compared to 1990, and 13.2% compared to 2010, which we are currently incorporating into our energy and climate strategic documents.

We work strategically on planning and investments in this sector. These investments are extremely expensive, requiring years and decades of commitment and a systemic approach - but we are clearly set on the path of this transformation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Of all the challenges we face, the most worrisome for Serbia is the maintenance of peace and stability in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija.

For more than two decades, we have been constantly drawing international attention to the problems that non-Albanian population is facing in Kosovo and Metohija. Physical safety, respect for and protection of human rights, especially of minority communities, are far from satisfactory.

We are now witnessing a constant increase in the number of attacks targeting Serbs, their property and religious heritage in Kosovo and Metohija.

To illustrate, there were 55 such incidents in 2014, 62 in 2016, 71 in 2020, and 100 since the beginning of this year. The total number of attacks in 2020 has already been surpassed by June of this year.

According to the UN, Kosovo and Metohija is still the territory with the least number of returnees (internally displaced Serbs) of all post-conflict areas in the entire world!

I will give you just a few examples to depict how life of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija looks like.

On the 11th of May the house of Radoje Pumpalović, 81-years old returnee to Kosovo in the village of Dubrava, in Istok municipality, was attacked. This was the 5th attack on him in the same year. Again… he is 81 years old.

Since June 2021, multiple attacks were carried out against Dragica Gašić, 59-years old woman, the first Serb returnee in Đakovica after 22 years since the end of the conflict. Attacks include stoning of her apartment, banning her from shopping for food in the local store and petitions by civil society organization demanding her eviction from the city.

On 2nd of July, in the village of Gobulji near Vučitrn, a group of Albanians attacked 13-year old Nikola Perić. The attack occurred when he was returning home from the school playground with three friends.

Attacks on Serbian medieval churches, monasteries and monuments in Kosovo and Metohija, make them some of the most endangered cultural heritage sites in Europe.

Monastery Visoki Dečani was recently listed, by Europa Nostra, as one of the 7 Most Endangered Heritage Sites in Europe in 2021. The Advisory Panel of Europa Nostra noted that Dečani is the only monument in Europe under robust military protection for a continuous period of 20 years, although it constitutes a monument of ultimate historical and cultural importance for Europe and the world.

This spiral of violence occurring in Kosovo and Metohija culminated at the beginning of this week. On the pretext of enforcing new license plate rules, Priština dispatched heavily armed special units to the north of the province. This is yet another brutal violation of the Brussels Agreement, and this irrational show of force has ignited a major crisis. It disrupted the supply of food and medication to Serb communities in the north of the province. Local Serbs who peacefully gathered to protest this measure were met with tear gas and police brutality, thus seriously threatening local and regional stability.

Despite of all the challenges and daily provocations, Serbia remains strongly committed to finding a compromise-based solution that will ensure lasting peace and stability.

Dialogue and the implementation of the agreements reached – are the only proper way to resolve all open issues.

However, almost 9 years after reaching the Brussels Agreement, as the 1st agreement on normalization between Belgrade and Priština, the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities – the backbone of this agreement – has not yet even begun.

I would like to appeal, once again, to the international community, and especially the European Union, as the guarantor of the Brussels Agreement, to firmly insist that the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Priština start implementing all of the agreements reached.

The Republic of Serbia, by defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, at the same time defends international law, the UN Charter, legally binding UN Security Council Resolution 1244, and the supreme authority of the Security Council when it comes to the preservation of international peace and security.

We attach special importance to the activity of the UN mission in Kosovo and Metohija and expect it to continue to implement its mandate in the Province in accordance with this resolution.

Dear friends,

Our generation shares the common destiny of the modern world, which is becoming increasingly complex in terms of geopolitics, technology, health, climate. In the face of these challenges, Serbia will continue nurturing international partnerships, on a predictable and transparent basis.

We will continue pursuing the rule of law reforms on our EU path, which is our strategic foreign policy goal. We see this as inseparable from achieving sustainable peace, stability and prosperity.

We will host, together with the Republic of Azerbaijan as the current chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, a commemorative high-level event marking the 60th anniversary of the First Non-Aligned Movement Conference, which was held in Belgrade in 1961. We are very much looking forward to hosting our friends from all parts of the world in Belgrade in October this year.

We will further enhance cooperation across the Balkans, through the Open Balkan initiative and Berlin process, by opening borders, harmonizing differences, and further integrating our region.

In conclusion,

Over the past 7 years, Serbia has been transformed: we sparked an economic revival, created opportunities for young people, cultivated a tech boom, and improved Serbia’s position abroad. The progress we have made has allowed Serbia to better face and survive the pandemic.

The world now faces a turning point. The recovery from COVID-19 and sustainable reconstruction will not proceed if issues, new and old, are not handled by joint forces and collaborative international actions.

This pandemic taught us one important lesson: unless all of us are safe, no one is safe – so we can either win together, all of us – regardless of how rich or poor, large or small, from Europe, Asia, Africa, America or Australia, or fail together.

But, if anything, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the issue of climate change, should have taught us to stand together.

Thank you.

Source: www.srbija.gov.rs

25 September 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, has stated that in New York he introduced foreign ministers of 28 countries to economic success of Serbia but also to the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, which he also discussed with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, who told him that we could count on the support of the Russian Federation, with regards to Serbian interests in K&M.

Summarizing results of his visit to New York within the session of the UN General Assembly, Minister Selaković says that one of the last meetings was with Minister Lavrov, which was their third meeting in the previous nine months.

The Serbian Foreign Minister says that he surely used this opportunity, too, to introduce Minister Lavrov to the latest events in northern Kosovo and Metohija, the situation of the dialog between Belgrade and Priština and very clear and unambiguous attitude of President Aleksandar Vučić regarding the continuation of the dialog and subsequent events in K&M.

“We discussed the principled support of the Russian Federation, which is constantly present not just in Moscow, Belgrade, in the field, but also here in the East River, by the delegation of the Russian Federation as the permanent member of the UN Security Council. Of course, we will continue to maintain this type of dialog. What Minister Lavrov said was that we could count on the support of the Russian Federation in future with regards to our interests in K&M”, highlighted Minister Selaković.

He said that he had had the opportunity in New York to hold 33 meetings, of which 28 with ministers of foreign affairs, whom he had introduced also to topicalities related to the latest events in Kosovo and Metohija, but also to our principled position regarding the observance of the international public law, territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Minister Selaković said that his colleagues at the meetings had praised the substantial and fantastic success of Serbia in the consolidation of the economic sphere and transformation of what had been on the edge of collapse and economic disaster seven years before to the fastest growing economy in Europe, which Serbia was in the past two years.

He said that most of his interlocutors had supported our reforms and expressed great respect toward what President Aleksandar Vučić and Serbia had done in the previous period.

Many of them, says the Serbian Foreign Minister, showed great interest in the manner in which Serbia organized the figth against Covid 19.

“It was a great pleasure and pride to represent the Republic of Serbia in all these meetings. Many of my colleagues confirmed their arrival to Belgrade to the Conference on 11th and 12th October, which is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Non-Allied Movement”, said Minister Selaković.

He emphasized that it was not just the evidence of how much they had cared to come to Belgrade to the conference, but also to see and witness the Serbia which after several decades of attempts to fight different challenges rose to its feed, was economically consolidated and turned towards its traditional friends.

“That is a great deal and our country will surely during October be one of the spots on Earth of greatest importance for multilateralism, for cooperation among the countries which share the same values, the values entered into the UN Charter and which are based on the promotion and fight for peace, equality, observance of the international public law and rights of every country to pursue its path to happiness and better and more ordered society in compliance with the wishes of its population”, said Minister Selaković.

He said that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, would come to Belgrade to the conference on the occasion of the Non-Allied Movement adding that we had strategic cooperation with Azerbaijan and frequent contacts.

“We agreed to realize as soon as possible after the Belgrade conference his bilateral visit to Serbia”, added Minister Selaković.

He said that it had been agreed to intensify the cooperation and finalize the agreements which should be signed and after that realized when the meeting of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev took place.

Minister Selaković says that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had recently received its sector for economic diplomacy and there were great expectations from it and one of the tasks was to deepen the cooperation with Azerbaijan.

September 22nd, 2021

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic participated today at the Global COVID-19 summit, organised by the White House, which was opened by US President Joseph Biden.

The video messages are attended by a large number of world leaders and officials of international organizations, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British and Canadian Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson and Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and many others.

In the message, the Prime Minister pointed out that Serbia was among the first European countries to procure a covid vaccine, and that she was the first European Prime Minister to receive the vaccine.

Thanks to years of investment in digitalisation and development of eGovernment, we have managed to organise a complicated and complex vaccination process very efficiently and in a way that it is focused on citizens, she explained.

However, as she added, from the very beginning we were aware that this is not just a matter of our citizens and only our struggle. In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all safe or no one is safe.

That is why, in addition to procuring vaccines for our citizens, we donated vaccines to the citizens of the Western Balkans, but also to other countries, she reminded and specified that Serbia donated 230,000 doses of vaccines to the region, we vaccinated foreign citizens in Serbia with approximately 300,000 doses and set aside we have 570,000 doses of vaccines for countries in Africa and Asia.

Brnabic mentioned that Serbia has already started the production of covid vaccine from one manufacturer, and that it will start production from another by the end of the year, because in that way we want to help and support all people and countries that need vaccines.

This is a pandemic in which we will either win together or lose together, but we must fight together, the Prime Minister repeated.

That is why Serbia supports the goals of this global summit, she emphasised, and expressed her gratitude to the United States of America and President Biden for organising the summit and supporting joint efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vaccines are the only way out in the fight against the pandemic, concluded Brnabic.

15.09.2021.

President of Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic attended today a central event dedicated to celebrating the Day of Serbian unity, freedom and national flag on Sava square.

′′ Your Holiness, respected member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr. Dodik, esteemed president of the Republic of Srpska Mrs. Cvijanovic, respected president of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, respected president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Mrs. Brnabic, your excellency, honorable fathers, dear friends,
King Petar the First Karadjordjevic, presented June and November 1911. the 51th regiment flag to his army.
None of those flags are captured, which is a precedent in modern warfare history.

Heroes who were entrusted with the task of taking care of those flags, passed all the battles of Balkan and World War I, so that on this very day in 1918., storming under those banners, would go victoriously into the breakthrough of Thessaloniki front. Glory to our great Serbian heroes!
To our ancestors, heroes of Kolubara, Cer, Kumanovo, carriers of Kara đor đee's star and Albanian monument, Serbian tricolor, red-blue-white, was bigger and more important and more important and stronger than life, because it warned them that Serbia's freedom has no price, no alternative That's why barjaktari died, but the flags survived.
Because of them, because of all the others who under that flag, under that name, gave their lives, today we celebrate the Day of Serbian unity, freedom and national flag, perhaps the most important holiday of ours, which clearly tells us who we are, where we come from, and where we are going.

It is a holiday of our identity, the one in which language, culture, tradition, faith, but also values on which society rests, values that make one country civilized, organized, capable of remembering, but also to know what is wrong with it and why To do.

The date we chose, September 15. th, is the date of breakthrough of Thessaloniki front, that day in which, together, lie both our pain and our glory, which make up the first part of that Renan definition of the nation, by which it is based on mutual suffering, glory in the past, but also in common plan for the future.

On that September 15. th, 1918., the only plan was freedom, towards which Serbian troops rushed with the famous order of Zivojin Misic: In death, just don't stop! Forward, to the homeland!

That day was the first in a series of similar plebiscites, on which, regardless of the bloody price, we chose, nanovo and nanovo, Serbia and its freedom.

Today, precisely, it is important, that celebrating all the victims, every drop of blood they shed, every bone they sowed, on another plebiscite we adopt our new plan for the future. The one, in which we will stand under the same flag, knowing that it is the flag of freedom, and the flag of peace, but also the flag of the future.

The flag of our unity in the intention of preserving our identity and right to be who we are, one and the same people, who do not want to take anything from anyone, to endanger anyone, but only to perform for themselves the same right they admit to others. The right to name, to history, culture, language, faith, tradition and the right to exist.

It is the right to dignity, the right to remember, but also the right to what no one can force us to do, and many still try, unsuccessfully - the right to decide for ourselves and when and what to forget.

To myself, and others.

Not everything has always been quite bright during history, and most often towards ourselves, sometimes towards others, but, at least in these areas, there is no nation that has been through such darkness, and that grave, nation that has made such sacrifice to see light and became a nation, free.
What of all that we will forget, and many things we have to, just to not live forever in the past, can be exclusively our choice, not the decision of anyone on the side.

And immediately to be clear, this flag, all those who lie under it and because of it, the flag of our suffering, the flag of our bones, our pits, camps, the children they took from us, we will definitely never forget and we will proudly carry it.

In her, and that's another important lesson we have to learn, are all our meaningless divisions, all the failed dreams we dreamed, every mistake we made, but what matters in that is that, and such, that Our flag, represents that unity that is based on the fact that we are not perfect, that we are different, but also to know that the beauty of togetherness, is the beauty of the flag, exactly in that.

Exactly why, our red-blue-white tricolor is no call for single-mindedness, but the exact opposite, to preserve all our differences under one, same flag.

Under the symbol of freedom, identity, existence, rights to life, because these are the conditions for diversity.
Slaves are all the same, enslaved. Free people differ, because they are free.

And that's something that has to apply to all the people in the Balkans, regardless of where they live. To be free, to the same extent, with the same rights, with their language, faith, culture and tradition.
And it is not any special Serbian world, for which they accuse us, it is, simply, the world of the free, the world of those with their own name, with the right to speak loud and without consequences, always, and in every place.
We will never apologize to anyone again for the Serbian tricolor. We will carry it with pride always, and everywhere. There is nothing more important and more important to us than the unity of our people.

And that, according to us, has to apply to all the people in the Balkans, without any exceptions, and especially without constant attempts to allow someone, Serbs, first of all, a name, but also to add a stamp of guilt

This holiday of unity and freedom of ours, this flag of ours, play that role, they are proof that, being a Serb, does not mean being guilty, does not mean carrying the burden of condemnation, but, exactly the opposite, they say that pride goes with that name

Pride for Misar, Deligrad, Cele tower, and Takovo, Kumanovo, Milos, Djordje, Mihajlo, pride for Kolubara, Cer, Kajmakcalan, pride for Peter and Alexander, all the lives given for one beautiful, most beautiful attempt by all anti-fascists to preserve freedom in both that hardest time, but also because of the martyrs from Prebilovci, Jadovna, Jasenovac, whom we must never forget again, as we have forgotten for 70 years.

And that's us. That's Serbia. It's a new Serbia, a different Serbia, proud Serbia, which doesn't ask anyone for anything and who won't beg anyone, who just wants to have rights, just like everyone else has, and nothing more, but also nothing less.

That is the language, our Serbian language, language and Mesa Selimovic, and Ivo Andric, and Milos Crnjanski. It's the culture we created, it's faith without hatred, it's our being, it determines us and makes us a worthy nation.
That, in the end, gives us strength, science, that in this century, whose foundations are in our hands today, we seek peace and to discover our strength, greatness, in life, in what makes it better, in work, in great endeavors Making roads and bridges, in connections, in factories, new hospitals, in knowledge and faith that we can, can, equally, or more than all others.

And just like we are proud of our ancestors who gave their lives for freedom, so tomorrow our descendants should be proud of us, who teach them how to live for freedom and how to live in freedom.
And we need to teach them how to remember, and how to forget only by our own will. How you deserve dignity and how you respect the foundation.
And the foundation is that name, Serbia, under which so many unknowns are buried. And that flag of ours, in which they have woven their lives, to remain recognized. And glory, Homeland, which sees its children, hears, and helps, wherever they are.

The foundation is also this holiday, the holiday of our identity, our history, but also our differences that, again, give both glory and pain in the past, and a clear plan for the future.

And I want to say a big thank you to our people in Republika Srpska, I want to say a big thank you to his representatives, who are here, I want to say a big thank you to our people in Montenegro and its representatives, those who are not ashamed to say that they are Serbs , I want to say a big thank you to our martyr nation in Kosovo and Metohija, their representatives, who are here tonight, with us, but also to say a big thank you to all those who were not allowed to highlight their, Serbian flag today because of the threats of their regime in the region , to say thank you, because I know that their hearts are here tonight, with us and that they are beating for ours, for their Serbian people.

And allow me, in the end, to say that what I will do, however much I can, with all my strength, with all my heart, with all my soul, as much time as is left, I will lead Serbia to be even stronger, stronger, so that it can help the Republic To Srpska, never touching the rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to help our people in Montenegro, and in every place, and to protect every Serbian man from persecution, never to repeat to us again neither Jasenovac, nor Jadovno, nor Prebilovci, Neither Storm, nor Flash, nor pogroms from 2004. And that's our vow!

Let the Serbian unity live, our freedom and our red-blue-white tricolor! Let the Republic of Srpska live!
Long live Serbia!"

September 14th, 2021

Day of Serbian unity, Freedom and National flag

Serbia and Republika Srpska are celebrating a joint holiday for the first time - the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and the National Flag. It is celebrated on September 15th, the day when the Thessaloniki front was broken through in 1918 close to the end of the First World War.

In all municipalities in Serbia and the Republika Srpska, squares and central streets are decorated with the National and State flags of the Republic of Serbia. This holiday will be jointly celebrated in Serbia and Republika Srpska and in all areas where Serbs are around the world, symbolizing the unity of the Serbian people.

The timeless symbolism of this date is reflected in the fact that it is the day when in 1918, after more than two years, the Thessaloniki front finally broke through and the process of liberation of Serbia began, which ended on November 1, in just 45 days.

"In the fall of 1918, the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front began. Few of the allied forces in World War I could then have imagined that this side battlefield would soon gain such importance, and that about 62,000 soldiers of a state that many no longer even believed would decide the outcome of a victory that was practically ended the First World War. "

Therefore, please expose and wave Serbian flag where ever you are on Septemebr 15th.

Septemeber 9th, 2021. 

In the Federation of BiH, the harmonization of data on real estate catastre and land registers is underway, the so-called data harmonization. During this process, members of the Serbian corpus may lose the right to property, which is in their ownership or possession.

An obstacle to the registration of property and other property rights in the Federation of BiH is the fact that invitations to property rights holders are not sent in person, and in many cases the state, entity, canton, municipality or person who uses Serbian property without authorization is registered as the owner.

Having in mind the above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia has joined the activities in informing members of the Serb people originating from the Federation of BiH who are in the diaspora, to contact the Office for Professional Legal Assistance of the Republika Srpska on the following contacts:

Phone: +387 554 90 940
Viber WhatsApp: +38765 090 040
E-mail: pravnapomoc.banjaluka@rgurs.org
Facebook and Instagram> @kancelarijazapravnupomoc

Contacts of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Serbs in the Federation of BiH:

E-mail: odborzazastitupravasrbaufbih@gmail.com
Facebook: @srbiufederacijibih
Twitter; @OdborF

5 August 2021

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, attended the marking of the Remembrance Day of all the victims and expelled Serbs in the armed operation "Storm" and said that Serbia remembers!

"Today, when we remind ourselves again of what happened in August 1995, the terrible pogrom, the expulsion of more than 250,000 Serbs, the exodus and ethnic cleansing, we, at the same time, and finally, remind ourselves of who we are, what we are, where we come from and where we are going. Thank you all for being here together tonight and for showing how much we love our people", said President Vučić, adding that we will not forget any of the things that the Krajina people had to go through.

"For us, these are not just terrible numbers of victims", said President Vučić and emphasized that Serbia will not forget.

"History has never been rewritten like today. That is why I want to remind us all not only of what others have done to us, not wanting us to exist, but also of what we have done to ourselves, just as if we ourselves did not want to exist", said the President, noting that we must never again allow Serbia to forget its silent heroes.

President Vučić emphasized that we must never again cover our eyes, ears, and mouths in front of something that truly was a pogrom and the downfall of all humanity.

"Pretending that this is not true, avoiding saying it, is a crime not only against the victims, but also against ourselves, every living Serb, people from Krajina, as well as Serbia and its future", said President Vučić and underlined that people can stand up straight and live with themselves and the others without hesitation, fear and doubt, only if they remember.

President Vučić pointed out that Serbia must fight for peace and cradles with children, as well as that not remembering annuls and erases us from the history and the future, depriving us of the right to tomorrow.

"Our mission is a happy future for us and for the new generations! Today's Serbia is based on a clear identity and a culture of remembrance", said President Vučić and reminded that everything that had been neglected for decades had been done, and that a strong Serbia has become the master of its own destiny.

"Eternal glory to you, Serbian martyrs who perished in the "Storm" and all other pogroms. Your children are in their Serbia, taken care of, loved and successful. Sleep peacefully, Serbian falcons, the future of your children is our vow", concluded President Vučić and thanked everyone who showed that night how much they love their country and that Serbia remembers.

Source: www.predsednik.rs
Photo: www.predsednik.rs

August 2, 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, issued a decision announcing a public call for proposals for national recognitions for exceptional contribution, results and merits in the field of cooperation and strengthening ties between the home country and diaspora, as well as home country and Serbs in the region.

You can inspect the announced public call at the following links:

www.mfa.rs

www.dijaspora.gov.rs/uprava-za-dijasporu-konkursi/

07/23/2021

We would like to inform that on July 19, 2021, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, made a decision to announce a competition for co-financing projects that contribute to preserving and strengthening the ties between home country and the diaspora and home country and Serbs in the region.

You can inspect the announced competition for co-financing projects at the following links:

https://www.mfa.gov.rs/
https://www.dijaspora.gov.rs/uprava-za-dijasporu-konkursi/

22 July 2021

We have decided – our goal was and remains the EU, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said in an interview with the German daily "Handelsblatt", adding that there is no alternative for Serbia, but also stressing that China is an important partner for Serbia, and that the task of the state is to take care about the interests of its citizens.

He thus answered the question of what Serbia will choose once it has to choose between close relations with Beijing or the EU. Vučić emphasized that Serbia wants to become a full member of the EU.

"We are connected by history, common culture, EU members are already undoubtedly our most important partners", he explained and added that the trade exchange between Germany and China is 3,000 times higher than between Serbia and China, and, as he noted, even despite that, Serbia's business operations with China are portrayed as a problem.

To the statement that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not congratulate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, and that he did so, he replied that Serbia is not Germany, but a small country. On additional insistence on what Serbia will do if it has to choose between the EU and China, he underlined that Serbia has already decided, that its goal was and remains the EU membership.

"Our biggest investors are from the EU. The EU accounts for 67% of our trade while 17 percent of the trade is with countries of the region that are all on the way to the EU. We cannot survive without the EU", he added.

"But can we do a lot of good things with China – of course. And we do that, just like Germany does", Vučić pointed out, and to the remark that the quality of the Silk Road projects was being criticized, primarily because of Chinese workers, he answered that the quality of roads or bridges, which Serbia is building with China, is excellent.

"We give jobs to those who submit the best offer to us. That is why I tell Europeans who criticize Chinese projects in our country – offer us a project for one euro more and you will get it", he emphasized.

In that regard, he pointed out that Serbia is building a railway to Northern Macedonia with 600 million euros of EU aid, stating that that offer was better than China's.

"There is often talk of a 180-kilometer railway to Budapest through the territory of Serbia, which is financed by China. But the railway that is being built with the help of the EU from Belgrade to the northern Macedonian border is twice as long and no one is talking about it. It is all too political", he stated.

Asked whether he welcomes the plans of the EU and the USA regarding an alternative initiative to the Silk Road, Vučić said that he supports everything that brings advantages to our region.

"The Chinese want to expand their presence everywhere, but many processes in the West are, frankly, more efficient and without problems. We still have a lot to learn from the West, but we are getting there", Vučić said.

He pointed out that China was an important partner for Serbia and added that when the consolidation of state finances began in 2014, our country received good conditions from China for development projects.

He also stated that a competition for a copper mine was announced in eastern Serbia, at the request of the EU, that no European company had made an offer for six months, and that it had then been taken over by the Chinese.

"Our job is to take care of our people", he said.

He reminded that the Serbian economy grew by 52% in eight and a half years, which for the EU means that Serbia could be a strong member and engine for the entire region.

Explaining how Serbia is developing so well economically, he pointed out that Serbia has an excellent workforce, which speaks English, that society and administration are digitalized, and that it has the most flexible labor law in Europe, as well as consolidated public finances.

He reminded that previously the public debt was at 78% of GDP, and that today it has been reduced, thanks to the strong growth of the economy, to 52%.

"We can afford to give investors an incentive to come", he added, emphasizing that Serbia offers investment assistance, but that, for example, subsidies were not the motive for the arrival of the development center of the company Continental.

He pointed out that, five or six years ago, only Serbia started using the dual education system in this region, which Germany, Switzerland and Austria also use, that tens of thousands of people are in dual education, and that this is appreciated by foreign investors, who, in addition, can work closely with universities as well.

Germany, he stated, is the most important trade partner and the largest investor.

We started with the arrival of small textile companies from Turkey, and now primarily large German companies are coming. Today, 71,000 people work in German companies in Serbia", he explained.

Vučić said that the European perspective is very important for investors, stating that Nidek, Toyo Tires or Mitsubishi are coming from Japan to Serbia because our country is on a stable European path.

Asked if he believes that Serbia will become an EU member in the foreseeable future, he said that he does not complain.

"It is certain that if we had received 45 billion euros of EU aid, we would have been much further economically. Instead, we received 1.6 billion euros from the EU. We are used to achieving our successes on our own", said Vučić.

The President of Serbia reminded that in Croatia, salaries used to be 2.2 times higher than in Serbia, and today they are only 1.7 times higher.

"We are closing the gap with our own efforts. If we were to become a member of the EU, then we would certainly not ask for the biggest subsidies", he assures.

He said that the Serbian path follows the German path to Europe, and that Serbia wants a fair chance.

"I believe Merkel's words. She is at the end of her term and I would not have to praise her anymore. But she gave us stability, freedom of travel to the EU, helped us with the migrant crisis in 2015, and asked the Minister of Economy Altmeier and others to work closely with us", he reminded.

Asked if there were any indications that the new German government would support Serbia in the same way, Vučić expressed confidence that it would be the same.

"I know Armin Laschet, I talked to him while he was the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is very smart and understands the situation in the Balkans, and he will certainly continue Merkel's policy towards our region as the new chancellor", he added.

Vučić also expressed his belief that Russia, if Serbia's accession to the EU were concretized, would not react similarly as in the case of Ukraine, as this is a sovereign decision of Serbia.

To an additional question in this regard, Vučić pointed out that whenever he met with Vladimir Putin, and there were 18 or 19 meetings, he told him that he was grateful for the traditionally close friendship with Russia, but also that Serbia is on a clear course towards the EU.

"He asked if it was our choice and I answered that EU membership is indeed our goal", he added.

When it comes to "Kosovo", Vučić emphasized that a compromise is needed regarding this issue.

"Only in this way can there be sustainable peace. Serbia wants peace, me as well. Let's stop with the madness of the past. Only then can the whole region become the engine of new growth for Europe", said Vučić.

Source: Tanjug

20 July 2021

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, stated at a gathering dedicated to digitalization and the IT sector, which was held in New York, that since she became Prime Minister, she is most proud of Serbia's success in the field of digitalization.

Brnabić, who is on a two-day visit to the United States, said that when she was elected Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in August 2016, she wanted to do everything to change the public administration and what bothered her as a citizen.

She stated that, when she took office as Prime Minister, she knew what her priorities were and that first of all, digitalization needed to be raised to a higher level, that the education reform was supposed to begin, as well as work on strengthening the economy.

I believed in a country that believes in its people, because the Serbian people are creative. From 1 June 2017, we started working as an e-Government, i.e. we started exchanging data electronically, said the Prime Minister.

According to her, our citizens no longer had to go to, say, the Tax Administration, and since then, the public administration has exchanged 50 million documents, which means that citizens did not have to go from office to office for 50 million papers.

Brnabić pointed out that she is proud of what has been done in the field of education since she became the head of the Government, specifying that in September 2017, programming was introduced as a compulsory subject in primary schools.

Nobody believed that we could do that, but we cooperated with the private sector and some social organizations and we succeeded. At the moment, we are far ahead of numerous countries in Europe and the world, said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister pointed out that she was most proud when the cornerstone was laid for the science and technology park in southern Serbia, noting that so far, our country has four science and technology parks.

She pointed out that Serbia has since become one of the most successful countries in the world in the field of technology, and that according to some parameters, it is among the ten countries in the world, or among the five, assessing that this is proof that the country can change quickly.

Answering the question about vaccination, the Prime Minister emphasized that our country has never seen it as a geopolitical issue, but as a health issue.

According to her, Serbia talked with producers from both the East and the West and was among the first European countries to sign agreements with the company Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm.

Unfortunately, many countries have viewed this issue as geopolitical. It did not matter to us, as long as the vaccines were safe, the Prime Minister emphasized and added that this was not the end of Serbia's success, because good organization was also needed.

Brnabić explained that the organization is another important thing in vaccination, because it is a logistically very difficult process, adding that, with the help of digitalization, success has been achieved and that everything we did in the previous years has paid off.

She stated that Serbia quickly established a system through which citizens could express interest in vaccination against the coronavirus and choose which vaccine they wanted to receive, as well as to be informed by a message when to go and get vaccinated.

Now I can log in on my phone, to see how many people have received the vaccine, how many more have registered, so that the effects of digitalization are obvious. We have made everything very efficient and easy for our citizens, the Prime Minister explained.

Answering the question of what she can tell other countries of the world about how to progress faster, Brnabić said that it is important to invest as much as possible in digitalization and education.

You need to teach children how to think, not what to think. Not all children will become IT experts, but what they can learn is an algorithmic way of thinking and how to make decisions, she said.

The Prime Minister mentioned investing in high-speed internet and providing infrastructure for start-ups as an important thing for progress, because more and more economies will be based on start-ups and innovations, emphasizing that people should be helped to start companies and implement their ideas.

Speaking about social networks, she pointed out that fake news has become the biggest problem on these networks and that it will remain so for some time.

This is the biggest challenge I face as Prime Minister, especially during the corona virus pandemic, she said, adding that social networks are also a great opportunity for politicians to communicate with citizens.

Source: www.srbija.gov.rs
Photo: www.srbija.gov.rs

July 13th, 2021

The first celebration of Nikola Tesla Day at the level of the province of Ontario was held in Queens Park, on July 10th, 2021 in front of the Ontario Parliament, on the birthday of the greatest Serbian scientist.

The event  was attended by Serbian Ambassador to Canada Dejan Ralevic and Consul General Vasilija Petkovic.

On that occasion, the member of the Ontario Parliament, Tom Rakočević, handed over to the Consul General Petković a certified copy of the original of the Law on the proclamation of July 10 as Nikola Tesla Day in Ontario.

Ambassador Ralević said that in this way the Serbian community gained a significant place on the map of social and political events in Canada, while Consul General Petković emphasized that the Law states that Nikola Tesla's origin is Serbian-American, which is of great importance for Serbia. and for Serbian citizens in the homeland and the diaspora.

Ambassador Ralević and Consul General Petković were awarded letters of thanks for their contribution to the process, which resulted in the adoption of the Law on July 10 as Nikola Tesla Day in Ontario.

In addition to Consul General Petkovic and Ontario MP Tom Rakocevic, the event was organized by Nikola Tesla Education Corporation President Veroslav Vik Djurdjevic, Serbian National Defense of Canada Vice President Draga Dragasevic, University Professor Majda Djordjevic, Canadian-Serbian Alliance Vice President Tatjana Pavlović, director of the Serbian school "Nikola Tesla" Borislav Živković, physics professor Colin Campbell and David Ross from the office of MP Rakočević.

July 09th, 2021

On the occasion of the Meeting on February 15, 2021, the Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia, the President of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Aleksandar Vučić awarded the Gold Medal for contribution and merits in the promotion of Serbian cultural and historical heritage to the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada, which this year celebrates Jubilee -  40 years of existence. 

As the Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Serbia, His Exellency Dejan Ralevic, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Canada, together with the Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto, Mr. Vasilije Petkovic, presented the Gold Medal to Mr. Zarko Brestovac, President of the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada.

Having in mind the  measures against the Corona virus pandemic, introduced  by the Ontarian and Canadian governments, on the occasion of presenting the Gold Medal of the President of the Republic of Serbia to the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada, the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto organized a ceremony accordingly.

15 June 2021

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic talked today with Ambassador of Canada to Serbia, Giles Norman about bilateral relations between the two countries and cooperation in the field of economy, education and digitalization.

The officials concluded that, apart from the mining and energy sectors, in which Canadian companies have traditionally interested, there are numerous areas for interstate cooperation. This is indicated by Canadian companies that operate in Serbia and give a direct impetus to economic cooperation, the Prime Minister explained.

She cited the example of the company "Magna", which will give a significant impetus to the development of this part of Serbia by opening a new plant in Aleksinac.

The Ambassador of Canada, emphasising that Serbia has made great progress in the field of innovation and digital transformation and achieved serious results in the field of e-government, offered the experience of this country, as one of the leaders in the field of electronic services.

Brnabic invited Norman and representatives of the Canadian Embassy to join the work of the Working Group for Security and Protection of Journalists of the Serbian government, along with other partners already participating in the work - OSCE Mission, EU Delegation to Serbia, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway and Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which Norman accepted.

As stated at the meeting, the Serbian diaspora in Canada is an important link between the two countries, and in that sense, a direct airline between Belgrade and Toronto is extremely important and a direct incentive for faster development of our relations and the two sides are intensively working on introducing this line.

www.srbija.gov.rs

09. June 2021

Dear Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, members of the delegations

I would point to a few ongoing issues in my speech that refer to the competences of the Mechanism, namely, the possibility of serving the sentences passed by the ICTY and Mechanism in the Republic of Serbia, with the current practice of disabling early release of the sentenced persons as well as obligation of the Mechanism regarding protection of sentenced persons.

The second part of the speech will be dedicated to issues that are opened by the six –month Report on the work of the Mechanism by Mechanism President Mr. Agius and Report by the Chief Prosecutor Mr. Serge Brammertz, especially regarding current cooperation of the Republic of Serbia and the Mechanism.

The third part of my speech, and I noticed that in many of your statements even today, is going to be the view of Serbia on everything that took place in The Hague Tribunal and what the Tribunal verdicts brought to people in the region of former Yugoslavia.

The Republic of Serbia has initiated before the Security Council, on several occasions, the issue of possibility of serving sentences passed by the ICTY and Mechanism in the Republic of Serbia. Beside the efforts to move this issue from “square one”, not a single response was obtained from the Security Council. The majority of persons that are serving their prison sentences are citizens of the Republic of Serbia, and it comes naturally that the Republic of Serbia is interested in enabling them to serve their prison sentences in the Republic of Serbia.

ICTY and the Mechanism are making references to the Security Council as an institution in charge of dealing with this issue.

I am ready to reiterate here the readiness of the Republic of Serbia to take over obligations and liability for executing prison sentences that the Tribunal or Mechanism passed on the citizens of the Republic of Serbia, under the monitoring of the Mechanism and full respect for the authority of the Mechanism regarding early release.

Mr. President

A particular problem that we are facing with is disturbance by the judicial institutions established in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, which is within Serbia and which is under Interim Administration of the UN. We are witnesses of attempts of retrial for two citizens that are serving their prison sentences for which they had already been trialed before the ICTY. More concretely, in previous period there was an attempt for hearing of Nebojša Pavković and for obtaining extradition of Vlastimir Đorđević.

I urge on the Mechanism and Security Council to prevent attempts of violation of the principle ne bis in idem, a civilization principle that was confirmed in Article 7 (1) of the Statute of the Mechanism and to disable retrials for persons already convicted by the ICTY, particularly to make sure that it is not done in the territory which is under interim UN administration.

Mr. President,

President of the Mechanism (Mr. Carmel Agius), apart from the regular Report, delivered also on 11 May 2021 a letter to the President of the Security Council, whose subject is the alleged omission of the Republic of Serbia to apprehend and turn over to the Mechanism Petar Jojić and Vjerica Radeta, indicted of contempt of court, claiming that in this way the Republic of Serbia was acting contrary to its obligations towards the UNSC Resolution 1966 (2010) and asking the Security Council to take measures in order to ensure that Serbia meets the alleged obligations in accordance with the Mechanism Statue and Resolution 1966.

The point of the argumentation of the President of the Mechanism comes to that that the Republic of Serbia has the obligation to deprive of liberty and extradite to the Mechanism its citizens accused of contempt of court, regardless of the nature of accusation, circumstances under which such an order was made and consequences that might result from its implementation.

It is about accusations that do not refer to sever violations of international humanitarian law and that are related to a case before the ICTY, which ended in 2018 (Vojislav Šešelj case), by acquitting the defendant in the first instance, and upon the Prosecutor’s complaint the defendant was declared guilty and sentenced to a 10-year imprisonment, which was covered by the time he spent at the UN Detention Unit.

Judge Agius states that Serbia ignores its obligations in accordance with the Resolution 1966 (2010). Quite the opposite- the Republic of Serbia takes seriously its obligations regarding cooperation with the Mechanism. After the warrant for apprehension and extradition of the two persons accused of contempt of court to the Mechanism had been introduced, the Higher Court in Belgrade established that assumptions for their apprehension and extradition to the Mechanism had not been met. The decision is founded on the rules of international law and domestic law of the Republic of Serbia and it is mandatory for holders of the executive power in the Republic of Serbia.

I would remind here that the first decision of a sole judge (Aydin Sefa Akay, 12 June 2018), that was acting in this case was that the criminal prosecution of V. Radeta and P. Jojić for alleged contempt of court was to be forwarded to the judicial authorities of the Republic of Serbia. In procedures that followed, the argument of the alleged unwillingness of the witnesses to cooperate with the judicial authorities of the Republic of Serbia was stated for the first time, and the decision on deprivation of transferring the case to the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities of the Republic of Serbia was based on the respective argument.

The Republic of Serbia expressed its readiness to take over the court procedure against Petar Jojić and Vjerica Radeta on several occasions and it provided appropriate guarantees. Additionally, the Republic of Serbia fully recognizes and accepts the obligation of the Mechanism to monitor trials that were transferred to national courts with the help of international and regional organizations, as well as to take measures envisaged by Article 6 of the Statute of the Mechanism.

I would remind here that the Republic of Serbia extradited to the tribunal all the persons indicted by the Prosecutor’s Office, and among the respective mostly highest political, military and police officials; it enabled presence of vast number of witnesses, delivered extensive documentation. Obligation of the Mechanism, in accordance with the Resolution of this Security Council, is to take measures that enable transfer of cases to national justice system. In previous practice, 13 cases were transferred to Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 to Croatia and only one to Serbia.

The last but not the least, I want to remind all of you here of the fact that France- of course as a sovereign and independent country- upon request for apprehension and extradition of Florence Altman for publishing documents and contempt of court, refused the request for extradition, with an explanation that it does not extradite its citizens. For far smaller offence you ask as to extradite our citizens Jojic and Radeta, showing both the distrust to Serbian justice and judiciary and Serbian State, as well as a fact that the rule from ancient Rome is still valid – quod licet lovi non licet bovi.

It does not harm to underline that high-level officers and politicians were not trialed for crimes against Serbs, and that crimes against Serbs remained unsanctioned before ICTY and Mechanism. Let me remind you, just as an example that Ademi and Norac case for ferocious crimes against Serb civilians in Medački Džep was left to Croatian justice institutions. Proven crimes against Serbs, like those of Ramuš Haradinaj, Naser Orić, then Ante Gotovina and other indicted for military operation “Storm” that led to a complete ethnic cleansing of Serb population in the big part of today’s Croatia, resulted before the ICTY in acquittals. Many horrible crimes against Serb civilians that were committed in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, and that resulted in ethnic cleansing, simply were not the subject of interest of the ICTY.

What’s very important and not to leave anything unclear, Serbia is a country that condemns all crimes and all criminals who perpetrated them in the region of former Yugoslavia. However, it is interesting that despite often criticism Serbia is the only one that speaks openly and condemns crimes perpetrated by Serb nationals, while in other regional countries they do not speak at all about crimes that representatives of those nations committed against members of Serbian people.

And I want to emphasize once again here in front of you that Serbia condemns terrible crime in Srebrenica and extends its deepest condolences to the families of all killed in that massacre. And there are no “buts” about the respective.

Nevertheless, we are here to analyze results and penal policy of ICTY and the Mechanism and it was such that it has never gained trust among Serbian people, no matter where they live. And not because we Serbs do not acknowledge crime committed by some of our compatriots, but because The Hague Tribunal, with exceptions, was judging only to Serbs and in all three territories of former Yugoslavia- Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and Metohija, which some of the SC Member States see and name of course, contrary to law and legal norms and UN Resolutions, as an independent state. I would try to plastically prove to you how The Hague justice was tailored even though I know that it will not come to understanding of many of you, but to me it is important because of the history, facts, and school books that will be made in accordance with the facts.

Namely, Serbs were sentenced to totally 1138 years of imprisonment, and to 8 life imprisonments. At the same time, The Hague Tribunal did not sentence a single Croat for crimes against Serbs, neither in actions Medački Džep, nor Flash and Storm. How politically cunning it was done in the Tribunal, and all wrapped in the form of law and justice. Prosecutors of The Hague Tribunal chose on purpose three military and political leaders of Croats, Bosniac Muslims and Albanians, on all three mentioned territories, committed against Serbs. – Ante Gotovina, Naser Orić and Ramuš Haradinaj. It is interesting that following the same pattern, the same pattern, this injustice was shared. Namely, all of them were sentenced in the first instance procedure, with the exception of Ramuš Haradinaj, because not a single witness survived. Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment in first-instance procedure, while by a mysterious decision of the second instance council and 3:2 judge ratio, the verdict was changed to acquittal. Naser Orić, for crimes against Serbs, was also sentenced in first instance verdict, but by a mysterious decision of the second instance court, and again 3:2 ratio decision was an acquittal and he was set free of any liability. Let me reiterate, all witnesses in process against Ramus Haradinaj, either committed suicide or were killed under very, very strange circumstances.

Let me conclude, I do not want to believe that someone wants to say that there had been no crimes against Serbs, but judging by the verdicts of The Hague Tribunal, no one- absolutely no one- is responsible for those crimes.

Nevertheless, we in Serbia will show responsibility and we will fight for peace, stability and reconciliation in the region.

We ask UN Security Council Member States to help us with rational and pragmatic approach and respect for international law and not by attempts of further humiliation of Serbia. Serbia is a small country, with proud and courageous people, the one that gave the biggest sacrifice during the WWI and WWII; people who wants to leave in peace with their neighbors. And when I am asking you for this, I do not think I am asking for too much.

At the very end, Serbia is the fastest growing country of the Western Balkans region and we cannot progress unless our relations with neighbors, friends and other countries are good, solid and better. That is why- despite the selective justice that was applied in The Hague Tribunal- we will be open for any dialogue, any kind of cooperation and we will look towards the future and not towards the past. And I have only one message for the citizens of Serbia and citizens of Serbian nationality in the entire region- keep your heads up, neither Serbia nor Serbian people are convicted of anything and it is up to us to work even more diligently, to open factories and to fight for our children and our future.

Long Live Serbia!

June 3rd, 2021

As Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto, It is my privilege and honor to officially announce that today, on June 3rd, 2021, the Lieutenant  Governor of Province of Ontario, Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, signed and therefor issued the Royal Assent to the Bill on declaring July 10th,  as Nikola Tesla Day in the province of Ontario. With this act, the Law on Nikola Tesla Day in Otnario entered into force effective from today, June 3rd, 2021.

The most credit for this extremely important event goes to member of the Provincial Parliament of Ontario and the New Democratic Party - NDP, Mr. Tom Rakocevic, to whom, on this occasion, on behalf of the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto, I congratulate and express sincere gratitude.

I use this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Provincial Parliament of Ontario as well for the quick  implementation of procedure of declaring the Law of Nikola Tesla Day in Ontario.

May 31, 2021.

State secretary in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Serbia Nemanja Starovic spoke today at the opening of the exhibition regarding 80 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Republic of Serbia and Canada, in the Archive of Yugoslavia.

Secretary of State Starovic recalled that bilateral relations between Serbia and Canada were established by Decree, signed by King Petar II Karadjordjevic and by opening of the Ministry of Yugoslavia in Ottawa in 1941., adding that our two nations even before formal diplomatic contacts linked equally bright traditions.

Secretary of State Starovic said that relations between Serbia and Canada, established in times of great challenges, when our nations demonstrated courage, unity and solidarity in the fight for preserving common civilization values, speak of our two countries still being true allies today.

The Secretary of State points to the continuous Canadian support for the Serbian process of Euro-integration, noting that Serbia and Canada share awareness about the necessity of preserving peace, stability and security, as well as the vision of prosperity in the Western Balkans.

Starovic expressed confidence that Canada will recognize the efforts of our side in a constructive approach to the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which is being sponsored by the EU, where we clearly express our commitment to preserving peace and security.

Also, he reflected on the fact that in Canada lives numerous Serbian diaspora, which represents an important integrative element and a direct clamp of our two states.

Starovic concluded that eight decades of diplomatic relations represents the basis for strengthening cooperation, reflected in the solidarity we have shown in the fight against the crisis caused by the pandemic.
At the opening of the exhibition, the director of the Archive of Yugoslavia dr Milan Terzic and the ambassador of Canada in Belgrade Djiles Norman, and the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada Robert Olifant, as well as the ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Ottawa Dejan Ralevic addressed.

May 26th, 2021,  

For more information please click on link bellow bellow:

Presentation of an online competition for co-financing projects serbian diaspora.

20 May 2021

A new service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "e-Consulate" was presented in Belgrade today, intended for foreign citizens who apply for a visa and aspire to come to Serbia to work.

On that occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Nikola Selakovic said that this service was one of the indicators of good development of our country, which, as he pointed out, was becoming a magnet for serious foreign companies, which brought a large number of workers from other countries to work in Serbia.

"Not to be pretentious, but completely realistic, this service represents a turning point in the functioning of our system. E-Consulate and digitalization of the procedure for issuing work visas for foreign citizens who want to work in Serbia, is the first electronic service offered by the Foreign Ministry, and I can promise you that this is indeed our first, but by no means the last e-service", Selakovic emphasized.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that "e-Consulate" reflected the modernization of an extremely important segment of the activities of diplomatic and consular missions of Serbia, and that we were actually talking about something that was essential for the further development processes of our country.

The Minister recalled that, when the President of the Republic visited the construction site of the Moravian Corridor, he was told that some construction works were delayed because Bechtel company was not issued work visas on time.

“The moment we saw that and heard the President, I alerted the services in the Ministry. We were surprised, as we knew that the issuance of visas in Turkey had a good dynamic, and then we determined that it was actually workers from Bangladesh who applied for a visa through our Embassy in India, where we have a problem with staff shortage”, the Minister explained.

As he added, this is a demanding and laborious task, each of our employees had to receive the documentation on paper, check it, then request additional information, and only then forward it.

"Today, this has been fantastically perfected for our consular officers, all that documentation is submitted in electronic form. We used to have two filters to check the documentation, now we actually have three. And the work is significantly more efficient", Selakovic pointed out.

As he emphasized, this is a service which was promised less than four months ago and it becomes available on Monday, in 95 diplomatic and consular missions of Serbia, i.e. in all our embassies and consulates general.

The biggest result of that endeavor, the Minister pointed out, apart from the advantage it would bring in the future work, was the fact that it was not a project of one state body, but a joint endeavor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IT and eGovernment Office, General Secretariat of the Government, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, National Employment Service.

“We did an extremely good job in record time. This is to the pride of our Ministry, to the pride of the entire state. I am convinced that in the period ahead, we will further modernize our affairs and make Serbia one of the few countries that has such mechanisms and such state-of-the-art provision of consular services", Selakovic said.

Speaking about the "e-Consulate" portal itself, the Minister explained that there is a cartoon of Nikola Tesla and the building of the old railway station with one crane, which actually symbolizes a historical fact - that Tesla was in Belgrade in the year when it was built.

"Today it is the place behind which the Belgrade of the future is rising, and what we managed to do together is an indicator of something that is the future of Serbia, the development of artificial intelligence, IT and creating conditions for more people to live and arrive here in Serbia in the future seeking good life and employment", concluded the Minister.

The Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, Mihailo Jovanovic, said that this was the first time that e-services were focused on foreign citizens, which was the case with our citizens so far.

In the period from 1 January 2019 to 17 May this year, the most applications for Serbian visas were submitted at the Embassy in Beijing, 6,766 applications, then in New Delhi - 2,973, Shanghai 2,115, Tokyo 1,798, and Cairo 1,756.

In that period, 1,270 requests were submitted in Algiers, 1,095 in Jakarta, and 1,077 in Beirut.

In terms of their nationality, Serbian D visa for employment is most requested by citizens of China - 9,516 applications, followed by India 1,955, and Ukraine - 673.

Why invest in Serbia - Brochures of Development Agency of Serbia can be found HERE

For more infomration, please click on the picture below.

April 29, 2021

The program for connecting with the Serbian diaspora "Point of Return", with the support of the Office for Information Technology and Electronic Administration of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, provided a special date for vaccination of Serbian citizens from the diaspora.

Citizens of Serbia living abroad will be able to be vaccinated on May 15 in Belgrade, and applications for immunization are available on the website of the association "Point of Return" https://tackapovratka.rs/poziv-za-vakcinaciju-dijaspore.

Applications are open until Friday, April 30 at 11:59 PM, and everyone who applies will receive a confirmation of the date of vaccination, as well as the exact time when they should appear at the Belgrade Fair.

Citizens of Serbia from the diaspora will be able to choose between the vaccines "Pfizer", "Sinofarm" and "Sputnik Ve", while they will receive the second dose at the Belgrade Fair on June 5.

The invitation refers exclusively to Serbian citizens living abroad.

21st April 2021

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić talked today via a video link with the representatives of the delegation of the International Monetary Fund led by the Head of the Mission, Jan Kees Martijn. The interlocutors concluded that Serbia's main goal remains to preserve the hard-earned reputation of a fiscally secure country, as well as to continue with a responsible fiscal policy so that public debt does not exceed 60 per cent of GDP, whereby Serbia continues to work on further economic growth.

During the conversation, President Vučić and Jan Kees Martijn especially referred to the incentive measures and adopted three packages of measures to help the economy and citizens, which preserved macroeconomic stability and even achieved a higher employment rate. Martijn commended the responsible economic policy of Serbia and the successful crisis management during the pandemic.

"Serbia achieved one of the best results last year despite the challenges of the pandemic", Martijn said, noting that Serbia was one of the few countries to which the IMF did not adjust the initial projection of the 5% growth rate it gave last year.

President Vučić added that following the first quarter of 2021, Serbia is well on its way to achieving the planned growth of 6% as planned, since one of the main focuses of the Government is investing in large infrastructure projects and intensifying work on attracting foreign direct investments.

"In 2020, Serbia was at the very top in terms of economic growth in Europe, and I am convinced that this year we can enter the first three or four countries in terms of growth", said President Vučić, adding that he was satisfied that Serbia still, despite the pandemic situation, has an extremely strong inflow of investment.

President Vučić and Jan Kees Martijn also discussed a new advisory arrangement, which is of special importance in light of the improvement of the general investment climate in Serbia, as well as in the context of even greater investor assurance.

"Given Serbia's tremendous progress over the past eight years, the priority goal of this arrangement will be to preserve the results achieved, but also to provide support for further implementation of structural reforms aimed at even faster, stronger and more sustainable growth", said President Vučić and thanked the IMF and the personal engagement of Jan Kees Martijn in the professional and expert support that Serbia is counting on.

President Vučić pointed out that Serbia will pay special attention to reforms in public companies, and that priorities will continue to be investments in infrastructure, creating an even better climate for investments, greater investments in the environment, science and capital projects, which will further contribute to the long term stable financial growth in the coming years.

Source: www.predsednik.rs
Photo: www.predsednik.rs

20th April 2021

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić met today with the Regional Director of the World Health Organisation for Europe Hans Kluge, to discuss cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as cooperation in improving health care in our country and other joint activities.

President Vučić thanked Dr Kluge for his personal engagement and support during the current pandemic, especially for technical assistance and expertise. On this occasion, he informed the WHO official about the results of immunisation in Serbia and plans on how to provide the vaccine to all citizens who want to get it.

Dr Kluge congratulated President Vučić on his leadership and personal commitment to provide vaccines. He emphasised that Serbia, with its good immunisation strategy, ranked among the global leaders, thus becoming an example of humanity and solidarity by enabling vaccination of elderly people in rural areas, foreign citizens and donating vaccines to other countries.

"Serbia has accepted the vaccine as a life-saving product and has not looked at it geopolitically", said Dr Kluge.
 
The two interlocutors agreed that the world should increase production capacities for vaccines, as well as develop new adequate therapies for the fight against COVID-19, and, in this regard, work on increasing the level of citizens' trust in science.

President Vučić informed Dr Kluge about the plans for improving the work of the Institute for Virology, Vaccines and Sera "Torlak".

"We want to make 'Torlak' one of the best vaccine factories in Europe", said President Vučić.

Source: www.predsednik.rs
Photo: www.predsednik.rs

19 April 2021

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic talked today with World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge about the epidemiological situation and the course of immunisation of citizens in Serbia.

Brnabic expressed gratitude for the cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, technical assistance and expertise, emphasising that the support of this organisation is very important for our country.

She informed the WHO Regional Director for Europe about the course of immunisation of citizens in Serbia, expressing her belief that, thanks to the large number of vaccinated people, we will be able to create collective immunity and return to normal life.

Kluge assessed the immunisation process in Serbia as impressive, and added that Serbia has made a good decision to offer citizens all available vaccines used in the fight against coronavirus.

Expressing concern over the emergence of new strains of the virus, he stressed the need to speed up the immunisation process and show mutual solidarity.

The WHO Regional Director for Europe praised Serbia for the humanity it has shown by donating vaccines to the countries of the region and enabling vaccination for those who do not have a sufficient number of vaccines for their citizens.

The Prime Minister said that Serbia will continue to cooperate with the countries of the region and help in accordance with its capabilities.

When it comes to the project "Roadmap for Health in the Western Balkans 2021-2025", it was stated that, if epidemiological conditions allow, a regional meeting will be held in Belgrade at the end of the year, important for future improvement of cooperation between countries in the field of health challenges.

Source: www.srbija.gov.rs
Photo: www.srbija.gov.rs

13 April 2021

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic stated today that Pristina further persisted in its campaign of hatred against the Serbian people, which was most drastically seen in the unfounded accusations of mass rapes and genocide.

At the UN Security Council meeting discussing the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the work of UNMIK, Selakovic emphasized that the efforts of the provisional institutions in Kosovo and Metohija to create a narrative about mass rapes of Albanian women were obvious, and that propaganda methods and lies were used for that purpose.

"It is clear that there were victims on all sides in the conflict, as well as that our side has evidence of numerous Serb victims. But the precondition for ensuring the protection of rights that belong to each individual victim is a rational and well-argued approach", Selakovic said responding to the slander of the Pristina representative.

Selakovic underlined that, contrary to the claims of politicians from Pristina about 20,000 raped Albanian women, the information provided by the Commission for the Verification and Recognition of Sexual Violence Victim Status indicates 912 raped persons, however, failing to include in this number the Serb women who were victims of violence.

"Let me emphasize that Serbia condemns every act of sexual violence in conflicts and is committed to achieving justice for all victims. The number of victims certainly does not diminish the horrific effect of this type of violence on each victim individually, but also, speculating on numbers does not contribute to justice being served and leads to politicization and slowing down the reconciliation process", Selakovic said.

Regarding the genocide accusations, Minister Selakovic stated that they only went to prove that Pristina further persisted in its campaign of hatred, propaganda and open hostility towards the Serbian people.

"Through statements given on a daily basis, they attempt to paint a picture that Serbia is to blame for everything and that genocide was committed against Albanians, all in order to hide their own responsibility for the committed crimes", the Serbian Foreign Minister said. 

He underlined that anyone who knew what the definition of genocide implied would understand that it was not Serbia that committed something, but that the Serbian people was instead a victim of the "state-building" project of the Kosovo Albanians, based on the dangerous idea of ethnically clean territories, as evidenced by more than 200,000 expelled Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija.

"We are convinced that the civilized world will not agree to be their accomplice in concealing and covering up their crimes, and that a clear message will be sent to them that they must take responsibility for their actions", Selakovic said.
He reminded that until 1999, around 40,000 Serbs lived in Pristina, and that today there were only about twenty of them, that around 17,000 Serbs lived in Pec, and that today there were only the Serbian nuns in the Patriarchate of Pec, that around 12,000 Serbs lived in Prizren before the war, and that today only 17 families remained there, and that in Urosevac, out of 10,000 Serbs who lived there before the war, only the family of a Serbian priest remained.

13 April 2021

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic warned, at the United Nations Security Council meeting, that the political extremism among Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija was not decreasing, but on the contrary, was becoming stronger.

At the meeting discussing the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the work of UNMIK, Minister Selakovic recalled that the obligation to form the Community of Serb Municipalities  remained unfulfilled for 2,917 days now and that, in fact, 19 April marked eight full years since the agreement was reached in Brussels, while Pristina still refused to follow up on its commitment and enable the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities. 

The Minister reminded that the current Prime Minister of the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina repeatedly threatened to unite the self-proclaimed Kosovo and Albania, and that he also stated that the dialogue with Belgrade was low on the list of his priorities.

Minister Selakovic pointed out that it was high time for Albanian leaders in Pristina to show responsibility in fulfilling their commitments, but also a sincere commitment to reaching a compromise solution and building mutual trust.

"Serbia is determined and will not give up on identifying a compromise solution, which will be sustainable for future generations as well. The only way to build lasting peace and stability in our region is by working to build trust and insisting on positive political agendas", Selakovic concluded.

According to the Minister, lasting peace and stability can only be achieved if none of the participants in the dialogue pursued maximalist demands and insisted on the complete humiliation of the other.

He pointed out that the Serbian and Albanian peoples, as the two most numerous peoples in the Western Balkans, needed to find a way to reach reconciliation and a basis for cooperation, both in terms of the economy and in achieving shared prospects for membership of the European Union.

"Belgrade has made sincere steps in that direction, by being one of the initiators of the idea of relaxing the flow of people, goods, capital and services, popularly referred to as "mini-Schengen", the Minister underlined.

Pointing out that Serbia had time and time again demonstrated its commitment to dialogue as the only way towards a peaceful, political solution to the problem in Kosovo and Metohija, Selakovic underscored that the recent elections in the Province confirmed that political extremism among Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija was not decreasing, but on the contrary, was becoming stronger, which could be seen during the recent pre-election process.
Minister stressed that political pressures on Serbs continued even after the election process was completed, by denying Serbs fair representation in provisional institutions as the new so-called government in Pristina decided to assign only one ministry to the Serb community.

"Serb returnees represent a particularly vulnerable category, who spend their every day in fear of being attacked. I remind you that the southern Serbian province is still an area with the lowest return rate of displaced persons in the world", the Minister said and emphasized that, in the last year alone, more than 80 attacks and incidents took place in our southern province, targeting Serbs, their property and religious sites.

It is particularly worrying for the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, Selakovic noted, that in the previous period, and especially in March this year, there were frequent physical attacks on the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

"A striking example of the disrespectful attitude towards Serbian cultural and religious monuments in the Province, whose exceptional universal value UNESCO confirmed by inscribing them on the World Heritage List, is the case of the Visoki Decani Monastery", the Minister underlined.

Furthermore, the Serbian Foreign Minister assessed as concerning the breaking into the Health Center in Strpce by police inspectors and officers, in January this year, who conducted a search aiming to discover Covid-19 vaccines there, originating from central Serbia.

"Although we consider this to be an intrusion into a health care institution, our reaction was restrained this time as well. We did not want our decisions to cause escalation and politicization of activities that are solely aimed at protecting public health. We organized the vaccination of citizens from Kosovo and Metohija at three locations in central Serbia and thus clearly demonstrated that people's lives are the top priority to us", the Minister stressed.

Minister Selakovic stated that Serbia highly valued the activities of UNMIK mission in Kosovo and Metohija and that it supported it in carrying out its work as efficiently as possible and undiminished in scope, aiming to build and preserve security in the Province.

Selakovic said that the international missions in Kosovo and Metohija - UNMIK, KFOR, EULEX and the OSCE mission, under the administration of the United Nations and in line with UNSC Resolution 1244, played a key role in the preservation of peace and protection of the population.

"We support and respect their engagement and efforts made in the framework of their mandates, with the common goal of creating conditions for a peaceful and safe coexistence of the inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija. The Serb and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija have the utmost confidence in the international presence and consider it a guarantor of security and a barrier against the arbitrariness of the provisional institutions in Pristina", the Minister emphasized.

He said that this demonstrated the need that international missions remain engaged in an undiminished scope, in order to consistently implement UNSC Resolution 1244.

Selakovic further emphasized the importance of KFOR international forces and pointed out that any unilateral attempt to assign to someone else or that someone else assumes a part of KFOR's mandate and responsibilities constitutes a violation of UNSC Resolution 1244.

The Minister also noted as unacceptable the unilateral decisions on the formation of the Pristina "Ministry of Defence" and launching the process of transforming the so-called "Kosovo Security Forces" (KSF) into the so-called "Kosovo Army". 

At the beginning of his statement, Minister Selakovic lodged a protest against the abuse of the video format of the session by the representative of Pristina as she had a flag of the self-proclaimed "Kosovo" placed behind her, and the representative of Russia did the same.

Below is an integral version of the speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic

Distinguished President of the Security Council,

Distinguished Special Representative,

Esteemed members of the Security Council,

At the outset, I have no choice but to lodge a protest against the abuse of the video format of this session on the part of the representatives of Pristina in order to promote the symbols of the so-called statehood of Kosovo. Despite the fact that the representatives of Pristina were warned on several occasions, including by the President of the Security Council at the previous session, that such abuses of Security Council sessions are absolutely unacceptable and constitute a flagrant violation of the Security Council rules on participation of representatives of the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina, under Rule 39 of the UN Security Council Rules of Procedure, we are again faced with their reckless disregard for the rules of this distinguished body. Let me reiterate our call for the necessary steps to be taken to prevent such abuses.

It is my great pleasure to address this august body at the meeting on the work of the Mission of the United Nations in Kosovo and Metohija. At the outset, I would like to thank Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. Guterres and Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIK Mr. Tanin for the report submitted and for their efforts made towards the implementation of the UNMIK mandate, and also to the members of the Security Council for the continued attention they have devoted to the issue of Kosovo and Metohija. The Republic of Serbia highly values the activities of the Mission of the United Nations in Kosovo and Metohija and supports it in carrying out its work as efficiently as possible and undiminished in scope, aiming to build and preserve security in the Province.

Mr. President,

In the previous period we have faced political instability in Kosovo and Metohija. We recently had elections in the Province, which unfortunately confirmed that political extremism among Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija is not decreasing, but on the contrary, is becoming stronger. We have witnessed Albanian leaders competing among themselves in efforts to find the best way to provoke an incident in Serb communities, in order to score political points of the Albanian electorate. Under the pretext of amending the voter list, a large number of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were deprived of one of their fundamental political rights - the opportunity to elect their political representatives. Out of approximately 140,000 of citizens of Kosovo and Metohija who were removed from the voter list in the latest election process, 85% are Serbs.

Despite numerous challenges and problems, the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija have shown, by high turnout and a convincing victory of the Serb List which won all ten seats reserved for Serbian representatives, that nothing can stop them from resolutely defending their position. Political pressures on Serbs continued even after the election process was completed, by denying Serbs fair representation in provisional institutions as the new so-called government in Pristina decided to assign only one ministry to the Serb community.

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

Unfortunately, it was not only during the election activities that we witnessed the unreasonable anti-Serb policy being pursued by the provisional institutions in Pristina. This goes to the length of breaking into the Health Center in Strpce, in the south of Kosovo and Metohija, by police inspectors and officers from Pristina, in  January this year, who conducted a search aiming to discover Covid-19 vaccines there, originating from central Serbia, which they did not find. In doing so they demonstrated force and threatened to arrest the director of the Health Center, medical staff and doctors. At a time when the whole world is fighting the pandemic with vaccines being the only way to end this challenge, while Serbia is showing support and solidarity by donating vaccines and medical equipment to all in need in the region, Pristina wants to destroy vaccines only because they originate from central Serbia. As the whole world expresses gratitude to medical doctors, who have made great and heroic sacrifices in combating the virus, the provisional institutions in Pristina are attacking Serbian doctors for doing their job.

Although we believe that intrusions into health care institutions are inadmissible, our reaction was restrained this time as well. We did not want our decisions to cause escalation and politicization of activities that are solely aimed at protecting public health. We organized the vaccination of citizens from Kosovo and Metohija at three locations in central Serbia and thus clearly demonstrated that people's lives are the top priority to us. Serbia continues to be ready to help all in need of assistance, and we call for reason and responsibility, especially in such difficult times.

Mr. President,

Attacks targeting Serbs and their property have been on the rise. In the last year alone, more than 80 attacks and incidents took place in our southern province, targeting Serbs, their property and religious sites. According to the information provided by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and Metohija, in the second half of last year, the number of incidents increased by more than 30% compared to 2019. Therefore, we cannot agree with the assessment that the "security situation in Kosovo remained stable, with a few incidents reported affecting non-majority communities". Last weekend, for example, an entirely unprovoked physical attack by a group of Albanians on two Serb young men took place in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Serb returnees represent a particularly vulnerable category, who spend their every day in fear of being attacked. The fact that one family of returnees was the target of seven attacks clearly indicates the persistence of those who do not want Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. There is absolutely no trace of political will in Pristina for 212,995 displaced Serbs who have been living outside Kosovo and Metohija for 22 years to return to their homes. Since 1999, the rate of sustainable return of internally displaced persons in Kosovo and Metohija has been only 1.9%, which according to the UN data is officially the lowest percentage of return of expelled population after a conflict anywhere in the world.

At the same time, while arresting internally displaced persons, Pristina authorities are exerting the strongest of pressures on the Specialist Chambers in The Hague. The aim is to completely prevent the further processing of a number of cases against members of the terrorist KLA, on charges of serious crimes committed during the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija against both Serbs and persons belonging to other nationalities. President of the Specialist Chambers Madam Trendafilova recently warned that, should the pressures continue, this would have very dramatic consequences to the trials in progress. President Trendafilova underlined as highly problematic the phenomenon of witness intimidation, who are key for conducting proceedings successfully and rendering a proper verdict.

Although the wait to raise indictments was far too long, we consider it commendable that efforts have finally been made to punish the perpetrators of numerous serious crimes which were committed during the armed conflicts a little over two decades ago, but also upon the arrival of the international forces to Kosovo and Metohija. For example, no one has been held accountable to this day for the killings and abductions of 17 journalists in Kosovo and Metohija, which is currently the largest number of unsolved cases of murdered and kidnapped journalists in Europe. Furthermore, the perpetrators of any of the mass crimes committed against Serb civilians after 1999 have not been brought to justice. I will remind you of only a few of these cases: 14 Serb farmers were killed in the village of Staro Gracko, 12 displaced Serbs were killed and 43 wounded in the attack on the "Niš Express" bus in Livadice near Podujevo, and in Gorazdevac near Pec unknown persons fired automatic weapons on children who were swimming in the Bistrica river. Two Serb children were killed then, and four were seriously injured.

We expect the EULEX Mission to continue to support the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor's Office, as well as its additional engagement in the field of the rule of law. Special attention needs to be devoted to witness protection, and determining the fate of missing persons.

International missions in Kosovo and Metohija - UNMIK, KFOR EULEX and OMIK are an integral part of the international civilian and security presence in our southern province, under the administration of the United Nations and in line with UNSC Resolution 1244 (1999), and play a key role and make an outstanding contribution to the preservation of peace and protection of the population. We support and respect their engagement and efforts made in the framework of their mandates, with the common goal of creating conditions for a peaceful and safe coexistence of the inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija. The Serb and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija have the utmost confidence in the international presence and consider it a guarantor of security and a barrier against the arbitrariness of the provisional institutions in Pristina. This further demonstrates the need that international missions remain engaged in an undiminished scope, in order to consistently implement UNSC Resolution 1244.

I would like to further emphasize the importance of KFOR international forces and point out that any unilateral attempt to assign to someone else or that someone else assumes a part of KFOR's mandate and responsibilities constitutes a violation of the UNSC Resolution 1244, while also being a potential source of instability and tensions. I will remind you that Pristina, contrary to international law and completely ignoring the interests and positions of the Serb community in the Province, would not abandon its plans to install a new security actor in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. We consider the unilateral decisions on the formation of the "Ministry of Defence" and launching the process of transforming the so-called "Kosovo Security Forces" (KSF) into the so-called "Kosovo Army" to be unacceptable. I would like to reiterate that such unilateral moves on the part of Pristina constitute a gross violation of the UNSC Resolution 1244 and the Military Technical Agreement, according to which only the International Security Forces, that is KFOR, have the mandate for all military aspects of security in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija.

In this context, an additional reason for concern is the announcement of the construction of the largest base of the "Kosovo Security Forces" in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, which Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija perceive as the most open provocation and threat to their physical safety.


Distinguished members of the Security Council,

It is particularly worrying for the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija that in the previous period, and especially in March this year, there were frequent physical attacks on the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In just two weeks, as many as seven Orthodox landmarks in the province were targeted by vandals, at a time when we all remember the March 2004 pogrom against Serbs and Serbian holy sites in Kosovo and Metohija. The condition of the Serbian cultural and spiritual heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is humiliating, including the four monuments that are inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger (Visoki Decani, Holy Virgin of Ljevisa, Gracanica and the Patriarchate of Pec). Numerous administrative and technical barriers are imposed on priestly and monastic communities, which makes it more difficult or even impossible for them to survive on church property.

A striking example of the disrespectful attitude towards Serbian cultural and religious monuments in the Province, whose exceptional universal value UNESCO confirmed by inscribing them on the World Heritage List, is the case of the Visoki Decani Monastery.

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

The reason for the nervous behaviour of Pristina is all too obvious, as the project of the so-called independence today fails to be recognized by more than a half of the United Nations Member States, including five members of the European Union. However, it is high time for Albanian leaders in Pristina to show responsibility in fulfilling their commitments, but also a sincere commitment to reaching a compromise solution and building mutual trust.

I will remind you that the current Prime Minister of the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina has repeatedly threatened to unite the self-proclaimed Kosovo and Albania in the past. A member of his party publicly said last weekend that the self-proclaimed Kosovo and Albania would be united, I quote, "with rifle and gunpowder, or referendum boxes".

I need not explain why such dangerous ideas constitute a direct threat to peace and stability. They violate Resolution 1244, while continuously destabilizing not only our southern province, but the entire region as well, and in no way contribute to the dialogue process, but instead hamper it again.

We have demonstrated time and time again our commitment to dialogue as the only way towards a peaceful, political solution to the problem in Kosovo and Metohija. Even today, after many years of negotiations, but also failure to fulfill what was agreed and constant unilateral moves and provocations on the part of the provisional institutions in Pristina, we are still ready to sit down at the table and talk.

We are ready for dialogue but not to be blackmailed and threatened and especially not for ultimatums recently presented by Prime Minister of the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina. I will remind you of his statement that the dialogue will be low on the list of priorities of the Pristina authorities. It is bewildering how Pristina refers to ultimatums completely undermining any chance of dialogue, as the European Union also pointed out, as "principles" and how it persistently insists that Belgrade should recognize the unilaterally declared independence of "Kosovo", upon which, they believe, all else would be resolved. What is the purpose of the dialogue then, if Belgrade is only expected to recognize the so-called Kosovo? Does the dialogue imply that one side should give up everything only for the other to win it all? And does the dialogue, in Pristina's opinion, imply that what was agreed should not be fulfilled?

I will remind you that Pristina still refuses to follow up on its obligations arising from the agreements reached so far and does not agree to discuss their implementation within the dialogue. And the situation is quite simple - in April 2013, the first agreement was signed in Brussels, which envisaged four obligations: one for Pristina and three for Belgrade. Belgrade has fulfilled all obligations, while the only obligation that the provisional institutions in Pristina had - to form the Community of Serb Municipalities - has remained unfulfilled for 2,917 days now. In fact, 19 April marks eight full years since the agreement was reached in Brussels, and of Pristina's failure to fulfill the obligation to form the Community of Serb Municipalities.

Distinguished Mr. President,

Regardless of the discouraging messages heard from Pristina and the fact that the dialogue has been in progress for many years, Serbia is determined and will not give up on identifying a compromise solution, which will be sustainable for future generations as well. Lasting peace and stability can only be achieved if none of the participants in the dialogue pursues maximalist demands and insists on the complete humiliation of the other. The Serbian and Albanian peoples, as the two most numerous peoples in the Western Balkans, need to find a way to reach reconciliation and a basis for cooperation, both in terms of the economy and in achieving shared prospects for membership  to the European Union.

Belgrade has made sincere steps in that direction, by being one of the initiators of the idea of relaxing the flow of people, goods, capital and services, popularly referred to as "mini-Schengen".

As far as Serbia is concerned, we are convinced that the only way to build lasting peace and stability in our region is by working to build trust and insisting on positive political agendas. The inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija, of any nationality, whether they are Serbs or Albanians, do not deserve anything less.

Thank you for your attention.

April 9th, 2021

"Vaccination of foreigners, primarily from the region, is a huge success for Serbia. It is a way of raising common security, because without safe people in the region, even people in Serbia are not safe. Most of the foreign citizens in Serbia were vaccinated from Bosnia and Hertzegovina, Northern Macedonia and Montenegro.

In recent days, due to great publicity in the media around the world and the well-organized process of procurement of vaccines and immunization in Serbia, there is great interest in vaccination in our country, not only from the region but also from much of Western and Central Europe. A   large number of inquiries were recorded even for "vaccine" tourism, both of citizens from those parts of Europe, and of tour operators, travel agencies and airlines.

Serbia is currently focused on vaccinating its own citizens, but we will try to help our friends and neighbors in the fight against the corona in the coming period through vaccine donations.

In recent days, the interest of the domestic population in vaccination has increased, and Serbia is recording daily records in vaccinating its own population.

If there is a possibility in the following period for vaccination of interested foreign citizens (without registered residence in Serbia), Serbia will, with great satisfaction and in accordance with the capacities, try to meet such requests. In that case, we will inform the public in a timely manner. But we must note that this is not possible at this time.

Foreign citizens can express interest in vaccination in Serbia through the e-Government portal, but it is important to note that this is not enough and that it is necessary to receive a return confirmation and an invitation with the date and location of vaccination. That is why it is not recommended that foreign citizens, only with expressed interest through the e-Government portal or even without it (since there are such examples at vaccination points), come to Serbia on their own initiative for vaccination and thus expose themselves to unpleasant situations and costs. "

24 March 2021

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic made a statement on the occasion of marking the Day of Remembrance of the victims of the NATO aggression.

"Your Holiness, distinguished Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, distinguished Speakers of the National Assemblies of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, distinguished Prime Ministers of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, distinguished Ministers of both Governments, dear guests and friends, representatives of the Serbian People from Montenegro, North Macedonia, Croatia, thank you for the fact that we are all together tonight and that the Serbian spirit is unbreakable and invincible.

One child a day and a little more than that. That is the most difficult, sickening and painful number of the NATO aggression from 1999. Killed, stopped, guilty of nothing, having committed no sin, without the right to defence, without the right to justice and without the right to life.

No one has ever been held accountable for this crime, a crime greater than a crime. No one, for the 2,500 killed civilians, but also soldiers and policemen who were only guilty of guarding, protecting themselves and their homes. No one has ever been held accountable for more than 6,000 persons injured.

Even today, 22 years after the aggression, it is not possible to explain that, there is no universal justification, despite all the work done to that end, there is no reason, it makes no sense, and only names remain, as eternal as sin.

Miljana Milic, fifteen years old,
Vladimir Milic, twelve years old,
Miomir Mladenovic, fourteen years old,
Dragan Dimic, three years old,
Julijana Brudar, ten years,
Olivera Maksimovic, twelve years old,
Miroslav Knezevic, thirteen years old,
Dajana Pavlovic, five years old,
Stevan Pavlovic, eight years old,
Marko Simic, two years old,
Milica Rakic, three years old,
Ivan Ivancic, seven years old,
Marko Ivanovic, three years old...

And the list goes on, eighty nine names, not only Serbian ones...

The senselessness of sheer killing did not choose. Sixteen children, aged two to seventeen, from the Ahmetaj and Hasani families, were killed in a convoy returning home to Prizren.

In one headline in the West, this was simply explained as a "tragic mistake". The deaths of Marko Roglic, Milan Ignjatovic, Gordana Nikolic, Irena Mitic, Milica Stojanovic, Bojana Tosovic, Branimir Stanijanovic, our Sanja Milenkovic...could not expect or get even such an explanation.

Those deaths were not tragic, for those who caused them, much less a mistake. It was just an excuse, a miserable excuse.

They were a result of intent and a clear decision, as a severe judgment against one country, its people, its children.

And that is why today we will refrain from speculation in giving a name to everything that happened during the spring of 1999. Because a crime happened, a heinous and terrible one. And it was an aggression, not a bombing, not an intervention, not a campaign, not an operation. An aggression is what happened. An attack on a sovereign country, without a decision of the United Nations, without a sufficient reason that would justify attacking the then Yugoslavia or a neighbouring or NATO country.

No one was attacked by Serbia or the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at that time. They attacked us, with one goal. To defeat us, to keep killing us, and in the end to take away a part of our territory.

And no matter how much we analyze things today, no matter how harsh and critical we are towards ourselves, our policy and leadership at the time, it is clear that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia were left with almost no choice then. The choice was horrible, either the loss of territory and people on the one hand, or the complete disappearance of the Serbian state, morals, honour, Serbian spirit, names and surnames. And we could not help but lose. Nineteen big ones attacked one small country, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. They attacked both Serbia and Montenegro. And even when they don't talk about it today, in one of the two independent countries, those are the facts. And that small country, and that small nation, to all nineteen of them so great and powerful, held a lesson in what matters most - honour, morals and love for freedom that a nation can have.

Yes, justice, lest we forget justice. All those nineteen great ones today still silently talk about their military success, avoid answering questions, while - can you imagine, one small, only numerically small Serbian people, that small but magnificent nation, with sadness, tears in their eyes, proudly remembers their resistance and struggle against the nineteen cruel and arrogant ones.

We lost a lot, we lost our fathers, brothers, spouses, children, but the honour and Serbian heart are still there, to protect Serbia, which is eternal and indestructible.

We lost children, we lost people, we lost control over a large part of the territory, we lost billions because of the destroyed infrastructure and economy.

And all that was left for us was the body of a tortured, destroyed country, a country in disintegration, mutilated, looted, wounded, deserted, and guilty, condemned for everything that happened not only in the 1990s, but throughout history.

A country that, even ten years after the aggression, did not have the strength to stand up, rise to its feet, and do anything but be silent, or bow its head and obediently apologize, for everything, even for its dead, even for its murdered children.

Today, it is no longer that failed, tortured, devastated, mutilated Serbia.

Today, it is Serbia, which has found its strength and its pride again.

Serbia, which calls things by their real names.

Serbia, which turned its back on war and defeats, and started working.

Serbia, which rose to stand on its own feet and has a voice of its own.

Serbia, which, even when they don't believe it, they listen to. Which is capable, which is growing, and is no longer part of the problem. Serbia, which is and will be, at least we will do our best to this end, the very solution that enables the entire region to live in peace and understanding.

And that Serbia, today, when there are still many more bombs in the world than vaccines, sends not bombs, but precisely those vaccines to the region. Today, it is ready to produce them as well, and in just a few months we will do just that, but not only for ourselves, but also for others, for the entire Balkans.

We are ready, and we are willing to help.

We are not ready to be and we will not be silent, nor be humiliated again.

We draw the right to that not only from the victims we had, but also from the fact that we stopped looking at others only a long time ago, and looking for fault and guilt only in them, and not sometimes in ourselves as well.

We looked at each other and admitted. Every loss, every defeat and every crime that someone committed in our name, every failure and every wrong policy.

And we are no longer doing anything that could endanger anyone.

We continue to work and work, and grow more and more, gaining strength with only one goal - to be the best in economy and education, health, in culture, science, sports...

And we want to be safe, on our own. We want our army to be much stronger than it was in 1999. So that we never again face a situation that someone is killing our children, destroying the country, or expelling our people.

We want to remain free, to decide our own destiny, and for no one to take everything away from us ever again, and give us nothing.

And that nothing today, and I will repeat it as much as necessary, is the idea of some great, powerful ones, but also those who serve them, the idea that "Kosovo" should recognize us, so that we could recognize "Kosovo".

We do not need that recognition. And Serbia will not allow you to walk over our victims, our history, our past, but also to walk over our future. You will get the answer of reasonable, kind and responsible people. We need a compromise. We need all the obligations that we and Pristina have assumed to be fulfilled, but only we have fulfilled them so far.

And this is not our whim. It is not a phantasmagoria about a Serbian world that we want to create.

Even today, when they threaten us with the formation of a Greater Albania, when they say that the Community of Serb Municipalities is not going to happen, it is ours to be calm, to take care of our people in Kosovo and Metohija, but to send a clear message to all those great, powerful ones that we are not as weak as we were, that we will be able to preserve what is our own, not touching anything that belongs to anyone else. After all, Serbia is not and will not be but a handful of oats that every crow from the whole wide world can eat. As for those who used the strength and power of the nineteen arrogant and cruel ones, I only ask them not to threaten us. Please, please, don't threaten us. They should not think that Serbia is broken and that it will not have the strength to respond. Please, please, our Albanian neighbours, do not threaten us. And we ask all others, who have demonstrated their cruelty towards Serbia, not to help you in that. That is all we are asking and nothing more.

And we will respond to calls for peace, calls for compromise, and always with good will, because we do not want to have children killed again. And we do not want the children of others to suffer again. But do not underestimate Serbia, and do not look at Serbia with the same eyes as you did in 1999.

Today, Serbia is much stronger, much more powerful. Today, Serbia is a united country of togetherness, not a divided one. Today, Serbia is incomparably stronger and better in every aspect than it was in 1999, from the economy to our army. And we will never threaten anyone, we just ask you and request from you to respect us and nothing more.

Today, we are building roads that will connect us, among ourselves, with the region and with the world. Until the end of the year, we will work on eight motorways, on eight routes in the entire Balkans, not only Serbia, eight roads of peace and cooperation.

Only a crazy person would trade this for war, for dead children, for demolition and new loss. And yes, we want to have the closest relations with everyone who took part in the aggression against our beautiful Serbia, we have forgiven a long time ago, but no, we will never forget. And don't ask us to. That one day, every year, we will remind both ourselves and you. The nineteen of you, the most powerful, strongest, greatest in terms of might and force, but not so much when it comes to honour and morality. We will keep remind you and ourselves, just so it would never happen again. Not to us only, but to none other freedom-loving people in the world.

And if we have an offer, today it reads as follows: we are ready to make the whole Balkans a winner, for everyone to win, as long as no one tries to make Serbs the only losers.

And the path to this goal is not difficult at all.

We just need to respect and understand each other and not try to humiliate each other.

And not to touch into what everyone paid the highest and bloodies price for. Freedom. And we, Serbs, know the price of freedom.

Into our right to have it, to keep it and to remember all the victims who are part of it.

And our defeats, our lives and our children are built into ours. And the lives of our heroic pilots, and our giants from Kosare and Pastrik, and our children, innocent, completely innocent, and only guilty of living in Serbia.

This is too high a price to be quiet about it.

Because that would mean that we are ready for another defeat, for another humiliation.

And we are not.

And when all go quiet, we will keep repeating.

A child a day, and a little more. This was how much you killed us. In an aggression that even you did not understand why you carried it out.

And we will keep repeating this, just so it does not happen to us again.

With special reverence, we are fulfilling our obligation to pay tribute to all innocent Serbian victims who laid their lives on the altar of the homeland, both civilians and our heroic soldiers and policemen, the heroes of Kosare, Prizren, Mitrovica.

Today, for us Serbs, life in Kosovo and Metohija is like Via Dolorosa, using their last strength on the road to Golgotha, but we would not be Serbs if we were not capable to "exist in a terrible place".

And today, tonight, I can conclude with one important sentence. On the soil of Europe, there was, and today is stronger than ever, an indomitable, unwavering, unconquerable and never conquered Serbia.

May eternal glory be to all the victims of the NATO aggression and let us all exclaim together - long live free and proud Serbia", President Vucic said.

Source:www.predsednik.rs
Photo:www.predsednik.rs

La République de Serbie en qualité de membre associé à l'OIF, de concert avec toute la communauté francophone dans le monde entier, célèbre le Mois de la Francophonie. Pour tous les amateurs de la culture serbe et de la langue française, le Ministère de la Culture et de l'Information de la République de Serbie a préparé un vaste programme et L’Ambassade/la Mission permanente/le Consulat de la République de Serbie à…… vous invite à découvrir la diversité et la richesse de la culture serbe en français.

La République de Serbie au Mois de la Francophonie 2021

March 17th, 2021

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic participated today in the commemoration of the Remembrance Day of 17 March 2004 - Pogrom in Kosovo and Metohija. He said that exactly 17 years ago, a pogrom took place in Kosovo and Metohija, and that pogrom surpassed all other crimes.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest, these words of Elie Wiesel, a camp survivor and Nobel laureate, make it forever incumbent upon us not to remain silent against crime, regardless of who and for what reason committed it", President Vucic stated and added that we remembered and learned every lesson in which we were losers, each one in which we were silent to our own victims, and each one when we were ready to forget.   

"Serbia is no longer weak today, nor is it a country of losers, it does not threaten, but it does not forget either, it is ready for talks, but not for humiliation. Serbia, just like everyone else, has the right to take care of its people, their safety and well-being. The right to life is a fundamental human right and we will always defend it", President Vucic said.

President Vucic said that pogrom surpasses all other crimes, because it is not only an act, but an intention, a policy, a premediated attempt to forcibly cleanse persons belonging to other peoples and faiths from a region or a country.

"We have no right to remain silent to that", said the President of Serbia, emphasizing that we have an obligation to be winners without blood spilled and war, to be the best in the economy, healthcare, sports, education and everything else that implies development and progress.

"We also wish others to work on themselves and be successful, because we are aware that crime is a tool for losers that winners do not need, as they remember, but forgive and move on, while the losers keep spinning in the same vicious circle. We Serbs do not want to be that anymore, we want a future in which we will remember, but from which we will not return. We know what happened and we call it by its real name", President Vucic concluded.

Photo: Dimitrije Goll

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic said today that the fight against all forms of crime was a top priority of the Serbian Government and an integral part of the EU accession process.

"It is also our moral duty, in order to leave a better world for the generations to come", Selakovic said participating via video-link at the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, held in Kyoto.    

Minister Selakovic emphasized that Serbia, in its Second Serious and Organized Crime Threat Assessment from 2019, identified as its goal to eliminate cybercrime, human trafficking, terrorism and irregular migration.

The Serbian Foreign Minister pointed out that our country had established in a timely manner a normative and institutional framework that regulates prevention of abuse in this area, as well as that the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Cybercrime, a special court department and a special police unit were established. 

The Minister underlined that, in the field of the fight against corruption, Serbia was guided by the postulates set out in the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention against Corruption.

Selakovic pointed out the efforts made by the Anti-Corruption Agency, as an independent state body, to protect the public interest, build individual and institutional integrity, strengthen transparency and accountability of the public administration.

"We strongly condemn all forms of terrorism, including extremism and radicalism, and call for them to be fully eradicated, while implementing the relevant UN resolutions and conventions and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy", the Head of Serbian diplomacy underscored. 

In order to combat these complex phenomena efficiently and successfully, Selakovic said, it was of vital importance to build capacities of our societies and states, while exchanging experiences at the regional and global levels.

Minister Selakovic thanked Japanese Ambassador Hikihara for the skill he showed in conducting the talks on harmonizing and adopting the Kyoto Declaration, which, as he stressed, was an important indicator of the commitment to creating and maintaining the institutional framework for crime prevention as one of the main preconditions for promoting sustainable development goals.

"Back in 1970 when Japan hosted this event for the first time, we demonstrated strong political will to draw attention to the problem. Today, it is incumbent upon us to reaffirm this willingness and resolve and translate it into concrete steps", the Serbian Foreign Minister said.
 

8 March 2021

18 February 2021

The Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected His Eminence Metropolitan Porfirije of Zagreb-Ljubljana, PhD, as the new Serbian Patriarch, in its convocation in Memorial Cathedral of Saint Sava in Belgrade on 18 February 2021.

Immediately after the election a thanksgiving service was officiated and Many Years was chanted to the Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch Porfirije. Bells at Saint Sava Cathedral in the Vracar district of Belgrade rang a few minutes before 4:00 pm indicating that the 46th Patriarch of Serbia was elected.

Newly-elected Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch Porfirije (Peric) was born on 22 July 1961 in Becej, to father Radivoje and Mother Radojka. He was baptized as Prvoslav. He finished primary school in Curug, and the “Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj” Grammar School in Novi Sad. He was ordained a monk according to the rite of small schime by his spiritual father, then hieromonk Dr. Irinej (Bulovic), at Decani Monastery on Sunday of St. Thomas in 1985.

He graduated from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade in 1986, when the then Bishop of Raska-Prizren Diocese, future Serbian Patriarch Pavle of blessed memory, ordained him a hierodeacon at the monastery of Holy Trinity in Musutiste.

He attended postgraduate studies in Athens from 1986 until 1990. That year, upon the blessing of Bishop Dr. Irinej of Backa, he joined the monastery of Holy Archangels in Kovilj, where he was ordained as hieromonk and became its abbot.

Many young monks and novices came to the monastery following him. These were the years when the Kovilj Monastery became a spiritual center for many young people: intellectuals, artists, popular actors and rock musicians, especially from Novi Sad and Belgrade. Since then abbot Porfirije has particularly dealt with drug-addicted patients. In 2005, he formed for this purpose a therapeutic community called “The Land of the Living”, which is recognized as the most successful drug-addiction therapy project and, under the leadership of Bishop Porfirije, it has more than a hundred residents in camps throughout Serbia today.

During the ordinary meeting of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade on 14 May 1999 he was elected as Bishop of Jegar, Vicar of the Diocese of Backa.

He defended his PhD thesis Possibility of knowability of God in St. Paul’s understanding according to the interpretation of Saint John Chrysostom at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Athens in 2004.

He became a lecturer at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology - Department of Pastoral Psychology - succeeding famous psychiatrist, academician Dr. Vladeta Jerotic. His lectures have been attended not only by students of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, but other Belgrade faculties as well.

Together with a group of experts: psychologists, doctors, criminologists, sociologists, Bishop Porfirije founded a civic association that deals with the resocialization of victims of destructive religious sects and cults.

Bishop Porfirije has not been just president of the Steering Board for a decade, but a real spiritus movens of the Humanitarian Fund “Privrednik”, which has provided scholarships for a great number of gifted, but poor pupils and students, regardless of their nationality or religious affiliation.

In 2005, the National Assembly elected him as representative of all Churches and religious communities, to be a member of the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency, and in 2008 the RBA elected him its president. As President of the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency, Bishop Porfirije supported the long-term interests of society and citizens, unaffected by political influences.

Since then, church radio stations have been heard in the broadcasting spectrum of Serbia. He has made a key contribution to launching of a series of radio and television shows dealing with religious topics.

In 2010, The Holy Assembly of Bishops entrusted him to establish military chaplaincy in the Serbian Armed Forces. The fruits of his labour in that field include not only the suitable legal regulations, but also the selection of military chaplains, the organization and equipping of churches at barracks and performance of the first religious services.

His expert theological works Bishop Porfirije published in magazines both in Serbia and abroad. He participated in a large number of scientific conferences and symposia across the globe.

Bishop Porfirije, as one of the most prominent contemporary Serbian clergymen and intellectuals, has an extremely wide circle of friends, not only in the Homeland, and he fosters personal friendship and close cooperation with priests and representatives of other Churches and religious communities.

He speaks Greek, English, German and uses the Russian language, while his style of communication is always adapted to his interlocutors.

He was enthroned as the Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana on 13 July 2014 in the Cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Zagreb. The solemn Hierarchal Liturgy was served by Serbian Patriarch Irinej, accompanied by a large number of archbishops of the Serbian Church and other sister Churches, as well as priests and monks, and pious people.  Source: SPC/Serbian Orthodox Church

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić received today the letters of credence from the newly appointed Ambassador of Canada, Giles Norman, and welcomed him emphasising that he takes office in Belgrade in the year when Serbia and Canada mark a significant jubilee - 80 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

President Vučić and Ambassador Norman stated that the jubilee is both an opportunity to strengthen political dialogue and an incentive to develop partnership and Serbian-Canadian ties in all areas.

President Vučić expressed satisfaction that Canadian investments are on the rise because that means that the Serbian market has proven to be a good place to invest. He expressed hope that, in addition to mining and energy, other economic areas will be of interest to Canadian business people. He also said that in Serbia we could use Canada's experience in environmental protection.

The two interlocutors expressed hope that a direct airline between Belgrade and Toronto would be opened soon, which would contribute not only to the improvement of economic relations but also to a better connection between Serbia and Canada's citizens. On that occasion, they pointed out that the Serbian community, which lives on Canadian soil, represents an important bridge between the two countries.

President Vučić also expressed gratitude for the support that Canada provides to Serbia's European path, emphasising that our country is seriously approaching reforms, especially in the area of the rule of law.

Ambassador Norman welcomed Serbia's commitment to a solution to the Kosovo and Metohija issue through dialogue.

Ambassador Norman expressed respect for how the Serbian authorities are successfully responding to the challenges of the pandemic. He also informed President Vučić about the plans for the production of the vaccine developed by Canadian experts.

Belgrade,
17th February 2021

February 15th, 2021, at 22.00 hours.

Please click the picture.

February 15th, 2021

Please click the emblem.

President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Army Aleksandar Vucic attended a demonstration of capabilities of one part of Serbian Army units in the "Rastko Nemanjić" barracks in Pancevo. On this occasion, President Vucic stated that Serbia was ready to continue the EU-facilitated dialogue with Pristina at any point, while respecting also the position of the United States as well as the positions of Russia and China.   

The President said that he would rather put his "head on the chopping block" than sign any document with a recognition and reminded that he had already once refused to do so in Washington, where there were two versions of the agreement.

He stated that he immediately had his delegation leave the meeting, that he told the U.S. delegation that Serbia would not sign such an agreement, while conveying that Serbia would always endeavour to hold peaceful talks in order to preserve peace, but that it would not take any humiliation.

The Serbian President thanked the U.S. President Joe Biden for the letter of congratulations on the occasion of the upcoming Statehood Day, in which, in addition to the usual emphasis on commitment to promoting economic cooperation, regional stability and democratic values, he unequivocally called for mutual recognition of Serbia and "Kosovo" as a result.

Mutual recognition between Serbia and "Kosovo" is not part of any act of any world organization, the President pointed out and reiterated that Serbia was ready to continue the EU-facilitated dialogue with Pristina at any point, while respecting also the position of the United States as well as the positions of Russia and China.

According to the president, the situation is difficult and will only be increasingly difficult.

"As I told you three days ago, I can see it and I expect it, I can see the situation slowly tightening, because the conflicts between them at the global level have been increasing and intensifying, and then we have to pay the price", the President said.

President Vucic said that said that it was up to our state to continue strengthening the country in the economic sense.

The President added that the role of the army was very important in the highly complex security and political conditions of the modern world, and that was why Serbia needed to do everything it could to deter any potential aggressor and attacks on citizens and the country.

"The policy of strengthening the armed forces will continue at a faster pace", the President emphasized, adding that the goal was for the Serbian Army to play a stabilizing role with regard to the political developments in the region.

According to him, it should be clear to everyone that Serbia was not a punching bag and that not everyone could attack and threaten it like it was the case in the past.

Vucic said that he was pleased with what he saw and that a lot had been done in the previous period, pointing out that the salaries of military personnel would be significantly increased as of April.

President Vucic also stated that investments in the Serbian Army would continue, whom he told that he expected the Army to continue to be the guardian of our country, its integrity and freedom.

"We expect you to be the guardians of our country, its integrity and freedom, the defenders of our people, the guardians of the homeland, the protectors of the interests of the state of Serbia and to be a deterrent factor for every aggressor and anyone who might consider attacking Serbia", Vucic said.

The military exercise called "Spearhead" demostrated the capabilities of the 72nd Special Operations Brigade, and the event, which the President of Serbia and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Army assessed as very good, was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojsa Stefanovic and Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilovic.

Photo: Presidency of Serbia / Dimitrije Goll

Belgrade,
7 February 2021

26 January 2021

Serbia's foreign policy positions are naturally being adjusted to the new developments at the international level, but our foreign policy priorities have not changed in a long time. Our top and most important interest is to preserve good-neighbourly relations and stability and peace in the region and, in the same context, to find a peaceful and just solution to the problems in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said in an interview with Politika daily.

Another lasting interest of ours is full membership of the European Union, because this is the type of society we strive for. At the bilateral level, our goal is to strengthen ties with traditional friends, the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, but also to build new partner relations with the United States. One of the most important tasks of our foreign policy is to improve the position and protect the rights and identity of our people in the region, as well as to provide various types of support to Serbs in the diaspora. All these are very important and more often than not complementary goals, Nikola Selakovic pointed out.

What kind of relations do you expect Serbia to have with the new U.S. administration?

It is too early to speculate about this in public. The new presidential administration in Washington is currently preoccupied with internal issues and this will be the case for some time. There are people in the team of President Joseph Biden who have dealt with our region, and it is likely that the Balkans and Serbia will be the focus of the U.S. foreign policy at some point. I will remind you that President Vucic and President Biden not so long ago had very substantive talks in Belgrade, after which our President stated that he had the opportunity to talk to someone extremely well acquainted with the situation in this part of the world and an extraordinarily prepared interlocutor. Taking their personal relationship into account, but also the importance of enhancing the ties between Serbia and the United States, we have reason to expect that a meeting between the two presidents will be organized in the foreseeable future. I am sure that the nature and dynamics of the relations between Serbia and the United States will be influenced by the fact that Ambassador Marko Djuric now represents us in Washington, whose presence at President Biden's inauguration ceremony is an important signal and, I believe, a harbinger of positive developments in bilateral relations between our two countries.

How would you describe our country's relations with Moscow, Brussels and Beijing?

Russia is our traditional friend and that friendship goes beyond merely political ties. These are deep spiritual, cultural and civilizational bonds, and it is only natural that we have a mutual interest in improving those ties, even though they are at a very high level. We have a relationship with the People's Republic of China which is, in addition to the sincere iron-clad friendship between our peoples and high political representatives, based on deep trust and mutual support. Full membership of the European Union is Serbia's strategic orientation that all our friends are aware of, but our country does not forget its friendships, but strengthens and promotes them instead, and approaches all with honesty and no ulterior motives. In this context, we do not seek any preferential treatment, but only the right to freely and independently make decisions about our future and relations with all who respect us. 

Could Serbia pursue a different foreign policy than the one it is pursuing at the moment?

It is always possible to have a different policy, just look at the foreign policy of Serbia ten, twenty or thirty years ago, examine the results at that time and you will realize how irretrievably expensive that policy turned out to be. Whether a policy is right, at either foreign or domestic level, is measured through its results and effect on the lives of citizens and the fate of the entire state.
Our foreign policy priorities are not being defined on a whim, but are instead the result of a serious and deep examination of our complex position and strategic thinking about ways to improve it. Today, Serbia has a better international reputation and credibility than two decades ago, and the main reason for that is that our results have shown how serious and responsible we are as a country. That kind of credibility is not achieved by trickery, but only by hard and well-thought-out work on oneself. And I need to emphasize on this occasion as well that the main inspiration for such an attitude towards politics, the state and its future comes from none other than President Aleksandar Vucic. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I have the opportunity on a daily basis to see the level of appreciation and respect President Vucic enjoys beyond the borders of our country.

When can we expect the vacant posts of Serbian ambassadors and consuls across the globe to be filled?

That is one of the main tasks for 2021. This will be a year of reinvigoration and I believe also rejuvenation of Serbian diplomacy. Our country, given its size, has a fairly extensive diplomatic network, which provides it with great opportunities for deepening political and economic relations with countries in all parts of the world. But we need more fresh and energetic staff, people who will be the most honourable representatives of a modern and dynamic Serbia. There are such people in Serbia, and we do need a serious rejuvenation, in order to avoid wide generation gaps in our personnel, and to lay the foundations of a modern career diplomacy.

How would you describe your relationship with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic?

President Vucic and I are, in addition to having close and friendly relations, by virtue of the work we do and our constitutional competencies, the closest collaborators in the realization of Serbia's foreign policy goals. This allows me to talk to him often, and on many occasions learn a lot of new and important things. President Vucic is a man who inspires people around him with his strategic and visionary approach to politics, and I am proud to have had the opportunity to be part of his closest team of associates over the years, and to have had him as a kind of political mentor. In any case, his vision of Serbia as a modern, progressive and prosperous state, which independently and on its own will decides on its destiny, is my wish as well and key motivation for political engagement. For only such Serbia is a country that its own citizens, as well as Serbs beyond our borders, can confidently rely on, while also being an inspiration to the entire region.

Source: Politika

Belgrade, January 20, 2021

The Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia has announced a competition for co-financing a project in the field of translating representative works of Serbian literature abroad in 2021, which will be open from January 19 to March 9, 2021. You can read about the details at the following link https://www.kultura.gov.rs/konkurs/30/600690372a8d5

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic pointed out that Serbia is the first in Europe in terms of economic growth, which will be officially confirmed at the end of March, and that this was possible owing to the reform measures taken since 2014 and the rapid opening of the country after the first wave of corona virus.

The President pointed out that Serbia had a growth of 5.2 percent in the first quarter, while the Eurozone was at minus 3.2 percent, in the second quarter Serbia had minus of 6.3 percent, while the Eurozone was at minus 14.7 percent, and in the third quarter, when the Eurozone was at minus 4.3 percent, Serbia's figure was only minus 1.4 percent.
Vucic stated that Montenegro, for example, recorded as much as 26 percent minus in the third quarter.

Furthermore, the President emphasized that hospitals were built and renovated in our country, and that two hospitals were built from the ground up in just four months.

He said that the state made significant efforts to procure respirators, masks, gloves, protective suits, medicines, everything that was needed, and pointed out that work was being done on 10 general hospitals throughout Serbia, adding that all these were major achievements that were only possible owing to the success of the 2014 reforms, the enactment of the Labor Law, which yielded excellent results, and also through fiscal consolidation measures.

"These are unprecedented results for Serbia. Was Serbia ever before the first in Europe in terms of growth rate? We will get the results on 31 March that will confirm that Serbia is number one in Europe. All that was possible thanks to people who believed in difficult changes", Vucic said.

According to the President, this year, as many as six highways will be built in Serbia at the same time, and in this regard, he noted that Bulgaria has announced that the highway from our border to Sofia will be completed by the end of the year, after which it will be possible to use motorway to travel to Istanbul, which is very important to ensure that our country is on a transport route.

President Vucic emphasized that in 2020, the so-called year of corona, our country had a net inflow of foreign direct investment amounting to EUR 2.9 billion net, and three billion gross, which means that many foreign companies such as Toyota Tires, Boysen, ZTF and Brose have invested in Serbia even in this year of crisis.

The President said that Serbia has the highest average wages in the region, amounting to 511 or 512 euros, and that in February, due to the January increase, the average wage will be 535 or 536 euros, and that only in Belgrade in the last seven years the average wage increased by 180 euros or 40 percent.

That President said that Serbia was fourth in the region in terms of salaries before, and that today we are officially the first, and that the difference in relation to other countries will only increase faster. He also pointed out that the employment rate is growing in Serbia as well as that our public debt increased less than in most European countries. This is illustrated by the data that in Italy the public debt surged to 156 percent, in Germany to 87 percent, in France to 114 percent, in Croatia to 88 percent, while in Serbia it is at 57 percent.

The Serbian President announced that by Sretenje, 15 February, an additional package of assistance to the economy will be earmarked, and as he explained, it will be a new capital injection for companies, the trade, entrepreneurs, small, medium and large enterprises which, as he said, concerns 1,052,000 people within that system.

Vucic specified that it will most likely be help in the form of two or three payments amounting to half a minimum wage each, and that there will also be sectoral aid for tourism, hotel owners, travel agencies, guides, for bus carriers, through another half minimum wage payment.

The President added that efforts will be made to extend the guarantee schemes as well, which proved to be excellent, amounting to 1.5 billion, and this time, through the same system, two more portions amounting to 500 million each could be provided.

Vucic said that the first agreements with DFC worth 300 to 400 million dollars are expected in seven days.

He also stated that the state will endeavour to help pensioners further, in addition to increasing pensions by 5.9 percent in January, which will be reflected in their first checks in February, and added that pensioners should by March receive symbolic aid in the form of packages with vitamin C, D and zinc, which, as the President said, are small things, but they reflect the state's care and efforts made to protect health.

The President announced that negotiations on the procurement of the Chinese vaccine would be completed in the next seven to eight days, after the first quantities of the Pfizer and Sputnik V vaccines have arrived in Serbia, and pointed out that the Chinese vaccine was of exceptional quality, but probably the most expensive, which is why he wrote to the Chinese President and asked for a discount for our country.
Vucic thanked the Americans for deciding to sell the vaccine to our country and noted that no one in the region other than Serbia has received it, except for the small quantity that Albania got.

He pointed out that our state relied on itself and its own capacities, and that our state leadership anticipated that vaccines within the European COVAX plan would arrive late.

The President rejected the claims about bad results of Serbia in the fight against the corona virus and stated that our country has recorded the lowest corona virus mortality rate in the region.

He presented statistical information indicating that Slovenia had 144 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, North Macedonia 126, Bosnia and Herzegovina 123, Bulgaria 115, Montenegro 115, Hungary 110, Croatia 107, Romania 85, and Serbia 51.

"The mortality rate in the region is as follows: Bulgaria 3.9, Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.7, Hungary 3.11, North Macedonia 3.03, Romania 2.48. Slovenia 2.15, Croatia 1.99, Montenegro 1.4, and Serbia 1.0. This can be seen in the graphs and is no fabrication", the President stressed.

He said that the state will fight for vaccines, and that only Serbia, in the Western Balkans, received significant quantities of vaccines, other than a smaller quantity that Albania received, and added that in one day since the registration for vaccination opened, as many as 63,000 persons have registered.

President Vucic expressed his belief that the year ahead will be better than the previous one as well as that the corona virus will be defeated through vaccination of citizens.

Belgrade,12 January 2021

2 January 2021

This year, Serbia could finally have Ambassadors and Consuls General appointed to about a third of the currently vacant positions in the country's diplomatic and consular missions in the world, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic is convinced that most of these positions will be filled, as he points out, by the best possible people.

"In the next year, I am convinced that the majority of these vacancies will be filled", Selakovic told Tanjug, emphasizing that the work is being done gradually, because the state wants to show that is has a quality staff who will represent Serbia's interests in the best possible way.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy reminded that in a number of diplomatic missions, the four-year mandate of Ambassadors and Consuls General has already expired, so that the procedure for appointing new ones will follow, after their recall.

One of the "vacant" spots is the post of the Serbian Ambassador to China.

"We are working hard to find the best possible solution for our new Ambassador to China and as we appointed one of the best people in the state system as Ambassador to the United States, who, I am sure, will perform his duties in the best possible way, I am convinced that it will be the same for the Ambassador in Beijing", Selakovic said.

The Minister, who took over the foreign policy sector in the Government a little over two months ago, points out that circumstances in the world, as well as Serbia's position in it, have changed, but that Serbia's foreign policy goals do not change: the country remains strategically committed to European integration and, while pursuing the EU path, it will also strengthen traditional friendships with Russia and China, as well as promote and strengthen new partner relations with the United States.

"Relations in the region, good-neighborly relations, regional cooperation are also important for Serbia, because this fits into the set of requirements on the European path. But, even regardless of the European path, it is always important who you live next to, who you live with, what your neighbors are like and what the relations are like in the neighborhood", Minister Selakovic said.

He also points out that the issue of Kosovo and Metohija is of inestimable importance, it being the main national and state issue for Serbia and the Serbian people.

"When I say that circumstances are changing, but not the goals - the EU and European integration was our goal seven years ago as well, but look at what our room for maneuver was then, in terms of economic aspects, and look at it today. Circumstances changed, and then you adjust your actions to these changed circumstances, to the best extent possible", Minister Selakovic said.

He reminds that foreign policy priorities for 2021 were also outlined by the President of the Republic, and that maintaining peace and stability in the region is the absolute priority.

"Only in a peaceful and stable region of the Western Balkans and Southeast Europe can Serbia thrive economically, culturally and scientifically - in every respect. Peace and stability in the region  are “sine qua non” without which there is no development and progress. Serbia has acted, is acting and will act as a factor that stabilizes the entire region and maintains peace in the region, showing that it is the region that benefits everyone the most", Minister Selakovic said.

Relations in the region have always been complex, and the region, Minister Selakovic noted, is to our great regret, burdened with issues that we cannot have a bearing on, and which concern
the past.

Serbia's approach is to seek room to influence what is happening today and what will happen
happen in the future.

In this context, he states that the so-called "mini-Schengen" initiative for market unification of the region, which originated from Aleksandar Vucic and was met with a positive response from the Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, is one of the opportunities to do much more for the region.

"To show how much more we can do if we act together and if we seek our common denominators, and not what separates and divides us ", Selakovic points out.

When it comes to relations with the United States, Selakovic said that one should not expect the great powers to change their positions the way we would like, want or imagine, but that it is important that the Ambassador in Washington, Marko Djuric, also emphasized that his task, among other things, will be to make efforts to change the climate in bilateral relations with the United States - the most important country in the world, as our lacking communication with them in the past seriously affected the position of the Serbian people and Serbia.

"I am convinced that Djuric will work seriously on that, together with President Vucic, Prime Minister Brnabic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and contribute to a large extent to changing that climate", Minister Selakovic said.

He points out that it is extremely important for Serbia to promote its partner relations with the United States to a higher level.

"This is a country with which we cooperate closely in many areas and a country with which we must strive, and not give up in doing so, to find what we have in common, our common ground and good examples of our cooperation in the past, and to create space for such cooperation in the future as well", Minister Selakovic concluded.

Source: Tanjug

3 January 2021

Our compatriots living abroad are one of the great potentials that the state has not recognized in the right way so far, which is why a different approach is needed to the issue of how to strengthen our diaspora and use the good will of people who are potential lobbyists for the interests of Serbia and the Serbian people, Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said.

"When it comes to Serbs in the diaspora, and especially in the region, this issue has been a kind of an unattended crop which requires a lot of work, and even when a lot is done at once this is not apparent immediately ", Minister Selakovic stated in an interview with Tanjug.

He emphasized that the appointment of the Director of the Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region for the first time after almost seven years since this body was formed within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shows that it is one of the priorities of the Ministry he is at the helm of.

Selaković notes that intensive efforts have been long underway on forming a plan to make the diaspora more visible both outside the borders of Serbia and in the mother country itself.

"Every person in the diaspora is a potential lobbyist for the interests of our country and people, and we need to find the right way to use that", he said.

That much can be done in that regar Selakovic illustrates with the fact that only in Switzerland, in 24 cities, there are Serbian cultural and artistic associations which amounts to more than 3,000 young people who get together in order to preserve our tradition, culture, the Serbian language and history.

"If they were able to set up such associations in 24 cities, it speaks volumes about the enthusiasm of these people. There is so much enthusiasm, energy and love in these people. We need to explore ways to help them and use their good will and potential", the Minister points out.

He also cites the example of an emigrant family in Canada, the Varaklic family from southwestern Serbia, who sends Christmas packages for children in the Raska region every year. He adds that they have so far donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-governmental organizations for those needs alone, but he says that we do not see that here.

"The state does not recognize this, and these are people who gained success as entrepreneurs working in a distant country, who can be serious lobbyists for Serbia, for Serbian interests, someone who represents us in the best possible way", Minister Selakovic said.

Minister Selakovic also pointed out that Arnaud Gouillon has been appointed as head of the Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region and described him as a man of extraordinary energy, great love for the Serbian people, which he showed in his engagement towards Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, where they were seriously endangered.

"By doing so, he showed and set an example to many of our compatriots of what an individual can do. And when one such individual focuses energy, enthusiasm and love for people, on work done within the state administration system, I think that the preconditions have been created for such activities to yield good results", Minister Selakovic said.

Source: Tanjug

December 29th,  2020

Preservation of peace, taking care of the health and better living standard are key for Serbia in 2021, underlined President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic, convinced that even though the completion of this ambitious and by no means easy task will be anything but straightforward, best results can be achieved by working in concert with the Government, while ensuring security and a future of certainty for the citizens.

The President said that Serbia has set for itself great and ambitious goals for the next year, notwithstanding the complex international and regional circumstances, and that it will endeavour to fully preserve peace and stability in the region and the country, while safeguarding the vital national and state interests.

"Serbia will remain on the course of a winning policy - the policy of stability", President Vucic said and stressed that our country remains on the European integration path and that it will carefully foster its friendship with Russia and China, while building a friendship with the United States as well.

According to the President, Serbia will continue to pursue a winning policy, with the country itself as a top priority, i.e., a policy that will enable Serbia to continue being one of the top three countries in Europe in terms of growth rate in the next two years.

A precondition for that, the President noted, is to crack down on criminal groups, but also to ensure even bigger investments in the police and army forces.

"Serbia is the country that recorded the highest growth in Europe in 2020", the President pointed out at the annual press conference and added that he expects to conclude a new arrangement with the IMF, as well as that Serbia, by the end of next year or early 2022, will raise its credit rating to an "investment" one, which will put our country's rating on par with the most developed EU countries.

As the greatest success in 2020, Vucic noted that Serbia will end the year with the highest growth rate in Europe, which, as he said, is expected to be from minus 0.75 percent to minus one.

"I am proud to be the President of a country that is the European champion in terms of GDP",  Vucic pointed out and added that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also pleased with Serbia's success.

According to President Vucic, this result will encourage Serbia to accelerate its European path, while continuing friendships with those who did not turn their backs on Serbia when it was at its darkest hour, namely Russia and China.

The President pointed out that the activities to attract foreign investors will continue, then that work will be done on investments in agriculture, primarily the food industry, new machinery, and digitalization of agriculture.

President Vucic also emphasized that the goal is for salaries in the public sector to average between 560 and 570 euros by the end of the year. Only in Belgrade, the average salary would be around 700 euros. 

President Vucic reminded that the salaries of health care workers will increase by five percent from January 1, while the salaries of others in the public sector will increase by 3.5 percent and an additional 1.5 percent as of April 1, while corporal, private first class and non-commissioned officer army ranks will get an increase of an additional 10 percent. He noted that the minimum wage will be increased by 6.6 percent and so will pensions from January 1, by 5.9 percent, with the plan that the average pension amounts to 270 euros by the end of 2021. The President especially pointed out investments in health care, reminding that two new covid hospitals have been opened and that the renovation and construction of health facilities continues throughout Serbia, while stressing that Serbia is by far the first in the region in terms of hospitalized persons per 100,000 citizens, which is why it has recorded a low mortality rate , and also that Serbia this year has been among the top three countries in the region according to the number of PCR tests performed.

Speaking about tourism, the President said that, next year, efforts will be made on the development of the Danube basin region, from Apatin to Kladovo, that the Ovcar-Kablar Gorge will be developed, as well as our mountain centers.

Discussing the field of culture and information, President Vucic said that the implementation of the media strategy and the completion of the reconstruction of the National Theater in Subotica are important for next year, and he announced investments in museums, especially emphasizing the relocation of the History Museum to the train station building. He also stated that the floor heating in the Church of Saint Sava will be completed next year.

He pointed out that the state will continue to take care of our citizens in Kosovo and Metohija, that no one can forbid Serbia to help its people, and that Serbia will not give up on helping our people.

As he emphasized, Serbia is ready to send medicines and vaccines to the Albanian population as well, and pointed out that in the upcoming period our country will pursue a policy of peace in the region and will endeavour to cooperate with Zagreb, Sarajevo, Podgorica and others.
 

Belgrade, December 24, 2020

Today, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, received the first vaccine against the coronavirus of the company "Pfizer" at the Institute for Virology, Vaccines and Serums "Torlak".

Brnabic, who is the first European Prime Minister to receive the vaccine, pointed out that today may be the first day since March 6 to have a reason to smile because it marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic in Serbia, but also in Europe and the world.

As the Prime Minister and someone who leads the Crisis Staff for the Protection of Public Health from COVID-19, I felt obliged to be the first to receive the vaccine to show that we believe in it, but also in our institutions - the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Serbia and experts who worked day and night to check the vaccine, she said.

The Prime Minister, emphasizing that she is honored to do something like this for the country and to be the first to open the way for all citizens, conveyed that she reached an agreement with the President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić on the two of them receiving different vaccines, and he will most likely receive the next one to arrive, most likely Chinese.

According to her, at this moment we have the vaccine of the "Pfizer-Biontek" consortium, and those from the Chinese "Sinofarm" are expected in the near future, as well as certain quantities of the Russian "Sputnik V".

She expressed her belief that at the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second, we will have the vaccine of the company "Astra-Zeneka", and after that the "Modernina".

As we promised, citizens will have at their disposal all vaccines that have permits in their countries and approvals of relevant international agencies, and of course all our agencies and institutes will pass, the Prime Minister pointed out.

According to her, before the start of vaccination of health workers, the vaccine will be received by the Minister of Health, Zlatibor Lončar, because we are trying to be an example and show that we are safe in vaccines and institutions.

Brnabic pointed out that Serbia, not counting Great Britain, is the first country in Europe to receive the "Pfizer-Biontek" vaccine, and the third to start mass immunization and a campaign for giving the vaccine - after Great Britain and Switzerland.

We have done a great thing and we will not stop at any moment until the immunization of the population is completed, the Prime Minister said.

She specified that our country will receive another 16,000 doses of vaccine from the "Pfizer-Biontek" consortium in January, as well as that together with other vaccines we will have a total of one million doses in January, and a total of approximately two million doses during the first quarter.

We have the dynamics of deliveries of "Pfizer" vaccines and as their production varies, so does the delivery not only to Serbia, but also to all countries of the world. We expected 10,000 doses from "Pfizer-Biontek" in December, and 4,870 doses arrived, the Prime Minister explained.

"Serbia has shown that it can fight and succeed in that if everyone works as a team," Brnabic said, and still appealed to everyone not to understand the beginning of vaccination as if the fight was over immediately, but to continue to respect all measures.

Let's be safe and help health workers, so in 2021 we will slowly take off our masks when immunity is gained, and until then we should see this not as a victory, but as the beginning of the end, the Prime Minister concluded.

After the Prime Minister, the vaccine was received by the Minister of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs and a member of the Crisis Staff for the Protection of Public Health from Infectious Diseases COVID-19 Darija Kisić Tepavčević, as well as a member of the Crisis Staff Predrag Kon.

The vaccine was received by an epidemiologist and the head of the Department for Prevention and Control of Nosocomial Infections of the Military Medical Academy, Prof. Dr. Vesna Šuljagić, as well as academician Predrag Peško, professor at the Universities of Belgrade and Heidelberg and a regular member of SANU.

The first quantities of the vaccine arrived in Serbia on December 22, and today they will be received by the users of old people's homes in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

Serbia is the first country in the region to receive the "Pfizer-Biontek" vaccine.

In addition to the procurement of vaccines among the first countries in the world, even before the EU countries, Serbia is one of the few countries that built and opened two Kovid hospitals in record time. Hospitals with a capacity of 930 places in Batajnica, ie 500 places in Krusevac, greatly contribute to increasing the capacity and strengthening the health system in the fight against the corona virus and practically, according to President Vučić, represent a monument of the future and speak of actions taken by the state in a short time.

Also, as a reminder, investments in health infrastructure in Serbia were large, and since 2016, 80 health centers and dispensaries have been renovated, and work is underway on six large health centers. Thus, more than 200 million euros have been invested in the renovation, construction and equipping of hospitals and more than 300 million in the renovation of clinics and specialized hospitals, and many works have already been completed, such as the University Children's Clinic Tirsova, KBC Zemun, KBC "Dragisa Misovic" .

The absolute priority of the Government of Serbia is the successful completion of the started health infrastructure projects, but great attention is also paid to health workers, whose salaries have been increased by 2020 by 56.8% to specialist doctors, 66.9% nurses, and significant funds are invested in the education of health personnel, as well as in the equipment and conditions in which they work.

Like other countries, Serbia faced great challenges this year, primarily health, and all factors in the country were focused on preventing the spread of the virus and preserving the lives and health of citizens. Serbia has faced these challenges better than many richer and more developed countries in Europe and the world.

Belgrade, December 23, 2020

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies the allegations of some domestic media that Serbian citizens on temporary work abroad will be obliged to pay taxes on income earned by foreign employers, not only in the country of temporary residence, but also in Serbia.

We believe that the catastrophically intoned texts, based on insufficiently researched facts, on a topic that most directly concerns a large number of citizens of the Republic of Serbia abroad, unreasonably create concern among our citizens, which can be concluded from the increased number of their inquiries to diplomatic and consular missions of Serbia.

We appeal to the residents of Serbia who are temporarily abroad not to pay attention to incorrect sensationally intoned texts on this topic, because, when it comes to taxation procedures for that category of our citizens, nothing will fundamentally change in relation to the previous practice.

In the hope that behind the irresponsible and inaccurate media articles on this topic, there is no evil intention, but misunderstanding, we emphasize that Serbia is doing and will continue to do everything to help its diaspora in every way.

December 10, 2020

On the occasion of 10 December, the international Human Rights Day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia reaffirms its commitment to the principles and values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on this day in 1948.

The principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been the foundation for the development of international law in this field, and of the international system for the promotion and protection of human rights, as a unique achievement of modern civilization. It is incumbent upon us today to safeguard and strengthen the international system ensuring respect for human rights, to develop human rights standards, control the implementation of commitments, and also to continue cooperating with international and regional institutions on the protection of human rights.

Serbia is fully committed to the universal values of human rights and implementing in practice the international legal instruments relating to human rights. Our continued cooperation with the Human Rights Council mechanisms in the framework of the United Nations, with the Council of Europe and the mechanisms of the OSCE human dimension, represents an important segment of activities carried out by all state authorities, thus demonstrating our consistent commitment to the implementation of international human rights standards.

The international Human Rights Day is an opportunity to point out once again that Serb and other non-Albanian population is being deprived of its rights in Kosovo and Metohija and to call again on the international community to ensure the respect for the guaranteed international human rights norms and contribute to creating conditions for the return of internally displaced persons and giving them back their usurped property.  

December 9, 2020

The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), with the support of the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized the Tenth Media Conference of the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region on December 29, 2020.

Due to the KOVID 19 pandemic, the conference will be held through ZOOM application. The topic of the Tenth Conference will be the work of the media, organizations and associations of Serbs from the region and the diaspora during the pandemic caused by the KOVID 19 virus, as well as whether and how the pandemic affected the quality of work and economic sustainability of media activities in the diaspora and region.

The second part of the Conference will present the UNS website www.umrezavanje.rs launched on the occasion of the Tenth Jubilee Conference, with the idea of ​​representing a platform for networking media and organizations of Serbs from the region and the diaspora with their home country.

Applications for participation in the conference of interested representatives of the media, associations and organizations can be sent to the e-mail address ana.petronijevic@uns.rs until December 17 this year.

September 11. 2020

Тhe golden badges of the Cultural and Educational Society of the Republic of Serbia in 2019 for their contribution to spreading the cultural and traditional values of the Serbian people in Canada are actress, author and director of the Serbian Theater in Toronto Ljiljana Stošić Marković, artist and sculptor Ljiljana Otašević, actor and director Srđan Rajšić, painter Vladimir Stjepanović and Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto Vasilije Petković, while the "Kir Stefan Srbin" choir from Toronto and SKUD "Oplenac" from Toronto received the Charter.

September 15th, 2020

Day of Serbian unity, Freedom and National flag

Serbia and Republika Srpska are celebrating a joint holiday for the first time - the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and the National Flag. It is celebrated on September 15th, the day when the Thessaloniki front was broken through in 1918 close to the end of the First World War.

In all municipalities in Serbia and the Republika Srpska, squares and central streets are decorated with the National and State flags of the Republic of Serbia. This holiday will be jointly celebrated in Serbia and Republika Srpska and in all areas where Serbs are around the world, symbolizing the unity of the Serbian people.

The timeless symbolism of this date is reflected in the fact that it is the day when in 1918, after more than two years, the Thessaloniki front finally broke through and the process of liberation of Serbia began, which ended on November 1, in just 45 days.

"In the fall of 1918, the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front began. Few of the allied forces in World War I could then have imagined that this side battlefield would soon gain such importance, and that about 62,000 soldiers of a state that many no longer even believed would decide the outcome of a victory that was practically ended the First World War. "

July 10th, 2020

Nikola Tesla Day - July 1oth, 2020 Commemoration. Due to the current situation related to the coronary virus pandemic, as well as the state of emergency in Ontario and imposed protective measures by the Governemntofn Ontario, the ceremony had an unofficial character.

However, despite the limiting factors, a number of people from the Serbian community in Ontario appeared, as well as children from the Serbian school Nikola Tesla from Niagara Falls, wearing Serbian folk costumes and holding  Serbian and Canadian flags.

The informal ceremony was attended by its organizer and host Borislav Zivkovic, the Coordinator of the Serbian school, the Serbian Orthodox Priest of the Church of St. George in Niagara - rev. father Milorad Delic, Member of the Federal Parliament of Canada (MP) - Tony Baldinelli, Mayor of Niagara Falls - Jim Diodati and Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto - Vasilije Pektovic.

Students of Serbian School Nikola Tesla from Niagara Falls, coordinator of the Serbian School Borisalv Zivkovic, CG RS in TO Vasilije Petkovic and rev. father Milorad delic ( by the monument).

MP Tony Baldinelli, Mayor of Niagara Falls Jim Diodati and CG RS in TO Vasilije Petkovic.

CG RS in To Vasilije Petkovic and Coorditanor of the Serbian School Borisavl Zivkovic.

July 8th, 2020

For more infomration, please click HERE.

May 22nd, 2020

The Government of the Republic of Serbia passed the Decision on termination of the Decision on closing all border crossings, the Decision on termination of the Decision on closing border crossings, as well as the

Decision on amendments to the Decision on declaring COVID-19 infectious disease.
With the mentioned decisions, all border crossings of the Republic of Serbia have been opened and, as of today, May 22, 2020, they are functioning in the usual regime. Members of the competent state authorities will perform standard border checks, in accordance with the Law on Border Control and other relevant regulations (the credibility of allegations regarding the place of departure and intended stay, circumstances related to the purpose of travel, etc.).

Also, the amendments to the Decision on declaring the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a contagious disease, lifted the ban on entering the Republic of Serbia, as well as epidemiological measures for all categories of domestic and foreign citizens, which means that for entering the Republic of Serbia foreign citizens no longer need a special permit.

We draw your attention to the fact that holders of travel documents and passports of countries with which the Republic of Serbia has a visa regime, must submit a visa application at the nearest diplomatic and consular mission, no later than 4 weeks before the scheduled departure, in accordance with applicable regulations.

All persons entering the Republic of Serbia, instead of previous isolation measures and the obligation to possess negative PCR test, will be given a written notification during passport control about the measures to be followed in order to prevent the occurrence, spread and suppression of the infectious disease COVID-19.

We draw special attention to foreign citizens with approved temporary residence in the Republic of Serbia, and whose validity expired during the state of emergency, the validity period will be extended and they can enter the Republic of Serbia until June 1, 2020.

DUE TO THE SITUATION COUSED BY THE CORONAVIRUS COVID 19 PANDEMIC, THE ACCESS TO THE VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS, EXIBITIONS AND LECTURES OF THE CULTURAL, HISTORICAL AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA HAS BEEN ENABLED. 

FOR DETAILED INFORMATIONS, PLEASE CLICK the links BELLOW:

1.  Digital solidarity

https://www.digitalnasolidarnost.gov.rs/ 

2.  The Cultural Heritage browser 

https://culture.rs/

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On the occasion of the Statehood Day of the Repubic of Serbia, with the courtesy of Niagara Parks and the City of Niagara Falls, on February 20th, 2020, the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Ottawa and the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto, organised Central celebration of the Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia in the City of Niagara Falls.  Honouring the Republic of Serbia, the falls of Niagara has been illuminated in the colours of Serbian flag.

TO all citizens of the Republic of Serbia, Serbian community in Canada and Serbian diaspora in the World, we congratulate the Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia. 

On January 31, 2020, the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia announced:

1. Open call for co-financing projects for translation of representative works of   Serbian literature abroad in 2020;
2. Open call  for financing or co-financing projects in the field of cultural   activities of Serbs abroad in 2020.

Contest texts and related application forms are available on the Ministry of Culture and Information website at www.kultura.gov.rs. The deadline for submission of applications is March 16th, 2020.

For additional information, please contact the Ministry of Culture and Information by email:  mladen.veskovic@kultura.gov.rs  .
 

For more information, please click here.

Dear fellow citizens,

We would like to inform you that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia - Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the region (MSP - USDSR), has opened Competition for co-financing projects that will, by their quality, contribute to preserving and strengthening the ties between the homeland and the diaspora and the homeland and the Serbs in the region.

The competition will be open from January 20th to February 10th, 2020. For more information, please click here.

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FOR MORE INFORMATIONS, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

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For more informations, please click here.

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We are pleased to inform you that on October 24, 2019, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Decision on the abolition of visas for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia. Pursuant to the Decision, holders of ordinary passports issued by Republic of Armenia, may reside in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, without a visa, for a maximum of 90 days in a 180-day period, counting from the date of first entry. The decision enters into force on November 2, 2019.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia has arrived at the Decisions on co-financing projects that contribute to the preservation and strengthening of the relations of Serbia and the Diaspora and Serbia and the Serbs in the Region on June 19th, 2019. 

Decisions on co-financing projects can be downloaded at the following e-mail addresses:

http://www.dijaspora.gov.rs/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ODLUKA-DIJASPORA-2019.pdf

http://www.dijaspora.gov.rs/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ODLUKA-REGION-2019.pdf

On Saturday, June 1, 2019, at 15:00, the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia organized the Raising Ceremony of the Flag of the Republic of Serbia in Queen's Park - Provincial Parliament of Ontario.

The Raising Ceremony of the Serbian state flag and intoning the anthem, as well as the presentation of an appropriate cultural and artistic program, was the act of honoring the arrival and settlement of the first Serbs in Toronto and Ontario in 1903.

The Event was blessed by Father Jovan Marjanac, secretary of the Serbian Diocese in Canada who conveyed personal greetings and blessings of the bishop of Serbian Diocese in Canadian, Dr. Mitrofan (was attending the gathering  of the Holy Archdiocese in Belgrade).

For this occasion, Students of the Serbian School "St. Sava" at the Church of All Serbian Saints in Mississauga, performed Serbian and Canadian anthems.

During the Serbian anthem "God's give us justice", the flag of the Republic of Serbia was raised by Mr. Zarko Brestovac , Serbian-Canadian, the bearer  of the Medal of St Sava and the Golden Medal for merits in promoting Serbian culture and humanity, ordered by the President of the Republic of Serbia  and two young members of the SCA “Oplenac” from Toronto, Miss. Milka Batak and Mr. Uroš Krtolina in their Serbian traditional folk dresses.

The Flag Raising Ceremony was attended by the MPP Tom Rakocevic, who thanked Consul General V. Petkovic for the initiative of performing the Serbian Flag Raising Ceremony. MPP Rakocevic conveyed to Consul General Vasilije Petkovic a personal congratulations of the leader of the New Democratic Party Mrs.  Andrea Horvat, the leader of the Official oposition in Ontarian Parliament on this occasion; Head of the Protocol of the Ontario Government, Mr. Jonathan Sauve pointed out the extraordinary cooperation with Consul General Vasilije Petković which is contributing to the achievement of better relations between the Canadian province of Ontario and R. Serbia; Lieutenant Colonel of Military Police Academy and Citizen Judge Mrs. Nancy Siew informed that she had the opportunity to work with immigrants from all parts of the world, knowing that that each one fo them was carrying some "story and the burden of the past,".  Mrs. Siew pointed out that in the new homeland, however, the emigrants should work together for a better future of coming generations.

Special guest, Secretary General of the Cultural and Educational Association of Serbia (CEAS), Mr. Zivorad Ajdacic, greeted the Ceremony as he said, "a very important gathering". He commended the Serbian Consulate General`s activity on the accomplishment of the entire event and pointed out that it is proof that Serbia "is concerned about its citizens in the diaspora, as the Serbs abroad are concerned about the Serbia, who were assisting whenever is necessary." He appealed to young generations of Serbian immigrants to never forget their origins and to keep their ties with Serbia wherever they live and work in the World.

Canadian-Serbian artist, Ms. Lily Otasevic highlighted the excellent education she gained in Serbia, which enabled her to achieve success in Canada in her field of work. "Serbian Canadians are blessed with the values of both countries, Serbia and Canada".

Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto, Vasilije Petković, said that the Serbian Flag Raising Ceremony in Queen`s Park is the act of honoring the arrival and settlement of the first Serbs in Ontario, which represents a connection between the first Serbian immigrants and their successors living and working today in Canada. He pointed out that no generation of immigrants had forgotten their old Serbian countries, but remained in close contact, helping and preserving the memory of the Serbia in their new home.  First Serb settlled in Toronto was a certain Sremac Herceg in August 1903. The first Serbian Orthodox Church was built in Hamilton in 1913.

By increasing the number of Serb emigrants, there was a need for establishing the consular representation. The first Yugoslav Consulate General in Toronto was opened in 1953, representing the interests of the SFR Yugoslavia at the time. Finally, since the breakup of the federal state and the state union of the Serbia and Montenegro, starting from June 5, 2006, the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto, serves the citizens of the Republic of Serbia and all Serbs who live and work in the jurisdiction of this Consulate General.

Consul General Vasilije Petkovic pointed out that Serbian community in Ontario and Canada is organized, educated and well-informed and with its preserved culture and identity significantly contributes to the development of Canada as a society and the state. The Serbian Diaspora in Ontario is one of the most important communities, which has a good organizational scheme. There are many associations, organizations, cultural and artistic societies, humanitarian organizations, sports associations and each on e of them, in its own way, marks, preserves and promotes Serbian values.

The Serbian community in Canada and Ontario is one of the active Serbian communities in the World. This is reflected in numerous awards that organizations and individuals have received as a reward for their achievements. For example, this year, CEAS awarded seven awards of which five Golden badges and two Charters to the members of the Serbian Community in Ontario and Canada.

Some activities tha tare promoting Serbian values, were carried out in cooperation of the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia, the Serbian community in Canada and the Canadian diocese of Serbian Orthodox Church, which represents a kind of "Earthly Trinity: the Church, the People and the State". "We are together stronger, and it is in the spirit with our national slogan, which should always be remembered:" Only the Unity save the Serbs, "said the Consul General Vasilije Petkovic.

"The Serbs living in Canada, the Serbs who temporally stay here, the Serbs in all Serbian countries, have nothing to be ashamed of.  On the contrary, we have a lot of reasons to be proud of. Therefore, when this ceremony ends and when all of us go back to our homes, offices or anywhere else, we should be proud for being Serbs.

Cultural and artistic program was held thanks to the "SCA Oplenac" from Toronto and the Cocktail reception was held within the premises of the Ontario Parliament building, thankfully to the Serbian-Canadian companies: "Modular Homes", "Advanced Coatings", "Zoran Kitchens and Bath INC, Delta B Electronic INC, 747 Travel Toronto, JIT Road Transportation, Pirlitor Machine and Tool LTD, Interex Constructions INC and Royal Meats Barbeque.

On the occasion of May 9th, the Victory Day in Europe, Consul General of the Reupublic of Serbia in Toronto, Vasilije Petkovic, laid a wreath at the Holocaust Memorial center in Toronto, which, was dedicated to all innocent victims, including those who had been exterminated in the concetration camp of Jasenovac in the Natzi papet state of ``Independent State of Croatia``, run by the Ustasha government, during the Second World War.

The Memorial Center was built by the ``Canadian Society for Yad Vashem``, who had been established in 1986 in order to preserve the memory of crimes committed against Jews in concentration camps during the Second World War. The aim of this memorial complex is to teach younger generations about the terrible period of history, as well as to remind the publicity that something like this shoudl never happen again. 

The Memorial Center was designed by the founders of the "Canadian Association Yad Vashem", who survived the Holocaust, David Smuskovic and Peter Silverman. Part of the Serbian community in Toronto also contributated to the construction of the Center.

The names of all concentration camps from the Second World War, including Jasenovac, are written at the foot of the obelisk. The name of this camp is also engraved in capital letters on on of the paths leading to the Obelisk on whose top is the eternal fire.

The eternal memorial flame was lit in 1991, and the memorial walls were set up in 2001. The historical story of the Canadian victims of the Holocaust is engraved in eight memorial walls. On one of them are written the names of the non-Jews who saved the lives of the Jews and besides their names, there are flags of their states or nationality. Among the other flags there is also Serbian, beside the name of the Jovanovic family.

Consul General Vasilije Petkovic laid wreath with a message: "Honoring the Innocent Victims, May 9th, 2019,  Consulate Genral of the Republic of Serbia, Toronto", under the inscription of the Jasenovac concentration camp.

On the occasion of the beginning of NATO Aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in 1999, a  Commemoration of the civilian victims was been held in the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto,  with a reference to the Pogrom in Kosovo and Metohija in 2004.

During his presentation, Consul General Vasilije Petkovic said that NATO aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia bigen 20 years ago on MArch 24th, 1999, following the failed negotiations on the resolution of the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija in Rambouillet and Paris in February and March 1999. After the negotiations, the FRY Assembly decided not to accept the article of the Agreement on the presence of foreign troops in its territory, after which, at that time, the NATO Secretary General, Javier Solana ordered on MArch 23rd 1999, the launch of air strikes, which was in fact a decleration of war.

The offered Rambouillet Agreement was practicaly an ultimatum, in a sense, as it was the ultimatum of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Kingdom of Serbia, demanding the presence of foreign inspectors on Serbian territory. In both cases, a request for the presence of foreign investigative bodies and military forces in the territory of a sovereign state was unacceptable for our country.

On March 24, 1999, at 19.45 hours, air strikes on Serbia began and Yugoslavia declared the state of emergency that night. During the 11 weeks of bombing, about 2,500 civilians were killed, including 79 children, and 1,008 members of the Armed forces of FRY.

In addition, infrastructure, businesses, health facilities, media outlets and military facilities were severely damaged, which not only slowed down, but also reversed the Serbian economy on longer therm

NATO aggression was a terrible crime against the Serbian people, which continues even today trough its consequences. There were many examples of bombardment of civilian targets and refugees that couldn`t be definde as "collateral damage" because "it was obviously that these were non military targets".

Although NATO propaganda wanted to show military action as part of the humanitarian action in order to resolve crisis in Kosovo and Metohia, the most vulnerable civilians were the residents of our Serbian southern province of Albanian nationality, who fled to as a refugees to central Serbia. In such two attacks, out of 185 in total, 30 newborn babies were killed, which, beside Milica Rakic and other innocent children and civilians, was an unaccountable war crime in the modern era of Europe.

Last year, the Serbian Parliament formed a State Commission for investigating the NATO bombing in 1999, and it`s impact to the health of Serbia's citizens and the environment.

Under the auspices of HRH Prince Alexander and Princess Katrine is in the process of organizing the “Tenth Conference of Medical Diaspora”, in Belgrade from 20 to 22 June 2019. 

The aim of the Conference is to gather Serbian doctors from abroad and international medical experts in mission to support Serbian health system by promoting solidarity, friendship and exchange knowledge. 

Partners in the organization of the Conference are Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Health, World Health Organization, Faculty of Medicine of University of Belgrade, University Children's Hospital, Medical Association of Serbia and the Royal Medical Board. 

The opening ceremony of the conference will be in the hotel "Hilton" in Belgrade, on Thursday 20th June 2019 at 9:00 pm. First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ivica Dačić will officially speak to the doctors attending the Conference. 

Reception for all participants of the Conference will be held on 20 June 2019 at the Royal Palace, followed by a dinner in honor of speakers and partners in the organization of the event. 

Website of the "Tenth Conference of Medical Diaspora" is located on the Internet at www.sdm.rs.

On the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Serbia, the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto organized a Cocktail party at the Serbian Cultural Center of the "Church of All Serbian Saints" on March 4th, 2019, from 7- 9:30 am.

The reception was attended by the bishop of the Canadian Diocese Dr. Mitrofan with the priests, the Minister of Mining and Energy of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Antic with the delegation, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Canada, Mihailo Papazoglu, the Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Serbia, Kati Caba, MPP tom Rakocevic, members of the Consular Corps, as well as numerous, prominent members of the Serbian Diaspora, representatives of associations, associations, humanitarian organizations. The reception was also attended by the President of the Serbian National Academy in Canada, Žarko Brestovac, winner of the gold medal on the basis of President R. Serbia, numerous journalists of the most important Serbian media in Ontario, "Serbian Television Toronto", "Newspapers", "SAN", "News", "Source" and others. The ceremony was attended by other Canadian and Serbian businessmen, as well as the president and members of the Canadian-Serbian Association of Businessmen "CANSEE" (Canadian Serbian Business Association).

The Reception was supported by the Club of sponsors, which was founded on the initiative of Serbian Consul General Vasilije Petkovic. The members of the Club are the owners of the following companies: Modular Homes, Advanced Coatings, Zoran Kitchens and Bath INC, Delta B Electronic INC, 747 Travel Toronto, JIT Road Transportation, Pirlitor Machine and Tool LTD, Zoran Properties INC, Wyndham Street Investments INC, Interex Constructions INC, Esbee Construction CORP and Royal Meats Barbeque.

After the Choir "Saint Sava" performed the Serbian and Canadian national anthems ,His Grace Bishop, Dr. Mitrofan blessed the event.

As a host of the event, Consul General  V. Petkovic greeted the distinguished guests, thanking the Canadian Diocese of the SPC and sponsors for their contribution to the organization of the Reception of the NAtional Day of the Republic of Serbia, as well as to all the guests and colleagues from the Consular Corps. He briefly presented the circumstances of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1804 and the adoption of the first modern Constitution of the Principality of Serbia in 1835 and its importance for the later development of our state and society. He expressed his satisfaction with excellent cooperation between the Serbian Consulate General in Toronto, the Diocese of Canada and Serbian community and therefore,  promoting the Serbian Society and it's importance to the Canadian society and Canada as a state.

Ambassador M. Papazoglu emphasized the importance of the development of Serbian-Canadian political and economic relations and in that direction contributed to the Serbian Diaspora, emphasizing, inter alia, the significance of the activities of the "Nikola Tesla Corporation" from Hamilton, which contributed to one of the largest boulevards in that part of Ontario bearing the name of our famous scientist Nikola Tesla. He emphasized the importance of other Serbian associations as well as honorary consulates to improve the position of the Serbian community in Canada. He particularly thanked Canadian-Serbian Association of Businessmen "CANSEE" for continuous work towards the development of economic relations between the two countries.

Special guest, Minister A. Antić thanked for warm welcome saying that wherever  the Serbs are "he always feels at home". He said that Serbia, in its rich history, has gone through many difficult moments, but is determined to find the best solutions to the problems in accordance with the glorious historical and cultural heritage. He highlighted the comparative advantages of investing in the economy of our country, which were recognized by large world companies, among which are Canadian companies as well. In that direction, he informed that during the visit to the International Trade Fair of Mining and Energy in Toronto PDAC, held 2-6. March, had several useful and constructive meetings with Canadian and Ontario businessmen who are interested in cooperation and investment in the Serbian economy.

Canadian ambassador to Serbia Kati Csaba, addressing in a god Serbian language, congratulated the National Day and thanked the organizer of the Reception and the attendees for the invitation and the opportunity to reassure her of the traditional Serbian hospitality. She emphasized that she is professionally and privately very pleased that she was been given the opportunity to serve in Serbia and therefore to met the Serbian people and his tradition and culture. She insisted that Serbian-Canadian relations, which are traditionally very good, have a further rise in the political and economic plan, has been significantly contributed by the Serbian diaspora in Canada.

Member of the Ontario Parliament MPP Tom Rakocevic (the third generation of Serbian immigrants from Montenegro, born in Canada), after he greeted Minister Antic and other distinguished guests, evoked childhood memories in an environment of elderly people who spoke the Serbian language, going  to church and described their homeland with great love. He said that he had never forgotten his origins and that he still largely feels affiliated with the Serbian community in Canada.

After the speeches, a short cultural, artistic program and folk dances were performed by the St Sava folk dance group. Guests were invited to view the exhibition of photographs of the cultural heritage of Serbia with a special reference to Serbian churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohia.

The Presidnet of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Aleksandar Vucic decorates Mr. Zarko Brestovac, President of the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada with the Gold Medal of Merit for Public and Cultural Activities.  Mr. Zarko Brestovac is very well known member of the Serbian society in Canada for his patriotism, humanity, philanthropy and as a donator.  

MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND MEDIA
Department of Contemporary Artistic Production and Creative Industries announces this

OPEN CALL

for the Co-Financing of Projects for the Translation of Representative Works of Serbian Literature into Foreign Languages in 2019
The scope of this Open Call is co-financing of projects for the translation of representative works of Serbian literature into foreign languages.
The overarching goal of this Open Call is the translation of representative works of Serbian literature into foreign languages.
Submissions in the following literary fields are eligible under this Open Call for the translation of representative works of Serbian literature into foreign languages: poetry, prose, drama, children’s literature (other than picture books and textbooks), anthologies and thematic selections and theoretical works in the fields of culture and arts intended for the wider readership.
Translations of classic works of Serbian literature and works acclaimed by the expert community will be given priority for support.
http://www.kultura.gov.rs/cyr/konkursi/konkurs-za-sufinansiranje-projekata-u-oblasti-prevodjenja-reprezentativnih-dela-srpske-knjizevnosti-u-inostranstvu--u-2019--godini-

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Citizens of the Federation of St. Kits and Nevis and the Republic of Palau, holders of all passports, can enter, transit and stay on the territory of the Republic of Serbia until ninety (90) days from the date of their entry into the Republic of Serbia, for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days, if there are no obstacles under Article 15 of the Foreigners Act.

This decision will come into force on January 25th, 2019.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
 

Left: Serbian Consul General V. Petkovic opening photo exhibit at the lobby of the Faculty of Medical Science in Toronto; Right: Cheirman o f the Board of the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada Mr. Zarko Brestovac and Serbian Consul General V. Petkovic lieng wreath bellow the Memorial plaque dedicated to the members of the Canadian Medical Corps engaded in Serbia and Balkan front during WWI.

Part of the participants at the Lecturing about Canadian Medical Missions in Serbia and Balkan war during WWI (front row: CG of R. Korea, CG of Moldova, CG of Hungary, CG of Greece; Behind: CG of Austria, representative of CG of RF, ret. Head of Military-Police Academy of the Canadian Armed Froces etc.). 

 Left: Serbian Consul General V. Petkovic during his introductionray speech at the Lecturing; Right: On behalf of the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada, Phd. Mr. Rajko Rey Radojevic, professor of history during his speech at the classroom of the Faculty of the Medical Science of the Toronto Unviersity.   

ON THE OCASSION OF THE COMMEMORATING OF THE ARMISTICE
IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The Commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice in the First World War entitled "The Canadian Medical Mission in Serbia and on the Balkan Front in the First World War" was held on November 7, 2018 at the Faculty of Medical Science of the Toronto University, organized by the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto and the "Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada".  As a part of the Commemoration, a thematic lecturing and an exhibition of war photographies were organized as well.

The Commemoration was attended by representatives of the Canadian Veterans Associations, members of the Consular Corps, representatives of the Canadian SPC Diocese, prominent members of the Serbian Diaspora, professors and students from Toronto University, York University, Ryerson University and other guests.

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Consulate General, Consul General Vasilije Petkovic laid a wreath in front of a memorial plaque dedicated to the members of the Canadian Medical Corps. The plaque has been set up by the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada in the 80`s of the 20th century in Memorial hall of the Toronto University`s Faculty of Medicine, for their valor and contribution to the Allied victory on the Thessalonica front, treating Serb civilians and Serbian and allied soldiers. Among Canadian volunteers was Lester Pierson, late Prime Minister of Canada in a period from 1963 to 1968, who was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for the establishment of the UN military peacekeeping force.

In his introduction speech, Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto Vasilije Petkovic, pointed out a historical link between the Serbian and Canadian people and casts light on the participation of Canadian volunteers in the medical corps at the Thessaloniki front. These brave and humane women and men, as well as one of the most important Canadian figures, in their history, late Prime Minister Lester Pierson, left Canada and their comfortable life, either upon call of duty or voluntarily in order to come in a war-affected Serbia and together with the wounded, hungry, lacking medicines and medical devices, passed through the Albanian Golgotha participating in their own way at the Thessalonica front. Most of them happily survived horrors of the WWI, but some, unfortunately, did not survive, either killed in action or passed away suffering from diseases and infections, the same ones they were treating Serbian soldiers from.

Consul General Vasilije Petković pointed out the fact that most Canadians, unfortunately, are not aware of the historical and the great humanity of their fellow citizens and ancestors in Serbia during the First World War, but that the Serbs in Serbia and Canada, as well as the state of Serbia, did not forget their offered hand and help, when it was most needed. The Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada also set up a memorial plaque at the Museum of the Serbian Medical Society in Belgrade, on which is written bilingually in English and French: ``Thank you Canadians/Mercies Canadian``, the inscription that speaks enough for its self.

At the end of his introduction speech, Consul General Vasilije Petković presented to the audience flower "Ramonda Serbica" or "Ramonda Nathaliae" informing them about the history and significance of the flower, as a symbol of the rebirth and resurrection of the Serbian army after the tremendous efforts, passing through the Albanian Golgotha and the glorious breakthrough at the Thessalonica front in World War I.

On behalf of the "Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada" PhD.  Rajko Rej Radojevic (living and working in Canada for more than 50 years) gave a comprehensive lecturing on the topic of Serbian participation and contributions in the First World War as well as the participation of the Canadian medical corps on the Thessaloniki front. He presented historically available, proven and confirmed data on names and biographies before, during and after the Great War of all Canadian volunteers within the medical corps.

After the lecture,  the guests visited the photo exhibition dedicated to the Canadian medical corps members and their activities at the Thessalonica front, including photo of late Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pierson.
A catalog with a short overview of the lecture and exhibition with photographs was presented to all visitors, and in addition, a VIP guests were given a book ``Serbia 1914-1918, a Gallant Ally``,
along with the badge of the flower "Ramonda Serbica".

Ramonda Serbica or Ramonda Nathaliae

                                         
Also known as Serbian Ramonda and Serbian phoenix flower, is a species in the Gesneriaceae family. It is one of the few European representatives of this family, found in Southeast Europe - Southern Balkans. The flower was discovered near city of Niš (Nish) in Serbia in 1874 by Serbian botanist Josif Pančić  and scientifically described in 1884 by Sava Petrović, well known Serbian medical doctor at that time. The flower Ramonda Serbica is known for its ability to be revived when watered, even when fully dehydrated.                                                                         

Therefore the flower is considered as a symbol of the Serbian Army's struggle and resurrection after devastating retreat over the Albanian mountains to Greece, during World War I. By wearing Ramonda Serbica, we honour and commemorate Serbian and Allied victims and Armistice Day in the WWI, which have the same meaning like wearing  the British Remembrance Day Poppy flower.                                                                                                                      

The other name Ramonda nathaliae was given after Serbian queen Natalija Obrenovic, who was queen of Serbia from 1882 to 1889 as wife of king Milan I Obrenovic.                                                                                                                     

The Green and black background of Ramonda Serbica represents the Colours of  the Commemoration Medal  of the Retreat trough Albania assigned to the soldiers participated in the Great War.

Dear citizens of the Republic of Serbia, Dear Customers of the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto,

Hereby we inform you that In order to improve services of the Consulate General, starting from November 15th, 2017, it will be possible to pay consular fees by debit card (not credit card), through installed POS terminal at the Consulate General's office.

Cash payments are acceptable no longer. In case the custemer do not have debit card, will be provided with writen instruction by the Consulate General how to pay trough the bank account. 

For persons living and working in distant parts of the jurisdictional area of the Consulate General (Manitoba and Saskatchewan), consular fees may be paid through Мoney Оrder or Certified Cheque, but only for consular services that do not require personal presence in the Consulate General.

With respect, at your service,

Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Toronto

The Republic of Serbia attaches particular importance to relations with the Diaspora and Serbs of the region, as best reflected in the Declaration of the Government of the Republic of Serbia proclaiming the relations between the home country and the Diaspora the relations of the greatest state and national interest (2006), the Law on the Diaspora and Serbs of the Region (2009) and in the Strategy of preserving and strengthening relations between the mother country and Diaspora and between the mother country and Serbs of the region (2011).

Through the network of its diplomatic and consular missions in foreign countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia is making every effort, by using all available capacities, material and human resources, as well as diplomatic instruments, to meet the needs of its nationals and people of Serbian descent in foreign countries and to help them foster their national identity, language, culture and customs. By rendering an effective and quality consular protection and services, organizing education and information in their mother tongue, assisting them in establishing and managing clubs and associations, and by ensuring them contacts with business and other organizations in the mother country, they are encouraging them to cooperate among themselves, to intensify contacts and relations with the mother country, and to work tirelessly for the promotion of their overall economic, scientific, cultural, information, sports and other ties with the mother country. Our wish is that the Serbian Diaspora worldwide and the Serbs of the region look upon the diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Serbia as “their home” that they should turn to for assistance and solution of their problems in a foreign country, to obtain information about the mother country and realize their educational, cultural and other individual and group interests. In addition, the diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Serbia are the addresses at which they may find partners for discuss on business cooperation with economic partners in the Republic of Serbia, either in respect of investment, joint ventures, trade, tourism or any other form of mutually beneficial economic cooperation.

Information available on the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Serbia intended for the Diaspora and Serbs of the region should provide basic information, facilitate mutual contacts and serve as an encouragement for further cooperation.

Please check HERE to get more information about Diaspora.