Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is on an official visit to R. Serbia, which represents the first official visit of an Egyptian leader after almost five decades. The Republic of Serbia and the Arab Republic of Egypt share a long history of strong and friendly relations, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. The President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vuči is hosting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during his stay in Serbia.

19 June 2022

 

The President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić will host the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who will pay an official visit to the Republic of Serbia from July 19 to 21, 2022.

17 July 2022

 

Deeply saddened by the news of the terrorist attack, we send our condolences to MFA Egypt and the victims families. "Serbia strongly condemns the attack and stands in solidarity with Egypt in our joint fight for preserving the values of modern societies" FM Nikola Selakovic stated. (via official twitter account MFA SERBIA)

08.04.2022.

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.

7 February 2022

 

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic received today Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Serbia Amr Aljowaily on a farewell visit and expressed gratitude for the successful cooperation during the Ambassador’s term in office and wished him success on his new position.
Brnabic said that the political and economic relations between the two states are on the rise and that there is room for cooperation in many fields.
These are, in particular, agriculture, tourism, health care, telecommunications, construction industry, machine industry, mining and science research projects, the Prime Minister said and thanked the Ambassador on his personal contribution to the improvement of cooperation in these areas to date.
Aljowaily said that during the four years of his mandate many concrete improvements were made in cooperation in the fields of agriculture and trade, science and infrastructure, culture, education, technology, sports, media and tourism.

12. January 2022

Charge d' Affairs of the Serbian Embassy B. Stamenkovic, from 10 to 13 of January 2022. atends 4th edition of the "World Youth Forum", under the patronage of President of AR Egypt Abdel Fattah El Sisi, in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Charge d' Affairs of the Serbian Embassy in Cairo B. Stamenkovic visited on Christmas St. Paul Monestary  in Egypt,

Charge d' Affairs of the Serbian Embassy in Cairo B. Stamenkovic visited on Christmas St. Paul Monestary  in Egypt, oldest Ortodox monastery in  the world, located in Eastern Desert, dates to the  4th century AD.

The documentary film "Glory to the Queen" is the international co-production of three countries, namely  Austria, Georgia and Serbia.
The documentary film "Glory to the Queen" stressed out the importance of world famous Serbian chess player and journalist Mrs. Milunka Lazarevic,who was a crucial source of information during research and film production.

Projection of movie "Glory to the Queen" has been held on 9th of December, in Cairo in presence of Bojan Stamenkovic, Charge d'Affairs of the Serbian Embassy, Ambassador of Georgia and Deputy Head of Mission of the Austrian Embassy.

Charge d'Affairs Bojan Stamenkovic attended the celebration of the opening ceremony of the Sphinx Avenue in Luxor invited by the President of Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
More than 30 ambassadors attended the celebration of the opening ceremony of the Sphinx Avenue in Luxor.
Accredited journalists from more then 85 countries reported directly from the celebration of the opening ceremony of the Sphinx Avenue in Luxor. The event attracted a lot of attention from the Egyptian and world media

Charge d’Affairs of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo Bojan Stamenkovic held a meeting with Mr. Saad Mousa, Councilor to the Minister of Agriculture and land reclamation on enhancing bilateral cooperation between two countries in the field of Agriculture.

During the meeting which was held in the Ministry of Agriculture on 10th November 2021, Stamenkovic pointed to the possibility of exporting the agricultural products from Arab Republic of Egypt to the Serbian markets, as well as importing agriculture products from the Republic of Serbia to the Egyptian markets.

Dr. Moussa praised the proposal of enhancing bilateral cooperation between two countries especially with regard to the quantities and different kind of products in mutual market exchange.
At the same time Dr. Moussa pointed to Egypt as one of the greatest producers of  Oranges, Pomegranates, Mango, Grapes and other Citrus products as well as being one of the biggest importers of Apples, which would make that the proposal of the Serbian side is both in the interest of the two countries.

14.  November 2021

 

On the occassion of the state holiday and the Armistice Day in the WWI representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo Mr. Bojan Stamenković, Charge d’Affairs and Sead Begluk visited Military War Memorial in Port Said, egyptian town on shore Meditteranian Sea to honour the fallen Serbian soldiers in the WWI and to lay wreaths.

13.  November 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.

12 November 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."

2nd November 2021

Embassy of R. Serbia in Egypt,  has been invited by Embassy of Great Britain in Cairo for marking the Ceremony of commemorating 79.th Anniversary of the Second battle of El Alamein on 23th October, an historical battle from World War Two.
Representative of the Embassy, Bojan Stamenkovic, Charge d'affairs laid wreath at Memorial Cemetery.
1 November 2021

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Friday 22.10.2021. hosted a dinner banquet on Lake Nasser's banks for more than 30 ambassadors including Bojan Stamenkovic, Charge d’Affairs of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El Anany and Governor of Aswan Ashraf Attia also attended the event that was organized on the sidelines of a ceremony celebrating the unique astronomical phenomenon of the sun perpendicular to the face of King Ramеsses II.

 1st  November 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.

15th October 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.

25 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.

26 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.

25 September 2021

 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, has met in New York today with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Palestine, Riyad al Mailiki.

The interlocutors stated that the relations of the two countries were traditionally good and friendly and based on the observance of the international law as well as that there were potentials for the promotion of cooperation in numerous areas, primarily in economy.

Selaković thanked Minister Maliki for the principled position of Palestine with regards to the respect of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country and support to Serbia regarding the membership of so-called Kosovo in international organizations.

He informed the Palestinian colleague on the situation in the dialog of Belgrade and Priština, as well as on the current situation in K&M and unilateral measures of Priština aimed against the dialog and stability.

The Serbian Foreign Minister expressed the expectation that Palestine would have its high-level representatives in the upcoming celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Non-Allied Movement in Belgrade.

23 September 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.

22 September 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, stated today that our delegation had an extremely successful two-day visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt, a sincere and true friendly reception, and announced the intensification of political and economic cooperation with that African country.

Summarizing the results of the visit, Minister Selaković said that all meetings with Egyptian officials were exceptional, from the first meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, for whom he stated is a great leader, a serious statesman and a man whose policy and vision have a strength which the Serbian delegation could be convinced of at every step, because it is obvious that the state of Egypt is changing.

"The meeting with President El-Sisi lasted more than an hour and a half. He showed great respect for President Aleksandar Vučić, for our state of Serbia, for our delegation. In that spirit and in the light of that meeting, all other meetings took place", said the head of Serbian diplomacy, who, during his visit to Egypt, also met with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Hassan Shoukry, and representatives of the Joint Business Council.

Minister Selaković said that one could hear at the meetings what the transformation of Egypt has been like since President El-Sisi came to power, how patiently and diligently trust was being built between people who are members of different religions and ethnic communities and how Egypt is a country that will dominate in the future with such a vision and such a development strategy, not only politically in this part of the world, but also economically, much wider, in the Mediterranean basin and on the African continent.

"These are all reasons why we from Serbia, especially in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are working much harder and better on establishing even closer relations with Egypt", says Minister Selaković.

He stated that Serbia's political relations with Egypt are at an extremely good, high level, but that our economic relations do not follow our political relations.

He reminded that at the time of the rise of the Non-Aligned Movement and Presidents Josip Broz Tito and Gamal Abdel Nasser, the economic exchange between the former Yugoslavia and Egypt was several tens of times higher than it is today.

He reminded that the factory "Zastava" used to export its cars to Egypt, that IMT and IMR together with Egyptian companies established the production of tractors, and that at that time economic and trade exchange, as well as mutual investments were at a significantly higher level.

"Today, a few decades after that period, today when Serbia is on the rise, when Serbia is transforming, when Egypt has a strong leader, but when Serbia also has a strong leader, we can do much more today and that is why I am convinced that after the visit of President El-Sisi to Serbia, after the meeting with President Vučić, a clear and strong signal will be sent to our economic communities, and that in the coming years we will have the opportunity to witness intensified economic cooperation and much greater trade and economic turnover between our two economies and states, but perhaps for the first time in many decades, joint investments as well", Minister Selaković pointed out.

He said that in the last few years, Egypt has built six completely new cities in places where there has never been a city, and almost 6,000 kilometers of new highways.

Minister Selaković said that a completely new capital is being built in Egypt, which he will have the opportunity to see before his trip to Jordan.

During his two-day official visit to Egypt, Minister Selaković also met with representatives of the Serbia-Egypt Joint Business Council, headed by Osama Salim, former Minister of Industry and Economy.

"He is a man under whose mandate 13.8 billion dollars of foreign direct investments came to Egypt, and the people who really make up the business elite of Egypt are also part of this business council of ours. We talked with them for almost three hours about the possibilities for businessmen from Egypt to invest in Serbia, but also businessmen from Serbia in Egypt. They proposed that Egypt should be one of the entry points of the Serbian economy into the territory of the African continent, which will represent a single economic and trade zone from next year", said the head of Serbian diplomacy.

Minister Selaković also met with the Deputy Grand Imam of Egypt, Muhammad Ad-Duwini, with the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Egypt from the Coptic Orthodox Church, Tawadros II, in the monastery of St. Bishoy from the 4th century.

"Incredible fantastic shrines from the time of the unity of the Christian church, where we were greeted really warmly, and we had the opportunity to talk to his holiness, to acquaint him with the situation in Serbia, to introduce him to our suffering in Kosovo and Metohija and the battle we are waging, to see one of the largest Coptic libraries in the world, but also to get acquainted with what Coptic spirituality and Coptic traditions are", Minister Selaković said.

24 August 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, met today in Egypt, in the Monastery of St. Bishoy, with the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II.
After the meeting, Minister Selaković stated that it was a great honor and privilege for him to be a guest of His Holiness Tawadros II in one of the oldest Christian monasteries, where the relics of the highly respected Christian Saint Bishoy are kept, as well as fragments of the relics of Saint George.

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that he was pleased to have had the opportunity to hear and learn a lot from his interlocutor and to be the one to convey the blessings to the Serbian state and church leadership and all citizens of Serbia.

"Here we met true Christian love, we were treated as brothers, gifted as travelers of the same faith who come from afar, and I can say that we leave here filled with the impression of true brotherly love, which we were greeted with from the moment we arrived in Egypt", Selaković said.

Minister Selaković, among other things, talked with Patriarch Tawadros about the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the cultural and religious heritage of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, but also about the position of Serbs in the southern Serbian province.

He conveyed the greetings of the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porphyry, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić and the faithful Serbian people, and presented him with the icon of Saint Sava, the first archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Pope Tawadros presented Minister Selaković with the icon of Saint Bishoy, and he also presented the icons to the members of the Serbian delegation.

23 August 2021
 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, visited the new capital of Egypt near Cairo today, the construction of which was started by the President of that country, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, five years ago.

Selaković visited the built Coptic Orthodox Church, as well as the complex of buildings in which the ministries will be moved, but also the presidential building.

On his Instagram profile, the head of Serbian diplomacy wrote that over 70% of the work on the construction of the new capital has been completed so far.

He added that all ministries and the seat of the Government will be moved in soon, but also that churches and mosques were the first to be built.

"I congratulate our Egyptian friends on their historic success and thank them for their extraordinary hospitality. In addition to New Cairo, 13 more completely new cities are currently being built", Selaković wrote.

He adds that work is being done on realizing the visit of President El-Sisi to the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, as soon as possible.

The head of Serbian diplomacy is convinced that the meeting of two serious statesmen will pave the way for a new era of cooperation between the two friendly countries of Serbia and Egypt.

24 August 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, met today in Cairo with the son of the first Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Abdel Hakim Abdel Nasser.

Selaković handed Nasser an invitation to participate in the conference on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, which will be held on 11 and 12 October in Belgrade.

The head of Serbian diplomacy informed Nasser's son that he would submit an initiative for a street in Belgrade to be named after his father.

Selaković and Nasser's son also discussed the current political and economic situation in both countries.

24 August 2021
 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selaković stated that Serbia and Egypt were laying the foundations for future cooperation, which he was sure would have a serious perspective, and added that our country wishes to further develop and deepen its economic relations with Egypt.

Minister Selaković, who is on an official visit to Egypt, said in an interview to the country's most widely circulated daily newspaper Al Ahram that special attention was paid to his capacity as a special envoy of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, on whose behalf he had the honour to extend an invitation to President El-Sisi to attend the Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement which will be held in Belgrade on 11 and 12 October.

In that context, Selaković pointed out that Egypt's participation was particularly important, given the key and historical role of that country in founding the Movement, as well as Egypt's activities at the international level, where it acts as a strong promoter of the basic principles on which the Movement is founded.

Selaković emphasized that the meetings of the two presidents were vital to improving the relations between the two countries.

"They give new energy to the unity of Serbia and Egypt and encourage all levels of our societies to cooperate internally and fight for common interests in the international arena”, Selaković said.

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that the important goal of his visit was the preparation of the session of the Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which is scheduled to take place by the end of this year in Cairo.

In that context, Selaković stated that Serbia and Egypt were seriously preparing for the upcoming session of the Joint Committee and that they had an ambitious agenda.

As he stated, Serbia was interested in exchanging experiences in the field of solar energy and wind energy. Egypt's experience in the development of renewable energy sources was important to us and we are ready to accept any kind of cooperation that is in the common interest. 

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that Serbia wishes to further develop and expand its economic relations with Egypt, which includes increasing trade.

"Economic relations are generally developing well, but there are potentials for their further development and improvement in numerous areas such as agriculture, tourism, healthcare, telecommunications, construction, machine industry, mining and scientific research projects," he said.

According to him, the list of goods that Serbia could export to Egypt is long and includes products from almost all industries and given Egypt's good relations with Russia, China and the UAE, the possibility of various trilateral ties in economic projects is not ruled out.

He also said that an additional opportunity for businessmen of both countries was the fact that the Egyptian and Serbian economies were networked in broader free trade systems, which include markets much larger than national ones.

Minister Selaković also stated that Serbia was considering the possibility of its involvement to a certain extent in the implementation of investment megaprojects, and in this regard, we were seriously considering the Egyptian proposal to store a certain amount of grain in new silos in Suez, as a new and expanded logistics centre in Egypt, from where our products could be transported to their final destinations.

Noting that small and medium enterprises were carriers of economic development, Selaković underlined that Serbia agreed with the assessment that the establishment and expansion of cooperation between small and medium enterprises in Serbia and Egypt could significantly improve economic cooperation between the two countries, increase trade and positively affect economic development and employment in our countries.

"We expect that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Development Agency of Serbia and the Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises of Egypt will make a key contribution to the development of this cooperation”, Selaković said.

The head of Serbian diplomacy also pointed out that Egypt has become one of the most popular tourist destinations for Serbian tourists, who also visited that country during the corona virus epidemic.

"I am convinced that the trend of increasing the number of Serbian tourists in Egypt will continue, and this is the result of the improvement of the economic situation in Serbia and the rapid rise in living standards”, Selaković said adding that during the previous 7 years, Serbia has embarked on a path of stable progress, the key contribution to which has been the visionary policy of President Aleksandar Vučić.

When asked about the situation in the Middle East, the head of Serbian diplomacy said that Serbia was following the developments in that region and the region of North Africa very closely.

He pointed out that Serbia respected Egypt's positioning and actions in solving regional problems, in a way that contributes to peace and stability in the region and beyond.He emphasized that Serbia respects Egypt's position and actions in solving regional problems, in a way that contributes to peace and stability in the region and beyond.

" We support the principled approach of Egypt, based on international law and the fundamental principles of the UN, that crises in the region should be resolved on the principle of respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, with the establishment and effective operation of unified national institutions, head of Serbian diplomacy said.

He also said that conflicts and instability in the region of the Middle East and North Africa have caused a refugee and migrant crisis, the consequences of which were directly felt by Serbia as a transit destination. Unlike some other countries, Serbia tried to treat refugees and migrants humanely, aware that most of them were people who were forced to leave their homes.

Minister Selaković said that the Republic of Serbia and the Arab Republic of Egypt act in solidarity, unity and coherence when it comes to the fight against terrorism and, in that sense, our competent services achieve appropriate cooperation.

“For us, Egypt’s experiences in the fight against terrorism are valuable”, Serbian Minister added.

When talking about the foreign policy of Serbia, head of Serbian diplomacy said that regardless of its priority interest for EU accession, Serbia pursues a multi-vector foreign policy.

In that context, he added, Serbia achieves close cooperation with other partners as well, especially with China and the Russian Federation, while the countries of the Arab world and Africa remain a particularly important place for our country.

“Don't forget, Serbia has 14 embassies on the territory of Africa, and all former Yugoslav republics together have 4 embassies”.

In view of the regional policy of Serbia, the Minister said that it was of key interest for the Republic of Serbia to preserve stability in the region as well as the orientation of all countries in the region towards a more intensive cooperation in all areas.

“Only such a region enables sustainable development of Serbia itself”, Selaković said and added that in relations with our neighbours we have focused on the development of economic cooperation and presented to the readers of Al Ahram the "Open Balkan" initiative, which aims to deepen the regional economic market and facilitate the movement of people, goods, services and capital.

23 August 2021
 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, had a working dinner in Cairo tonight with Osama Saleh, co-president of the Serbian-Egyptian Joint Business Council, and prominent Egyptian businessmen.

Minister Selaković acquainted the Egyptian businessmen with the reforms in our country initiated by President Aleksandar Vučić, the successes achieved in the field of economy in the last seven years, and presented the investment potentials of Serbia.

On this occasion, the head of Serbian diplomacy assessed that the two business communities must be much closer, and that the economic relations between Serbia and Egypt should follow the excellent political relations between the two countries.

The meeting also discussed the need to hold a meeting of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation soon, which would be followed by a session of the Serbian-Egyptian Joint Business Council.

During the working dinner, Egyptian businessmen expressed the view that reaching a free trade agreement between Serbia and Egypt would give a strong impetus to the improvement of economic cooperation between the two countries.

They are convinced that the establishment of a regular direct line between Serbia and Egypt, which would be of great importance for establishing better connections between business communities, would also contribute to that goal.

22 August 2021

 

Great space for the improvement of cooperation between Serbia and Egypt

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, met in Cairo today with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Sameh Hassan Shoukry, and pointed out that, despite the fact that our two countries have traditionally good relations, there is great room for improving bilateral cooperation in many fields.

At the press conference after the meeting, Minister Selaković said that everyone agreed that the traditionally good relations between Serbia and Egypt were based on strong historical ties, and that they had been excellent in the past, especially during the time of Presidents Nasser and Tito, when, within the Non-Aligned Movement, Yugoslavia and Egypt cooperated for the benefit of the entire independent and free world.

"However, what we are doing today does not reflect on our history, but on our future. We talked exactly about that – about the improvement of our bilateral ties, both at the political level and in the sphere of economy", said Selaković.

Minister Selaković stated that Serbia and Egypt had a frequent exchange of visits at a high level this year, and that such meetings are an opportunity to see what we have done in the previous period and to make plans for the future.

"We also talked about the foundations of our relations in the past, about the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement. Serbia will again be a place where, I believe, all the founding countries, as well as the member states, will gather in October. It will be a great honor for us to host President Sisi in Belgrade", said the head of Serbian diplomacy.

According to him, regional issues, the situation in the Middle East and the Balkans were also discussed at the meeting, but special emphasis was placed on economic cooperation.

The two ministers discussed the possibility of organizing a session of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation by the end of the year, as well as a session of the Joint Business Council, because, as they mutually stated, there is room for improving our cooperation in areas such as agriculture, tourism, telecommunications, energy, health…

"In the 21st century, only strong nations will survive, and strong nations are led by strong people. I congratulate your great state and nation on the fact that it has a visionary at its helm, who is paving the way for you towards the future", Selaković said.

Minister Selaković informed his colleague Shoukry about the results of Serbia's fight against the corona virus epidemic, but also about the fact that Egypt is an increasingly popular tourist destination for the citizens of our country.

"We are proud of the fact that, according to the data I received this morning, in the first seven months of this year, according to the number of inhabitants, we represent the largest tourist nation here in Egypt. More than 140,000 Serbian tourists visited your country", Selaković said.

Addressing the journalists, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Sameh Hassan Shoukry, stated that the relations between Serbia and Egypt are marked by mutual solidarity.

"We also discussed the establishment of mechanisms that will benefit the two peoples and we agreed on many issues in international politics. We plan to continue our cooperation at various levels and work on deepening it in various areas, especially the economy", Shoukry said.

According to him, the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, is grateful for the invitation to participate in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade in October.

22 August 2021
 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, stated today that Serbia is recognized in the Arab Republic of Egypt as the first country in the Balkan region, a country that is a factor of peace and stability in our part of Europe, and a country that truly pursues an independent and autonomous policy, both domestic and foreign.

The Minister stated that he had the honor of meeting with the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo and that in a great, open and friendly conversation, he personally handed him an invitation letter from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to attend the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade.

"We had the opportunity to discuss the development of cooperation between Egypt and Serbia in the future, to see all the advantages of the decades-long, 113-years long tradition of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Egypt, which is an excellent basis for developing our relations in the future", said the head of Serbian diplomacy.

He said that at the meeting, they also remembered the great days of cooperation between SFRY President Josip Broz Tito and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, but also stressed that the topic of conversation was economic relations between the two countries, which he said were significantly below Serbia's political relations with Egypt today.

Minister Selaković said that, on behalf of President Vučić, he asked the Egyptian President to visit Serbia and emphasized that this meeting of the two leaders is exactly what is necessary for us to unite the two business communities, both our societies, and to show in which direction in the future should our relations go.

"The meeting with President Sisi was just a guideline for the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Hassan Shoukry and me, to show us in which direction we should talk, and we used this day to discuss both our bilateral political relations and the need to develop economic cooperation", Minister Selaković said.

At the meeting with the Egyptian President, as Minister Selaković stated, regional issues were also discussed, and he added that our Egyptian friends informed the Serbian delegation about the situation in the Middle East and surrounding countries, about all the challenges they face and everything that is important for preserving peace and stability not only in the region, but on the global stage.

"From our side, we used the opportunity to convey to our friends what the situation is in the region of the Balkans and Southeast Europe, what are the challenges we are facing", said the head of Serbian diplomacy.

Minister Selaković emphasized that the Serbian delegation in Egypt received great respect, generous hospitality from our Egyptian friends and expressed a sincere wish that, after years of consolidation and a very successful recovery, we can plan the long-term development of our relations in the future.

He emphasized that at the meetings with the Egyptian President and the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, great respect was expressed for all reforms that have been implemented in Serbia in the last seven years since Aleksandar Vučić became the prime minister and later the President of the Republic.

"I can say that the recognition that was given to us is something that was really a real pleasure to listen to", concluded Minister Selaković.

22 August 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, visited the Al-Azhar Al-Sharif University in Cairo today, where he talked with the Deputy Grand Imam of Egypt and the Deputy Secretary of that University, Muhammad Ad-Duwini.

Minister Selaković said that the university is more than a thousand years old, that it is the second oldest university in the entire Arab world, and he stated that the deputy grand imam is a man of incredible education and incredibly broad culture.

"During the conversation with the grand imam’s deputy, great respect was shown towards the Republic of Serbia, but also great recognition was given to the attitude and respect of the state of Serbia towards different confessions, towards members of different religions living in our country, in our Serbia, and some concrete offers and opportunities for strengthening our cooperation were also brought out", said the head of Serbian diplomacy after the meeting.

He conveyed that Dr. Duwini, on behalf of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif University, offered scholarships to young imams from Serbia, to come to Cairo to get an education, to improve their knowledge, both in undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Minister Selaković emphasized that the Serbian delegation in Egypt was convinced of the way in which this oldest educational institution in Egypt and in this part of the world makes a serious contribution to the fight against terrorism, extremism, various types of radicalism within the interpretation of the Koran, that is, within Islam as a religion.

"The contribution that this institution makes to the preservation of peace and stability in the Middle East and in the entire Islamic world is something incredibly important. What I would especially like to point out is that the idea that Christians and Copts in Egypt should no longer be called a minority, but equal citizens, brothers, fellow citizens, friends, came from the great imam of Egypt himself", says Minister Selaković.

He pointed out that it can be freely said that a new wave of refreshment in relations in the Egyptian society itself originated from this university.

"It can be said that Al-Azhar Al-Sharif fully follows what is the policy of Egyptian President El-Sisi, and that is strengthening the internal cohesion of Egypt itself, and then strengthening Egypt's role in the entire Arab and Islamic world, but also in the world in general", concluded Minister Selaković.

After the conversation with the grand imam’s deputy, Minister Selaković visited the observatory within that university, which he stated was a very serious and modern institution.

23 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.
 

5 August 2021
 

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, talked with the delegation of the Arab Republic of Egypt, led by the Governor of South Sinai, Major General Khaled Foda Sadiq, about improving cooperation in numerous areas, especially tourism, spa tourism, agriculture and air transport.

The Prime Minister, A. Brnabic pointed out that the visit of the Egyptian delegation to Nis is of exceptional importance in order for the businessmen of that country to gain insight into the potential for investments.
The Governor, Khaled Foda Sadik, emphasized that as the mayor of Sharm El Sheikh, which is the capital of South Sinai, he is extremely pleased that the two cities will be twin cities where parks will be built as synonyms of friendship and cooperation.

H.E Jugoslav Vukadinovic, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Egypt, expressed pride of the historical ties that binds Serbia and Egypt for 8 centuries, Serbia’s keenness on enhancing bilateral relations with the Arab Republic of Egypt, through mutual cooperation in Touristic, economic, trade and investment fields, as well as discussing  recent cooperation projects being implemented between both countries especially in the touristic field.
In an interview that he held, On Monday 26th, July, with “Sada AL Balad” reporter, Amina Al Dessouki, in the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo.

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

22 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

20 July 2021

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, spoke at the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) today and on that occasion sent an invitation to the representatives of the members to gather in Belgrade on 11 and 12 October, when the 60th anniversary of the first Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Belgrade in 1961 will be marked.

Selaković informed the participants of the conference that Serbia would organize this important jubilee of non-aligned countries together with Azerbaijan – which is currently chairing the NAM.

In his address, Selaković reminded that the former Yugoslavia and President Tito, as co-founders of the Movement, gave their contribution to creating a vision of a different world, and that Serbia, as one of the successors of Yugoslavia, is proud of that part of its history.

"The spirit of non-alignment is based on equality, freedom, lasting peace, sovereign equality of states and peaceful cooperation of all peoples, and these values are also woven into the state-building foundations of Serbia", the minister said.

Selaković said that the Non-Aligned Movement throughout its history has been a beacon of freedom to all those who sought the right to existence and prosperity in a world that was often ruled, not by the force of law, but by the law of force. He assessed that even today we find ourselves in times of serious global challenges in which the Movement has the opportunity to reaffirm its libertarian traditions and commitment to a world of equals.

"Serbia, as a militarily neutral and politically independent state, will give its most sincere contribution to such goals of the Movement. We hope that by strengthening mutual ties and cooperation, as a group of states and peoples that share the same values and interests, we will strengthen our common capacity to face the challenges of tomorrow. And the challenges are already before us", Selaković pointed out.

The Minister emphasized that international law should be a pillar of political and security architecture of the world, and added that Serbia respects the commitment of the members of the Movement towards the goals and principles of the UN Charter.

"Many members of this movement are aware that by insisting on international law, they are working in their own favor and in favor of preserving regional and global stability," the minister pointed out.

Selaković also said that the COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed that inequality, lack of solidarity and empathy in the world have become very obvious in the roughest way.

"Serbia is eternally grateful to all the countries which, such as Azerbaijan, helped us in difficult times. We later extended that chain of solidarity by making vaccines available, not only to our citizens, but also to others in the region. We supported our neighbors with the belief that solidarity is the best investment in a common future", the minister concluded.

13.July 2021
 

On July 12th  2021, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Dr. Nebojsa Stefanovic arrived on a three-day official visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt at the invitation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Minister of Defense and Military Production Lieutenant General Mohamed Ahmed Zaki. Minister Stefanović was welcomed at the airport in Cairo by the Commander of the Central Military Zone, Major General Kalid Ahmed, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Egypt, H.E. Jugoslav Vukadinović, and the defence attache  Vladimir Bogdanović.
Simultaneously with the official ministerial visit, the 13th session of the Joint Military Committee of the Ministries of Defense of the Republic of Serbia and the Arab Republic of Egypt is being held, at which issues of mutual interest in the field of military-military, military-economic, scientific-technical, military-medical and military educational cooperation

Important cooperation between the National Museum as an internationally recognized research and conservation center with Serbian culture institutions.

At a meeting in Cairo with the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt Khaled El Enani highlighting that cooperation between Serbia and the Arab Republic of Egypt was developed and that the two countries were ready to further improve and encourage cooperation between cultural institutions in the field of cultural heritage protection.
Gojkovic noted that important cooperation in the field of preventing unauthorized trade in cultural artifacts, which was important to Serbia and AR Egypt among priority areas and that the exchange of experts in the field of protection of cultural heritage and the fight against unauthorized trade in cultural artifacts would be important for Serbian cultural institutions, and in this segment we should improve cooperation with Egyptian institutions that have significant experience in this area.
Gojkovic and El Enani stressed that it is of special importance to improve cooperation in both museuology, conservation and restoration and in that framework especially the National Museum in Belgrade and the Grand Egyptian Museum.

With ballerina Valentina Djuricanin at the Cairo Opera and director Magdi Saber, where a gala concert was held, performed by Aljamhurija Theater, on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the 52. th International Book Fair.

On the sidelines of her participation in the opening of the activities of the 52nd session of the Cairo International Book Fair, Dr. Inas Abdel Dayem, Minister of Culture met with Maja Gojkovic, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Cultutre and Information of the Republic of Serbia, to discuss ways of supporting and enhancing joint cooperation in various intellectual and arts fields between the two countries, with the participation of Sabry Sa'ed Chief of Foreign Cultural Relations Sector, and members of the accompanying Serbian delegation.
The meeting dealt with a discussion and review of the mechanisms for organizing a group of diverse creative events between the two countries and the participation of Serbian artistic teams in art festivals organized by the Ministry of Culture, in addition to developing a plan for cooperation in the field of translation and publishing for senior writers from both sides to present cultural and artistic experiences in both societies in addition to benefiting from  experts of Egyptian Arts Academy to train artists from Serbia.

Prime Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt Mostafa Madbuli with Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Culture and Information Maja Gojkovic visited the stand of the Republic of Serbia at the 52.nd International Book Fair in Cairo.
Our country is presented at the International Book Fair in Cairo, and the motive of the Serbian pavilion is the book ′′ Jablan ′′ by Petar Kocic, which has been translated into Arabic.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Selakovic with delegation, on his way to Lusaka, 1st and 3rd of July 2021 held meeting with Chief of Protocol of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan, dr Mukhtar Bilal during technical landing in Khartoum.
During the meeting it was discussed about future development of comprehensive bilateral relations between Sudan and the Republic of Serbia.

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!

09. June 2021

https://www.facebook.com/SRBinUSA/posts/3863235943775786

As we cheer for Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novaković, University Professor at Columbia University in the City of New York and Creative Ambassador of Serbia Srbija stvara / Serbia Creates, as the finalist for European Patent Office Lifetime Achievement European #InventorAward 2021, we also invite you to vote for our ingenious female scientist to win the Popular Prize Award: https://popular-prize.epo.org/.../gordana-vunjak.../.... Votes can be cast daily until June 17, 2021. 
 

Delagation of the Provincial Government of Vojvodina headed by its  president Igor Mirovic visited Egypt on May. 23-26 2021. and signed the Cooperation Protocol between the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce in Alexandria and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the region of Vojvodina.
Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities dr Khaled Al-Anani received the delegation in Cairo on May, 25 and discussed about tourism, economic, industry and trade.

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.

20 May 2021

The depth of friendship between the two peoples is the basis for the strength of political and economic relations

Al Ahram Newspaper
Monday, May 17th, 2021

Yugoslav Vukadinovic, Ambassador of Serbia in Cairo, stressed the necessity of continuing efforts between Egypt and Serbia to enhance the horizons of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in all fields, stressing the depth of friendship ties between the Egyptian Serbian peoples and the leaderships of the two countries, which forms the basis for the strength of the political and economic relations between the two countries.

In exclusive statements to Al-Ahram, on the occasion of the 113th anniversary of relations between Cairo and Belgrade, the ambassador welcomed President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's visit to Serbia as soon as possible, noting that the Republic of Serbia and its government will continue to strengthen bilateral cooperation efforts in all fields.
The ambassador expected to hold a meeting of the Egyptian-Serbian joint committee, immediately after the end of the blessed Eid al-Fitr holiday, explaining that the meeting would be an excellent opportunity to discuss various issues and prospects for cooperation between the two countries during the coming period.
The ambassador said that the history of Egyptian-Serbian friendship goes back to the beginning of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1908, when the first diplomatic office of the Kingdom of Serbia was opened in Egypt, as the historical relations between Egypt and Serbia go back to the advanced middle ages, in the first decade of the second century, Saint Sava, the brother of King Stephen the First, visited Egypt during his trip to the holy places in the East, including Sinai and Cairo, where he met Al Malek Al Kamel the Egyptian Sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty, who received him, hosted and gifted him a great honor from the Egyptian state, as provided St Sava, with all the needs of his trip, in addition to valuable gifts.
The Serbian ambassador said: "We are now working on a joint project that aims to make the year 2035 the year of the celebration of the eight centuries since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Serbia."

On the measures taken by the Republic of Serbia to confront the challenge of the Covid 19 virus and its impact on the tourism sector, the ambassador stated that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic recently indicated that Serbia is the first country in Europe in terms of economic growth, thanks to the economic reform measures taken since 2014, and that the rapid opening up of the country quickly returned after the first wave of the virus, expressing his belief that the next year will be better than the previous year, as the Corona virus will be defeated through the vaccination of citizens, which has already begun. The ambassador continued: With the establishment of a Serbian-Egyptian economic union, he suggested coordination with the Governor of the Red Sea, Major General Amr Hanafi, to visit Serbia, which reflects the existence of a wide area between the two countries in the current period for further strengthening of economic, cultural and tourism cooperation.

In the same context, and in an effort to revitalize and support the Serbian tourism movement to the famous Egyptian tourist resorts, Vukadinovic said that during the period from last April 11th to 17th, a delegation of 100 Serbian doctors visited Hurghada, and met their Egyptian counterparts to exchange experiences, and discussed ways of cooperation between the two countries in the medical sector, how to deal with the Corona pandemic, and what is related to the exchange of tourist visits between the two countries in safety and peace.

In the same context, Vukadinovic said that the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia hosted at its headquarters an important event in coordination with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, with the aim of conducting a test for Egyptian applicants to work as tour guides between Egypt and Serbia, where a specialized committee from the embassy tested their information in the Serbian language before granting them an accredited license to practice tourist guidance.

Embassy of Serbia in Cairo, as every year, has marked properly 9th of May, Victory Day in World War Two.
This time representatives of the Embassy, Mr. Bojan Stamenković, Minister Councellor and defence attaché LtC Vladimir Bogdanovic, layed wreaths on the Central Monument in Military Memorial in Heliopolis – Cairo on 9th of May 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.

21st 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.

20th 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.

19 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.

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.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has opened the Golden Parade, carrying 22 mummies - 18 kings and four queens - at the newly-opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).
A 21-gun salute was fired on 3dh of April 2021 in Cairo in honor of the Egyptian kings upon arrival . They include Senakhtenre, Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Thutmose III, Seti I, Rameses III, Ramses II, Ramses IX, and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of A. R. of Egypt took initiative in regard of vaccinating Heads of Missions and International organizations and their spouses from 21 st to 25th of March 2021 in Cairo.
On the 25th of March, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia and his spouse, has been vaccinated.
Expressing gratitude to government of the Arab Republic of Egypt's initiative, under the auspices of President Abd Al Fattah Al Sisi, and the people of Egypt.

Anja Crevar, Serbian swimmer won gold medal in Spain in category 400 m., with result of  4.40,17 in final.
Proud to have rising champion in water sport and congratulations for such of achievement.  

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

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

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

You can watch the film regarding The National Day of Serbia here.

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

Marking the  27th January – St.Sava’s Day in the Embassy.  Maha Ibrahim, an Egyptian painter, reproduced his icon, to decorate the Ambassador’s Residency.

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

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced on Wednesday, 13 th of January 2021 the opening of the 27th International Handball Federation’s (IHF) Men’s World Championship, Egypt 2021, at the Cairo International Stadium.
In an opening speech, President Sisi  welcomed the participants, saying the world has become able to co-exist with the circumstances imposed by the pandemic.

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 a growth of minus 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

Serbian Ambassador to Egypt, Jugoslav Vukadinovic, received on January the 6th the best wishes for merry Orthodox Christmas and Happy New Year from His Holiness Pope Tawadros II in Cairo. The Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center, the president of this theological institution, General Bishop, Anba Ermia, convey best wishes for Christmas to our Embassy too, having in mind that we are both celebrating according to the Julian calendar.

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

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

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.

 

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, dr Khaled El- Anani in the name of excellent cooperation during whole year with Embassy of R. of Serbia wishes Happy New Year to ambassador, J. Vukadinovic sending the  replica of an old statue of Goddess Neith.
Upcoming year is named "Year of Hope" by Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities with several megaprojects as opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, new facilities in sites of Saqqara Necropolis and Giza pyramids  as well announcing opening of new museums in New Capital and several historical sites starting from January 2021. 

Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Ana Brnabic received today the first vaccine against the coronavirus made by Pfizer company, at the Torlak Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera.

Brnabic, who is the first European Prime Minister to receive the vaccine, pointed out that this day may be the first since 6 March that we have a reason for a smile on our faces as it marks the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic in Serbia, but also in Europe and the world.

As Prime Minister and as someone who leads the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team, I felt obliged to be the first to receive the vaccine, to show that we believe in it, as well as in our institutions - the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency of Serbia and experts who worked round the clock to test the vaccine, she said.

Underlining that it was an honour to do this for her country and be the first to pave the way for all citizens, the Prime Minister said that she agreed with President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic that the two of them receive different vaccines, so he will most likely receive the next one that arrives, most probably the one produced by China.

At the moment we have the Pfizer-BioNTech consortium vaccine, and the vaccines from the Chinese Sinopharm are expected in the near future, as well as certain quantities of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

She expressed her belief that at the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter of next year we will have the vaccine of the company AstraZeneca, and after that the vaccine manufactured by Moderna.

As we promised, all vaccines licensed in their countries and approved by relevant international agencies will be available to our citizens, and of course they will be tested by all of our agencies and institutes as well, the Prime Minister pointed out.

She said that prior to the vaccination of health care workers, Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar will also receive a vaccine shot as we endeavour to serve as an example and show how confident we are in the vaccines and institutions.

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

We achieved something very important and we will not stop even for a 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 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 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 of next year.

There is a dynamic on which Pfizer delivers vaccines and it varies depending on the production, and this is the case with deliveries to both Serbia and all other countries worldwide. We expected to receive 10,000 doses from Pfizer-BioNTech in December, however 4,807 doses arrived, the Prime Minister explained.

Serbia demonstrated that it is able to fight and succeed if we all work as a team, Brnabic said and called on all not to see the beginning of vaccination as the end of the fight already, but to continue to apply all measures instead.

This is to be certain and to be able to help our health care workers, and once the immunity is acquired we will be able to slowly start taking off the masks in 2021, but until then we should not see this as a victory but as the beginning of the end, the Prime Minister concluded.

After the Prime Minister, vaccine shots were also administered to the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs and a member of the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team Darija Kisic Tepavcevic and to Predrag Kon who is also on the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team.

Furthermore, vaccine shots were also given to Head of the MMA Department for the Prevention and Control of Nosocomial Infections prof. Dr. Vesna Suljagic and academician Predrag Pesko, professor of Belgrade and Heidelberg universities and full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The first quantities of the vaccine arrived in Serbia on 22 December, and today they will be administered to patrons of nursing homes in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

Serbia is the first country in the region to receive a shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In addition to procuring the vaccine among the first countries in the world, even before EU countries, Serbia is one of the rare countries that managed to build and open two covid hospitals in record time. The hospitals with 930 beds in Batajnica and 500 beds in Krusevac are a major contribution to the expansion of capacities and strengthening the health care system in the fight against coronavirus and, as President Vucic said, represent a monument of the future, that will talk about the accomplishments the state made in a short time.

Also, we recall that investments in health infrastructure have been large in Serbia, and since 2016, 80 health centers and clinics have been renovated, and works are underway on six large health centers. This way more than EUR 200 million was invested in the reconstruction, construction and equipping of hospitals and more than 300 million in the renovation of clinics and specialized hospitals, and many have already been completed, such as the University Children's Hospital Tiršova, and KBC Zemun nad KBC "Dragiša Mišović" hospitals.

The absolute priority of the Serbian Government is the successful completion of health infrastructure projects that are underway, but great attention is also paid to health workers,
whose salaries have, by 2020, been increased by 56.8% for specialist doctors, and 66.9% for
nurses, while significant funding is invested in the education of health professionals, as well as in equipment and working conditions.

Like other countries, Serbia has faced great challenges this year, most notably health challenges, and all factors in the state were focused on preventing the spread of the virus and safeguarding the lives and health of citizens. Serbia has faced these challenges better than many wealthier and more developed countries in Europe and the world.

Belgrade,
24 December 2020

The Ceremony on 15th December was held in Greek House in Cairo  for marking upcoming Hollydays the Christmas and New Year  attended by Minister of State for immigration and Egyptian Affairs, Nabila Makram Abdel-Shaheed,  Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs for European countries, ambassador Badr Abdel Aty, various number of high rank Egyptian diplomats and ambassadors from European countries.
Ambassador, J. Vukadinovic attended the Ceremony.

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. 

On the occasion of death oh His Holiness, Archbishop  of  Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovac and Serbian Patriarch, Mr Irinej the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia announces that  the Book of Condolences will be open in the Embassy, 33, Al Mansour Mohamed, Zamalek  on Monday,  November 23th, from 12.00 – 14.00h.

Collection of 100 intact 26 th Dynasty coffins were unearthed in Egypts Saqqara Necropolis in addition to golden funerary masks a collection of 40 wooden statues of Saqqara goddess Ptah Soker.
Excavations conducted by the Egyptian archaeological mission working in the Saqqara Necropolis resulted in the discovery of three - 12 metre deep shafts, closed for more than 2.500 years, containing 100 intact, sealed and painted anthropoid coffins.
Ambassadors and international media representatives flocked to the scene on Saturday 14 th November to witness the announcement of the new discovery. On site, anthropoid painted coffins were placed in a large tent and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El Enany said that there are many other discoveries that will follow.

Ambassador, dr Badr Abdel Aty, assistant Minister of  MFA for European Affairs held meeting on Thursday 12 th with ambassadors of non-European Union countries accredited in Egypt, (Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Georgia, Switzerland, Norway, UK, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia), within the frame work of the periodic meetings held by European sector of MFA of AR of Egypt.
The meeting dealt with bilateral relations between Egypt and European countries in a light of strengthen ties, especially on the economic and commercial levels.

Atendees to the commemoration ceremony were the representatives of the diplomatic and military diplomatic corps and the high dignitaries of the Egyptian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces. Serbian representatives laid wreath at the site of The Central Monument.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi followed with top state officials and few honored and invited ambassadors accredited in Egypt on 31 st October 2020 on Ceremony of inauguration the Kafr el Sheikh Museum in Sharm El Sheikh.
Ambassodors from UAE, KSA, Italy, Greece, Kazahstan and Serbia represented Diplomatic Cord that have been honored to participate during the presence of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi inaugurating Ceremony and official opening of the Kafr El Sheikh Museum. 

The Governor of South Sinai, Khaled Fouda on 31 st October 2020 received ambassador of Republic of  Serbia, Jugoslav Vukadinovic at his office in Sharm el-Sheikh as part of continuous efforts of promoting cooperation between two countries and upcoming twining of cities of Sharm el Sheik and City of Nis in Serbia. 

Two Foreign Minister conducts phone call on October 19th 2020., FDPM and MFA Minister, Ivica Dacic and Sameh Shoukri,  discussing the ways of developing bilateral relations between the two countries, which are bound by long-standing friendly relations. During the talks, the two sides agreed that it is necessary to make efforts to improve and expand the various areas of cooperation such as economy, tourism, construction, agriculture and water management.
They also agreed that next Join Committee will be held in Cairo after lockdown brake in both countries.

Milunka Savić was a Serbian war heroine who fought in the Balkan Wars and in World War I. She is the most-decorated female combatant in the entire World history.
A memorial complex with a permanent exhibition devoted to Milunka Savić was opened in October 2020 in Serbia-Josanicka Banja.
Maha Ibrahim, an Egyptian painter, reproduced her portrait , on October,8th, to decorate the Ambassador’s Residency.

At the following links you can find useful information on the Republic of Serbia as a favourable destination for business, as well as investing in research and development of new technologies: Brochures:

"SERBIA - Emerging tech developing hub" and

"Guide to measures to support the development of innovative economy"

An Egyptian archaeological mission uncovered a large collection of intact and sealed coffins at Saqqara Necropolis, Al-Ahram reported. Sixty ambassadors and international media representatives flocked to the scene on Saturday to witness the announcement of the new discovery.On site, almost 40 anthropoid painted coffins were placed in a large tent, while the rest of the coffins were put on display inside tombs.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled Anani said that an Egyptian mission started re-excavating the site two months ago and succeeded to uncover a burial shaft 11 metres deep where there were more than 13 anthropoid intact and sealed coffins. More excavations revealed two more shafts, 10 and 12 metres deep, filled with a large number of intact and sealed coffins. The mission succeeded to unearth 59 coffins thus far. All the unearthed coffins are in a very good conservation condition and still bear their original colours.

Ambassador, Jugoslav Vukadinovic gave an interview on 1st October 2020.,  to “Event Magazine News”  during the participation in traditional journalist project "Spread the love", among the group  of ambassadors accredited in Egypt, underlining long lasting tradition of friendship of two countries in all spheres, cooperation in a field  of tourism and efforts of R. of Serbia on a path for membership in  EU. 
Ambassador stressed that Serbia might be a bridge for Egypt to Europe as well the mutual internal affairs in constant upgrading , having in mind that Serbian tourist gladly coming to Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh and Cairo even in this hard times in period under the COVID 19.
He also stressed that is great privilege and honor  on promoting closeness   between people of  two friendly countries, this time tasting traditional Egyptian food "Koshari".

Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled el Anani and Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Manar, along with 30 foreign ambassadors in Egypt participated on Friday 25 of September in a cycling marathon in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh.
The marathon is organized by the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry to mark the World Tourism Day.
Assistant Foreign Minister For European Affairs, Badr Abdel Aati and President of the Egyptian Federation of Chambers of Tourism Ahmed el-Wasif also participated in the marathon.
The marathon is held on the fringe of a visit by the tourism, civil aviation, environment and state information ministers to Sharm el Sheikh, as well as 30 foreign ambassadors to celebrate the World Tourism Day. Ambassador J. Vukadinovic participated in cycling marathon among the group of ambassadors.
During the visit to the Red Sea resort city which started on Thursday, the Egyptian ministers and foreign ambassadors toured Sharm el Sheikh International Airport to inspect the anti-COVID-19 precautionary measures applied at it, in addition to health, hygiene and safety protocols applied in hotels.

Marking the 15th September anniversary  of "Solunski front" and Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and National flag famous picture of Serbian solider named "SOKO", Maha Ibrahim, an Egyptian painter, reproduced his portrait , on September,16th, to decorate the Ambassador’s Residency.

AR of Egypt announced that starting 1 st September 2020., every passenger onboard its flights to Egypt, regardless of nationality, must have PCR analysis confirming that they tested negative for COVID 19 (within 72 hours). Implementing the decision will be for all turistic destinations, Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, Tebe, Mars Alam , Mars Matruh. This decision is officially confirmed by competent Egyptian authorities.   

The citizens of the Republic of Serbia can enter and transit the territory of the Arab Republic of Egypt with new condition to provide Test certificate for COVID 19, since 15 August  2020., 15 00 p.m., issued not more than 72 hours prior to arrival to Cairo.
The citizens of the Republic of Serbia upon arrival to tourist destinations in the region of the Red Sea, fill in particular forms and undergo a temperature check up. Individuals with  symphtoms are dispatched to quarantine. Sharm El Sheikh, Taba, Hurghada, Marsa Allam, Marsa Matrough on direct flights have no obligation to provide PCR tests for Serbian citizens. 
The Arab Republic of Egypt has no bans as to entry of foreign citizens.

The citizens of the Republic of Serbia can enter and transit the territory of the Arab Republic of Egypt without any limitations and a Covid 19 test is not required. The entry policy is as before. There is a possibility of obtaining 'tourist visas' upon arrival at the airports in Hurghada, Masr Alam and Sharm el Sheik. Such a visa regime relates solely to tourist destinations. The capital city Cairo is not in this group and prior to arrival an entry visa needs to be obtained at the embassy of the AR Egypt in Belgrade. The citizens of the Republic of Serbia upon arrival to tourist destinations in the region of the Red Sea, fill in particular forms and undergo a temperature check up. Individuals with symphtoms are dispatched to quarantine. The Arab Republic of Egypt has no bans as to entry of foreign citizens.

Marking The Nikola Tesla’s birth anniversary  Maha Ibrahim, an Egyptian painter, reproduced his portrait , on July,10th, to decorate the Ambassador’s Residency.

Marking The Vidovdan, Maha Ibrahim, an Egyptian painter, reproduced the painting by Uroš Predić , in memory of the famous battle of Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire on June 28, 1389.

Working Hours
Sunday - Thursday : 9:00 - 16:00 hours

The Consular Section is open to public
on Monday and Wednesday from 10.00-13.00

 

Two Foreign Minister conducts phone call on June 7th 2020., FDPM and MFA Minister, Ivica Dacic and Sameh Shoukri,  discussing the ways of developing bilateral relations between the two countries, which are bound by long-standing friendly relations. During the talks, the two sides agreed that it is necessary to make efforts to improve and expand the various areas of cooperation such as economy, tourism, construction, agriculture and water management.
They also agreed that next Join Committee will be held in Cairo after lockdown brake in both countries

Serbian, Novak Djokovic, number one in world tennis, was awarded this Friday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Serbia for his contribution to diplomacy and the promotion of the interests of the Balkan country and its people in the world.
The Foreign Minister, Ivica Dacic,  expressed his honor for delivering the letter of recognition “to the famous tennis player, the living legend Novak Djokovic, which is proof that athletes are perhaps the best ambassadors of our country in the world,”

Informations of the Elections in Serbia on June,21st 20202 can be found on Serbian versions (cyrilic and latin) of this site.

Information about the special flight Cairo - Belgrade for the citizens of the Republic of Serbia by Air - Cairo on April 24th, 2020 can  be found on the following link:

www.flyaircairo.com

Embassy of Serbia in Cairo appreciated project and campaign "Together Against Corona" "StayHome" supporting  during these hard time an action initiated by "Almubtada News Paper" underlining the need for patience, optimism and responsible collective action.

In order to safer overcome the social situation due to COVID-19 epidemic, and to facilitate access to cultural contents to the citizens of Sebia, as well as to users from other countries, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Sebia offered a large scale of programs of National Cultural Institutions available in digital format (virtual tours, digital audio and video materials, photos, texts, 3D scanned objects,etc.) in different languages.

The official Site of the Ministry of Culture of Serbia:

http://www.kultura.gov.rs/cyr/
http://www.kultura.gov.rs/en/

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic on 15 March chaired a meeting of the Covid-19 crisis response team and the Crisis team for eliminating the possible and harmful effects of the coronavirus on the economy. After the meeting, President Vucic declared a state of emergency throughout the Republic of Serbia.

President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Ana Brnabic and the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojkovic adopted a Decision on the introduction of a state of emergency in accordance with the Constitution on 16 March. The decision came into force.

The borders of the Republic of Serbia are closed to all foreign nationals, with the exception of diplomats accredited in Serbia and foreigners with a residence permit.

Citizens of the Republic of Serbia, as well as accredited diplomats and foreign nationals residing in the Republic of Serbia, who enter the Republic of Serbia, are obliged to be in self-islolation for at least 14 days. This measure will be strictly controlled and its violation will be most severely sanctioned.

Citizens will be provided with a legally binding solution upon entering the country. Imprisonment for violating this provision is up to three years in prison. This is very important to reduce the movement of citizens, which is one of the main reasons for introducing a state of emergency in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

In the case of citizens of the Republic of Serbia and foreign nationals residing in the Republic of Serbia, arriving from the Swiss Confederation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Romania, the Kingdom of Spain, the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Republic, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Slovenia and the Hellenic Republic isolation period will be 28 days.

Additional informatios

Serbian Ambassador, H.E. Jugoslav Lj. Vukadinovic gave Interview on 8th of March 2020 for "City Talk Newspaper". Ambassador Vukadinovic  answered at numerous questions related to  development of bilateral Serbian – Egyptian relation, situation in Serbia, priorities of future Serbian-Egyptian cooperation, sport and cultural cooperation,  economic and trade as well about many tight links of two friendly countries during mutual history.
Managing Director of "City Talk newspaper, dr Essam Hassan, awarded Ambassador J. Vukadinovic with a symbol of newspaper company for cooperation and best relation from the both side. 

The director of "5 th Cairo International Biennial of Arabic Calligraphy art ", prof. Fathy Abdulwahab,  in Cairo on March  7 th, 2020, delivering the award for the prominent Serbian calligrapher Aleksandar Stankovic, for his work and participation to Biennial under the auspices of the Egyptian Minister of Culture, Ines Abdel Dajim. The competition was attended by more than 300 artists from 24 different countries. The "Biennial of Arabic Calligraphy art" organization brings together artists specialized in the field of calligraphy art from all over the world to show their unique talent and free style, sharing the experience with their colleagues at the same time. On this occasion, a continuation of artistic cooperation between the artists of Egypt and Serbia was agreed in the form of organizing joint competitions, which will be a unique opportunity for better acquaintance with stylistic techniques and strengthening cultural relations. Ambassador, J. Vukadinovic recived award in the name of Aleksandar Stankovic.

 

On March 5, 2020.,   Ambassador of Serbia, Jugoslav Vukadinovic  attended the inauguration of the Pyramid of "Djoser" in Saqqara site  in Cairo after the completion of its conservation project.
The Pyramid was built around 2667-2648 BC.
.
Ambassador J. Vukadinovic held conversation with Egypt’s PM M. Madbouly and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities  dr Kh. Al-Anany as well with members of diplomatic cor.

The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia would like to announce that the Serbian Parliamentary elections will be held on the 26th of April 2020.
For more information regarding the upcoming elections, please visit the Serbian version of our website by clicking one of the links in the top right corner labeled “ћирилица” or “latinica”.

Ambassador of Serbia to Egypt  Jugoslav Lj. Vukadinovic attended the inauguration of the 153rd regular session of the League of Arab States at its headquarters in Cairo.
President of the Arab Parliament, Honorable dr Mishal F. Al-Sulami with delegation participated on the 141 Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the Sava Centre in Belgrade from 13 to 16 October 2019., shared his impressions with Ambassador J. Vukadinovic about his successful visit and hospitality during Parliamentary session.

The Hurghada Museum was officially inaugurated by PM Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled El-Enany on 29 th of February 2020., in a presence of various number of foreign Ambassadors from Cairo.
This is Egypt's first museum to be established in partnership with the private sector. "It's a leading experience in Egypt to link maritime and cultural tourism. Hurghada Museum represent the unique place where you can feast eyes on ancient, Greek, Coptic and Islamic Egyptian history.

On the occasion of the National Day and the Army Day of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Mr. Jugoslav Lj.Vukadinović, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, and Lt. Col. Vladimir Bogdanovic, the Defense Attaché, hosted a reception at the Marriot Hotel in Cairo on February 25th 2020, attended by more than 400 guests, Minister of Tourism and antiquities dr Khalid El Enani, Deputy Minister Gh. Sholaby, Governor of Red Sea, ass. ministers from MFA and   such as high officials of the Governmental institutions as well as Army and Police generals,  representatives of the MoFA of Egypt, Envoy of Grand Mufti of Egypt, representatives of the Greek and Coptic churches, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives from the fields of intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo. 
After intonation of the Serbian and Egyptian national anthems, the Ambassador Jugoslav Vukadinović highlighted that the National Day of the Republic of Serbia - February 15, marks two important dates from the country's modern history and symbolizes the rebirth of the Serbian state: in 1804, the First Serbian Uprising was launched in Orašac, central Serbia, against the Ottoman Turks that had invaded and occupied the country; in 1835, the Assembly in Kragujevac, central Serbia, adopted and proclaimed the Sretenje Constitution. He also underlined excellent friendly relations between the two countries during the whole history and that Serbia suport the Egyptian government's road map.

Gallery

Diplomacy Magazine as annual tradition awarded Ambassador of Republic of Serbia, Jugoslav Lj. Vukadinovic as the most influential figure in Arab Republic of Egypt and best Ambassador for Year 2019.
Diplomacy Magazine based decision to award Serbian Ambassador  on 24 th of February 2020. on suggestion of the Ministry of  Foreign Affairs of Arab Republic of Egypt. 

President of Arab Republic of Egypt, mr. Abdel Fatah El Sisi sent on the 13th February 2020., the Chamberlain of the Presidency in the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo with the aim to convey congratulations on the occasion of marking national and Armed Forces Day of the Republic of Serbia.
Ambassador J. Vukadinović expressed in his conversation with the High Representative his willingness to deepen the relations between the both countries, stressing the cooperation  in all fields, also mentioning that speaker of Serbian Parliament H.E Maja Gojkovic has visited Egypt, and in the year 2020 we are expecting the visit of H.E Mr. Fatah Abdel el Sisi to the Republic of Serbia.

Among the most important museums that will be completed and opened soon in Egypt, on 1th of February 2020., The Museum  of Abdeen Palace was open for public. Egyptian Ministers of Tourism  and Аntiquities  in presence of various number of ambassadors officially hosted first visitors with appropriate ceremony programe.   

During the meeting, held on 15th January 2020 in Khartoum, of the Minister of Energy & Mining of the Republic of  Sudan, Mr. Adil Ali Ibrahim with Ambassador, Jugoslav Vukadinovic, it was stressed that bilateral relations between two friendly counties are traditionally good and that there is potential for their further development and intensification, especially in a field  of  Energy and Mining.

During presenting letter of credence to H.E. Abdel Fattah Elburhan on 14th January 2020 in Khartum, ambassador J. Vukadinovic  visited office of Honorary Consulate of Republic Serbia in Sudan and held the meeting with Honorary Consul of Republic of Serbia, Mr. Ahmed Abdel Muti.

The president of Jedinstvena Serbia, MP of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia and President of the City Assembly of Jagodina Mr. Dragan Markovic Palma met in Hurghada, the capital of the Egyptian Red Sea region, on 1st of January 2020 with the newly elected governor of the Red Sea region, H.E. Amr Hanafi. H. E. Governor Amr Hanafi and Mr. Markovic discussed on a number of issues covering topics of politics and economy. During the meeting an emhasis was placed on excellent political relations and economic cooperation between the AR of Egypt and Republic of Serbia. The proposal presented by Mr. Markovic is to set up a joint  Serbian-Egyptian economic consortium with its headquarters in Serbia, which will be comprise  businessmen from Serbia and Egypt, with the aim of prioritizing products from Serbia for what  Egyptian imports, especially in sphere of  agricultural products. The aim of consortium would also be to see what are the products that can be marketed from Egypt to the Serbian market. It was agreed that as early as February, a political and economic delegation of Egypt, headed by H.E Governor Hanafi, would come to Serbia.   

The Serbian delegation  included Serbia's Ambassador to Egypt H.E Jugoslav Vukadinovic, Advisor to Serbian Energy Minister Mr. Zivotije Jovanovic, Mayor of City of Jagodina Mr.Ratko Stevanovic, Pomoravlje District Mayor Mr.Goran Milosavljevic, and Pomoravsky District Education Chief Mr.Zivota Starcevic.

Ambassador Jugoslav Vukadinovic gave an interview to most prestige News informer in Egypt, “Al Ahram” underlining long lasting tradition of friendship of two countries in all spheres, cooperation in a field  of tourism, exporting Egyptian products trough  R. of Serbia and efforts of Serbia in a path to Europe  intregration. 
Ambassador stressed that Serbia might be a bridge for Egypt to Europe as well the mutual internal affairs in constant upgrading , having in mind that Serbian tourist gladly coming to Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh and Cairo. He also stressed coordination between two ambassadors in Cairo and Belgrade on promoting closeness   between people of  two friendly countries.

The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia on 14.12.2019 participated in the European Christmas Bazaar, which has traditionally been held in Cairo for years. The European Bazaar is a Bazaar of humanitarian character, bearing in mind that the total revenue generated through the sale of prepared products is intended for numerous humanitarian organizations in Egypt, primarily those which take care of children, women and elderly people. On this occasion traditional food products of Serbian cuisine and drinks for which the visitors of the manifestation showed great interest were presented.
The presentation of the Embassy at this year's Bazaar was supported by the President of the City Assembly of Jagodina, Dragan Markovic Palma.

President F.A. Al Sisi inaugurated on 1st December 2019 the 23rd edition of Cairo International Communication and Technology Conference, "Cairo ICT 2019".
In behalf of R. Serbia, assistant minister of Ministry of trade, tourism and  telecommunications, dr Irini Reljin and ambassador J. Vukadinovic, participated in the event.
During event, dr Irini Reljin had opportunity to discus about finalizing pending MOU between the two competent Ministries.

The embassy of the Republic of Serbia has drawn up a list of heads of mission in Cairo as a part of the 111th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two friendly countries. The list starts with Panta Gavrilovic the first diplomatic agent in 1907, to this day. It is essential to mention Jovan Dučić who, after Jovanović Jovan Pizon, was the second head of diplomatic mission in Cairo.

The embassy of R. Serbia in Cairo is working on a project commemorating "Eighth centuries of Diplomatic Relations" between Egypt and Serbia in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, which will be marked in 2035, in honor of the first meeting of Saint Sava and the then Sultan, Malik El Camil. Written artifacts and gifts awarded by the Egyptian Sultan back in 1235 are in the treasury of the Monastery of Chilandar on Mount Athos.

Air Serbia is once again connecting Belgrade and Cairo after a  long break, officially restarted its connectivity with the Arab Republic of Egypt/Cairo and Belgade on the 5th of June 2019.
ZEKRI-TOURS,officialy representing Air Serbia in AR of Egypt and Embassy of Serbia visited office in Tahrir Square.  
Ambassador J. Vukadinovic reiterated the importance of reinstating a direct flight to Cairo due to the fact that AR of Egypt is a regional hub of Africa and the Middle East, and with that Republic of Serbia will be the only country in the region of Western Balkans that operates a direct flight to Cairo.

Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany announced on Saturday 23 rd of November 2019 at a press conference a new discovery in the Saqqara necropolis carried out by an Egyptian archaeological mission led by Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The discovery was made in the sacred animals necropolis. It is the same location where, last year, the archaeological mission unearthed dozens of mummified cats, scarab beetles, cobras and crocodiles, along with the exceptionally well-preserved tomb of the Fifth Dynasty royal priest Wahtye.

On the occassion of the state holiday and the Armistice Day in the WWI representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo Mr. Bojan Stamenković, Minister Councellor, Mr. Djordje Vukicevic, Counsellor and lut. coll. Vladimir Bogdanovic , defense attache visited Military Memorial in Alexandria, egyptian town on shore Meditteranian Sea to honour the fallen Serbians in the WWI and to lay wreaths.

Serbian Ambassador, H.E. Jugoslav Vukadinovic gave Interview on 6th November 2019 for Akhbar El Yom. Ambassador Vukadinovic  answered at numerous questions related to  development of bilateral Serbian – Egyptian relation, situation in Serbia, priorities of future Serbian-Egyptian cooperation, sport and cultural cooperation,  economic and trade as well about many tight links of two friendly countries.

Peace and Development Makers Forum (PDMF) for world youth in the framework of the Arab Sustainable Development Week, organized by the Arab League took place on 4th of November 2019 under the auspices of H.E. President of Arab Republic of Egypt, mr.Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
During the conference, youth from Egypt and foreign countries present youth initiatives and visions for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (2030)  for Peace, Justice and Strong institutions.
Embassy of Serbia took part in opening event and participated on PDMF.
 

     Serbian Ambassador, H.E. Jugoslav Vukadinovic gave two hours Interview for central state Egyptian broadcaster Canal 2 TV. Ambassador Vukadinovic  answered at numerous questions related to  development of bilateral Serbian – Egyptian relation, situation in Serbia, priorities of future Serbian-Egyptian cooperation, foreign political goals of Serbia and relations to Arab countries.
Interview will be broadcasted in two parts, on 11th and 18th November 2019.
 

General Secretary of Arab Parliament mr. El Sayed El Bably visited Embassy of Serbia on 27th October 2019., after participation of Speaker of Arab Parliament dr Mishal F. Al Sulami with delegation on 141 Assembly Interparlamentarian Union held on 13th to 16th October 2019 in Belgrade.

Embassy of R. Serbia in Egypt,  has been invited by Embassy of Greece in Cairo for marking the Ceremony of commemorating 77th Anniversary of the battle of El Alamein on 19th October, an historical battle from World War Two.
Representatives of the Embassy, Ambassador, Jugoslav Vukadinovic and LtC Vladimir Bogdanovic, Defense Attaché laid wreath at Greek Memorial Cemetery.

Ministry of antiquities of Egypt organized the visit for  a group of Ambassadors to Saint Catherine in Sinai, where Ambassador J. Vukadinovic had an honor to meet father Daniel, Igumanos   of Monastery St. Catherine on Sinai. After meeting with Igumanos Daniel, Serbian Ambassador was honored to visit a newly opened Library of Monastery, especially an department of manuscripts that have been preserved from XII Century written by  Serbian Monks at that period. Psaltir on old Serbian language.
Igumanos of Monastery, father Daniel, expressed best wishes and congratulate celebration of the eight hundredth anniversary of the autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the memory of Saint Sava, suggesting closer cooperation two brother Churches and sending Serbian experts to work on manuscripts that have been preserved at Sinai.        

" 27 th  Helopolis International Water polo Championship", was held in period from 30. September to 4th October 2019 in Egypt with participation of teams from Hungary, Greece, Serbia and Egypt, where Serbia was presented by W.C. " Becej", showing high respect for Serbian players and clubs on such important event.
Closing Ceremony  at "Helopolis International Water polo Champonship", participated by members of Embassy of Serbia who gave support to our Water Polo team.

Celebrations held on 28 th September marking inauguration of the historical Church of St. Constantine an St. Helen in Cairo in presence of Minister of Antiquities of AR of Egypt and Ambassadors of Greece, Cyprus and Serbia and Hellenic community of Egypt .  

During the meeting with Deputy Secretary General of Arab Parliament, mr. El Sayed El Bably and ambassador, J. Vukadinovic in Embassy of Republic of Serbia in Cairo it is confirmed that President of the Arab Parliament, Honorable dr Mishal F. Al-Sulami with delegation will participate in the 141 Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union that will take a place at the Sava Centre in Belgrade from 13 to 16 October 2019.

The Memorandum of cooperation has been signed between the Institute for International Politics and Economics and the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs.  Professor Branislav Djordjević, Director of Institute and H.E Mr. Ezzat Saad, Director of the Council signed the memorandum on behalf of their institutions. After signing the Memorandum, Professor  Djordjević held a lecture for the members of the Council. During the visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt, the delegation of the Institute of International Politics and Economics, with the full support of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia and H.E. Mr.Jugoslav Vukadinović realized very significant visits to Egyptian Ministries for: Foreign affairs, Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry.
The members of the delegation to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were Prof. Branislav Djordjević, Director, Dr. Ivona Ladjevac, Coordinator of international cooperation, and H.E Jugoslav Vukadinović the ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo The delegation was hosted by H.E. Mr Amr Ramadan, Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs. During the meeting  bilateral relations(111 year long) were discussed, as well as the intense dialogue between the two countries in promoting economic cooperation. Particular attention was given to multilateral forms of cooperation which should be an adequate response to hegemonism.
Prof. Dr. Amr Amin Adly, Deputy Minister for Universities Affairs, hosted a delegation of Institute at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The topics of the talks were possible joint projects, which will be precisely agreed upon by the representatives of respective ministries of the two countries at the upcoming meetings.
The delegation of Institute visited the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo and got acquainted with the functioning of the Embassy, as well as with the life of the Serbian community in Cairo.

The 31. the WORLD Islamic conference on the subject of the responsibility and commitment to the state of state is held. The Islamic community of Serbia presented by the Mufti of the Serbs. M. Jusufspahic.

The Conference, held on September 15. And 16., was organized by the Ministry of Vakuf of the Arab Republic of Egypt, led by minister of Vakuf šeih, Muhamad Muhtar Juma and under the with support of the president of Egypt, F.A. Al Sisi.
  Ministers from 55 countries and representatives over 160 countries including 160 Islamic students and experts  attended  the conference.

The mufti,  M. Jusufspahić, who met with the minister of Vakuf of Egypt, as well with Mufti of Oman and and Malaysia. Embassy of Republic Serbia in Egypt participated on Conference and contributed with necessary support.

“Miss Egypt 2019″ contest, was held on 8th of August 2019 in  New Capital with 22 participants. The main objective of Miss of Egypt is to promote the importance of saving our planet environmentally in addition to marketing tourism across the world. The organization of the event involved number of visits to archaeological and tourist sites aiming to promote tourism in Egypt in a different way, with trips to Hurghada, Luxor, Sahl Hasheesh, and Alexandria as well as archaeological sites in Cairo.
H.E Mr Jugoslav Vukadinovic the ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo had the honor to preside the jury of the event, thus being the first representative of any diplomats since beauty contest started  in Egypt.

The Republic of Serbia is a candidate for reelection in the UNESCO Executive Board for the period 2019-2023. The brochure about the candidacy can be opened using this link.

Among the most important museums that will be completed and opened soon in Egypt, on 14th of July 2019., The Museum  dedicated to Egyptian Nobel prize in literature, Naguib Mahfuz was open for public. Egyptian Ministers of culture and antiquities in presence of various number of ambassadors officially hosted first visitors with appropriate ceremony programe.    

The director of "Cairo-cature", Samira Said, visited the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo on July 8, 2019, delivering the award for the prominent Serbian cartoonist Milenko Kosanovic, won at the first Egyptian caricature competition held last year in the Alexandrian Museum, “Mahmoud Said” under the auspices of the Egyptian Minister of Culture, Ines Abdel Dajim. The competition was attended by more than 300 artists from 50 different countries. The "Cairocature" organization brings together artists specialized in the field of caricature from all over the world to show their unique talent and free style, sharing the experience with their colleagues at the same time. On this occasion, a continuation of artistic cooperation between the artists of Egypt and Serbia was agreed in the form of organizing joint competitions, which will be a unique opportunity for better acquaintance with stylistic techniques and strengthening cultural relations.

On June the 24th, in Cairo, H.E. Maja Gojković met with the President of  AR Egypt  H.E. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. During the meeting, Mrs. Gojković and President Sisi discussed all aspects of improving bilateral cooperation between  Republic of  Serbia and AR Egypt and pointed out that the two countries are linked with traditionally good and friendly relations. The President of the Republic of Egypt H.E.  Fatah el Sisi informed the President of the National Assembly  Mrs. Gojkovic on the political and economic stability and development of modern Egypt and presented the projects for further development of Egypt.  Mrs. Gojković informed President Sisi with the political and economic situation in Serbia, and availed particular gratitude  for Egyptian understanding towards the stance of the Republic of Serbia in relation to the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and the persistance of the Republic of Serbia to find a lasting, sustainable and compromise solution for the stability of both Serbia and the wider region . The interlocutors discussed economic aspects of cooperation and in this context emphasized the importance of the forthcoming Mixed Committee meeting, which will be a good opportunity to sign numerous agreements that will improve the cooperation between Serbia and Egypt. Mrs. Gojkovic  informed the President of Egypt with the outstanding  cooperation of the two parliaments, as well as the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, which will elevate cooperation at a higher institutional level.
President Sisi greeted the Serbian President  H.E. Aleksandar Vucic with whom he had the opportunity to speak on the margins of multilateral meetings and stressed that he accepted the invitation and is expecting  that he would soon come to an official visit to the Republic of Serbia.
The meeting was attended by Ambassador of R. Serbia in Egypt, H.E. Mr. Jugoslav Vukadinovic, as well as members of the delegation of the Serbian Parliament, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Zarko Obradovic and the President of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Egypt, Mrs. Dubravka Filipovski.

Ambassador J. Vukadinovic held meeting on 8th June 2019., with mr. Kamil Hasan Abu Ali, businessman and one of leaders in field of tourism in AR of Egypt, founder of 14 touristic villages, creator of  3 complex projects for recreation, owner of 3 touristic companies as well owner of chain of hotels "Albatros" in Hurghada, Sharm El Sheik, Ras Sedr and Port Said.
During the meeting it was expressed aspiration to establish cooperation between two countries in a field of tourism and promotion of Serbian air Company "Air Serbia" in Egypt. 

Air Serbia is once again connecting Belgrade and Cairo after a  long break. Air Serbia previously the Yugoslav airlines (JAT) has officially restarted its connectivity with the Arab Republic of Egypt/Cairo on the 5TH of June 2019.
The passengers of the inaugural flight were treated to refreshments and presentation of Air Serbia and its new flight destinations (bearing in mind that it established 9 new destinations recently).
Amongst the first passengers of the flight to Cairo was  H.E Jugoslav Vukadinovic the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Cairo in plane "Novak Djokovic".
Ambassador Vukadinovic reiterated the importance of reinstating a direct flight to Cairo due to the fact that AR of Egypt is a regional hub of Africa and the Middle East, and with that Republic of Serbia will be the only country in the region of Western Balkans that operates a direct flight to Cairo.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia I. Dačić, 22.05.2019., met with the Governor of the Red Sea Governorate, Mayor General Ahmed Abdulah at the Hurghada International Airport Two statesmen discussed the enhancement of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, especially in the field of tourism, but also in other areas of nutural interest. The meeting was attended by Ambassador R. Serbia in Egypt Jugoslav Vukadinović.

Please note that the mutual visa waiver between Republic of Serbia and United Arab Emirates for the holders of all types of passports (ordinary/service/special/diplomatic) has entered into force on 6 May 2019 providing visa free entry, transit and stay up to 90 days.

Major General Ahmed Ibrahim, Governor of Aswan, received First Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Serbia and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, in the presence of the Serbian Ambassador, Jugoslav Vukadinovic, at Aswan International Airport.
The Governor of Aswan stressed the depth of the historical relations between Egypt and Serbia, which witnessed a great development and momentum during the recent period, in light of the keenness of the political leadership of the two countries to increase and develop areas of cooperation.
He expressed his aspiration to establish a cooperation and twinning agreement between the city of Aswan and the Serbian city Uzice, the second largest hydropower station of its kind in Europe, as well as the status of the neighboring Zlatibor region as a spa resort.

Embassy of Serbia in Cairo, as every year, has marked properly 9th of May, Victory Day in World War Two.
This time representatives of the Embassy, Mr. Bojan Stamenković, Minister Councellor and LtC Zvezdan Kričak, Defense Attache laid wreath at Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery on Thursday Маy 9, 2019.

President of the Municipal Assembly of City of Jagodina and MP Mr. Dragan Marković Palma, and Mayor of Jagodina City, Ratko Stevanović awarded Embassy of Republic of Serbia with emblem  of City of Jagodina dedicated to Ambassador  for contribution in logistic and technical assistance  and as well  active participation  during the visit of Serbian delegation of businessman   with Egyptian counterpart.  

The Monastery of Saint Paul and Saint Anthony, names after the two saints and they are both close to city Hurghada, dates back to the fourth century AD. It was built over the cave where Saint Paul the Anchorite lived for more than eighty years.
The first monks to occupy the monastery were Anchorite between the years 560 and 570 AD as disciples of Anthony the Great after they knew the story of Saint Paul.
Egyptian icons and frescoes have the striking round eyes and it is clear that they were directly derived from Egyptian art with a weaker Byzantine and Roman influence. The language used in liturgies is language of Pharaohs, not spoken anymore and it sounds like mixture of the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets.
Monastery of St. Paul and St. Anthony is the oldest monastery in the world and St. Anthony himself was the founder of monasticism. The Monastery of St. Anthony was established by the follower of St. Anthony who was born 251 AD, when Christianity was pretty much illegal and he was the first Christian monk from Alexandria who followed his peculiar wishes to go as far to enjoy his deep thoughts and prayers.
Red Sea Governor, Ahmed Abdullah with Serbian delegation headed by Mr. Dragan Markovic,  visited Monastery and hosted by Iguman Daniel on April 25th 2019.

April 23th, Red Sea Governor General Ahmed Abdullah received a Serbian delegation in Hurghada's airport headed by member of the Serbian parliament and president of political party Jedinstvena Srbija Mr. Dragan Markovic Palma where they had a several meetings considering cooperation between the two countries in the fields of tourism and economy.

Serbian MP Dragan Markovic Palma stressed the need to strengthen the Egyptian-Serbian relations especially in the field of economy during a meeting with businessman Mr. Tarik Naser, brother of former President of Egypt Gаmal Abdel Naser.
 

Two wax figures were added to the collection of the Museum of Wax Figures in Jagodina namely the former and the current presidents of the Arab Republic of Egypt Gamal Abdel Naser and Abdelfattah El Sisi.

The ceremony of the mounting of the aforementioned figures was attended by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ivica Dačić, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Serbia Mr. Amr Aljowaili and the grandson of the former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, Mr. Joška Broz.
The guests were hosted by the President of the Municipal Assembly of City of Jagodina and MP Mr. Dragan Marković Palma, and Mayor Ratko Stevanović.
The author of the figures is sculptor from Belgrade Mr. Branislav Crvenković with his team.

Under the auspices of the UN PD mission in Cairo, Andrej Zekić presented his work of murals titled "Burulos art for population" in Cairo. The murals inspired by Egypt and its culture gave the opportunity to Serbian artist to paint portraits of ordinary people.
Murals was exhibited at the Heliopolis buildings  in Cairo and expressed the long-lasting deep and friendly relations between the Serbian and Egyptian people. The representatives of the Embassy of Republic of Serbia attended the opening of murals, provided the necessary assistance and hosted Mr. Zekić.

Ministry of Antiquities of Egypt within the framework of country,s policy to highlight its historical sites and landmarks organized visit on 29th March 2019., to Abdeen Palace in downtown of Cairo.
Responding to the invitation of Minister of Antiquities, mr. Khaled El-Enany, Minister of Communications, Amr Talaat and Minister of Public Enterprises, Hisham Tawfik and group of ambassadors attended the  organized tour.
The visit to Abdeen Palace is the first in series of visits to Presidential palces in an attempt to shed more light on country s royal heritage in modern Egyptian history, which is not less valuable than the ancient Islamic and Coptic heritage.

Cairo - Miss World Eco International, organized on 29 March 2019., observes and evaluates personality and character of the national beauties. Ms. Andrijana Savić, representative of the Republic of Serbia, entered in top group, following the decision of the International Jury. The representatives of the Embassy attended the Final Evening, provided the necessary assistance and hosted Ms. Savić.

Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Branislav Nedimović hosted Egiptian Chairman of business Association,  mr Ahmad Alsokkary on  11th of March 2019, where he held meeting and talks with the Egyptian delegation. During the meeting, opportunities were discussed for improving cooperation in the field of agriculture and trade, increasing exports, and placement of Serbian products on the Egyptian market notably wheat, meat and cattle. Positive signs was given by state of Egypt putting  R. Serbia officially on the list of suppliers for export for this year.

A meeting of the “International Club Number One“ was held at the Serbian Residence in Cairo on 13th of March, 2019. The meeting was hosted by the Spouse of the Serbian Ambassador. International Club Number One has its members amongst the Spouses of foreign Ambassadors accredited to Egypt as well as professional ladies of Egypt that work in various spheres of life such as culture, arts, education and journalism.  The Chairman of the club is the Spouse of the MFA of Egypt madam Suzy Shoukry. The program of the event included a presentation on oil extract and jasmine by an Egyptian company Areej which is also a supplier to the most prestigious parfume companies across the world.  After the presentation, followed a lunch with traditional culinary specialties of the Republic of Serbia. The visitors have received gifts –domestic Serbian products which were provided by the Assembly of the City of Uzice as well as the Chamber of Commerce of Uzice. We use this opportunity to avail gratitude to the Assembly and the Chamber of Commerce of Uzice on their support. The gathering itself involved discussions of the participants on various topics and ideas globally and taking into account the impressions of the participants it was a great success.

The academic painter and founder of the Artists Association from Kraljevo, Mr. Ivan Milunovic, opened the exhibition of his paintings in Cairo, in the presence of H.E., Ambassador Jugoslav Vukadinovic on March 3, 2019, and for the first time presented the skills he has applied in abstract art. The exhibition showed the development of contemporary artistic thought and postmodernist conception with the ingenious uses of materials and the attempts to achieve independence from the real world as a source of themes and ideas.

The exhibition was attended by numerous journalists and Egyptian artists who wanted to learn more about the work of Serbian artists, Serbian heritage and culture. After mutual exchange of experience, both sides expressed their desire and readiness for deepening and strengthening relations in the field of art, bearing in mind the long friendship between the Egyptian and Serbian people.

H.E. Ahmed Abdallah Governor of the Red Sea and representatives from Ministry of Tourism of Arab Republic of Egypt  were giving interviews at the Closing Ceremony of the Belgrade Tourism Fair. The event took place on Saturday, February 23rd at Belgrade Fair, Big conference room, gallery of Hall 4. The event was open for managers of travel agencies, tour operators and specialized media.

On the occasion of the National Day and the Army Day of the Republic of Serbia, Jugoslav Vukadinović, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, and Lt. Col.  Zvezdan Kricak, the Defense Attaché, hosted a reception at the Marriot Hotel in Cairo on February 21, 2019., attended by more than 300 guests, such as high officials of the Governmental institutions as well as Army and Police generals,  representatives of the MFA of Egypt, representatives of the Greek and Coptic churches, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives from the fields of intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo.

President of Arab Republic of Egypt, mr. Abdel Fatah El Sisi sent on the 13th February 2019., the Chamberlain of the Presidency in the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo with the aim to convey congratulations on the occasion of marking national and Armed Forces Day of the Republic of Serbia.
Ambassador J. Vukadinović expressed in his conversation with the High Representative his willingness to deepen the relations between the both countries, stressing the cooperation  in all fields, also mentioning that speaker of Parliament H.E Abdel Aal has visited Serbia, and met with his counterpart, than in November last year H.E. Mr Saameh Shoukry the MFA has visited Serbia and in the year 2019 we are expecting the visit of H.E Mr. Fatah Abdel el Sisi to the Republic of Serbia.

"Al Ahly" Sporting Club from Cairo hosted Round 16 of Group "C" on 8th,9th, 10th of February with series of final matches of basketball champions teams from 16 African countries. Among all teams in African League of champions, colors of champion club of Mozambicans there  were two players from Serbia, Jovanovic Vuk and Djumic Bozo that contributed place for their club in next round of finals matches.
Embassy of Serbia participated on matches of Egyptian and Mozambican clubs and hosted Serbian players during the whole sport event.  

Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Ministry of Tourism, ministers Khaled Al Ennani and Rania El Mashat on 2nd of February 2019., in a presence of foreign and domestic media, opened for public number of ancient burial chambers  containing some 40 mummies in the Upper Egyptian Governorate of Minya in Tuna el-Gebel. Mummies are in good condition and decorated with demotic handwriting from that period of Egyptian civilization. Period of discovered graves is during the Ptolemaic Dynasty from around 320 BC to about 30 BC.  For the very first time it was discovered on the paintings of new elements of wrestling that reminds Greek-Roman  stile.
The opening ceremony of this site was in presence of journalists and representatives of diplomatic core invited from both Ministry's.  

Serbian Press delegation was hosted in Egypt were 11 journalist who represent the most relevant and important media in R. Serbia during the period  from 20th to 27 th January 2019.,had the opportunity to explore the Egyptian touristic potential  as well visiting the most significant cultural-historical monuments.The visit was organized by the Government of the Read Sea, celebrating the anniversary of  Shidwan battle. Major General Ahmed Abd- Allah, governor of the Red Sea has invited the delegation to attend ceremony. The Serbian journalists delegation have visited the Embassy of R. Serbia in Cairo on 22nd of January, hosted by members of Embassy were they had the opportunity  to get information's about bilateral  cooperation between the two countries as well further activities in upgrading our relation in future.

In a related context, the Egyptian delegation is preparing for its upcoming visit to Sebia to participate in the Tourism fair in Belgrade on the side lines of twinning cities agreement between Jagodina and Red Sea governorate.

President of Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fatah al Sisi on January 22nd opened the 50th International Book Fair in Cairo in  presence of great number of publishers, writers and guests from more than 170 countries all over the world on January 22nd. Republic of Serbia participated in the international eventr and presented latest activities in Serbia in the field of literature and books from our country. Serbian delegation, Board of Belgrade Fair, Andrija Bojanic, assistant Secretary for Culture of City Belgrade, along with Mirjana Lukic and Ljiljana Soskic have participated in the  event. Embassy of R Serbia took part in organizing and providing necessary assistance for Serbian representatives during Book Fair.      

29th  World Islamic Conference was held from 18 -20 January 2019 in Cairo in  presence of great number of  participants of state representatives with aim to upgrade mutual  cooperation   and to analyze  the various adopted projects in benefit for Islamic corpus in general. The Serbian Mufti of Belgrade,  Mustafa ef. Jusufspahic participated at  conference  and  meetings with ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Jordan and UAE.

On the side line of Conference Mufti M. Jusufspahic discussed with Counselors for religions maters from Oman, UAE, Algeria and Bangladesh  as well with Muftis from Egypt, SA, Lebanon, Australia and Greece.

During the Conference, they discussed many projects, such as  establishing the World Academy for imams where Mufti M. Jusufspahic proposed that imams who finished studies of Islamic study in Belgrade would be accepted in the Academy without proposed fees. Moreover, after the end of the conference, Mufti of Belgrade visited ambassador of Serbia in Cairo and briefed him of results of his successful participation in World Islamic Conference. 

Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Branislav Nedimović visited Egypt on  10tha and 11th of January 2018, where he held meetings and talks with the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture, Ezaldin Omar Abusteit, and the minister in charge of supply and internal trade , Dr. Ali El Mohseli as well as with other officials.

During the meetings, opportunities were discussed for improving cooperation in the field of agriculture and trade, increasing exports, and placement of Serbian products on the Egyptian market notably wheat and cattle.
 

On 04.01.2019., Serbian FIFA Referees, Danilo Grujic, Milovan Ristic, Dalibor Djurdjevic i Nenad Djokic had honor to participate Egyptian Premier League in Cairo on Derby mach,  between Pyramids - Al Ahly (2:1).
This was once more time  presentation of Egyptian respect to Serbian sport and our Referees.
The representatives of the Embassy of Serbia attended the Derby mach, provided necessary assistance and hosted Serbian Referees.   

The Al-Ahly club received on Thursday the Egyptian ambassador to Serbia, Amr Al-Juwaili, and the Serbian ambassador to Egypt, Jugoslav Vukadinovic, eager to go to the club's headquarters, on the same day. They respond to the invitation given by the club on the sidelines of the national water polo club of Serbia. Mamdouh Al-Shishtawi, executive director of the Olympic Committee and a delegation of the Serbian Embassy, also participated in the meeting with the Red Sea water polo team at Al-Ahli's headquarters in Al-Jazirah.

On the occasion of marking the International Day of Migrants, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) held its annual global film festival in Egypt from November 28 till December 18, 2018. The festival is organized in order to pave the way to broaden discussions on migration within the wider public, the movies cover topics common on migration, such as Labor Migration, Border Management and Children on the Move. The overall theme for 2018 was called "The Promise and Challenge of Migration and Positive Contributions Migrants make to their Communities". The festival was held simultaneously in more than 100 countries. In Egypt projections were screened in Cairo and Alexandria. On this occasion Antonio Vitorini, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), praised Egypt's support for migration issues, bearing in mind that Egypt is representing home for more than 5 million refugees from 58 different countries. It is important to note that migrants in Egypt enjoy health and education services, as well as employment opportunities without discrimination and that they live freely as part of the Egyptian people.

In the form of efforts to address migration crises, IOM officials signed an International Agreement on the establishment a fair response to mass refuge movements, known as the Global Compact on Refugees, during a conference held in Morocco on 10th and 11th December 2018.
The festival was attended by numerous representatives of the Egyptian film scene as well as ambassadors of countries accredited in Egypt. Embassy of R. of Serbia followed  manifestation and participated at a final part of film festival.

Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Arab Republic of Egypt H.E. Jugoslav Vukadinovic, concurrently accredited as Non-resident Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the State of Palestine  resident in Cairo, presented credentials to H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas President of the State of Palestine, in a solemn ceremony held in Amman, on December 17, 2018.

The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia on 08.12.2018 participated in the European Christmas Bazaar, which has traditionally been held in Cairo for years. The European Bazaar is a Bazaar of humanitarian character, bearing in mind that the total revenue generated through the sale of prepared products is intended for numerous humanitarian organizations in Egypt, primarily those which take care of children, women and elderly people. On this occasion traditional food products of Serbian cuisine and drinks for which the visitors of the manifestation showed great interest were presented.
The presentation of the Embassy at this year's Bazaar was supported by the President of the City Assembly of Jagodina, Dragan Markovic Palma and "MESOPROMET COMPANY" from Jagodina.

Under the auspices of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, in the period from 03.12. to 05.12., the  First "EDEX 2018"  Fair of Arms and Military Equipment was held in Cairo. The Fair represented global platform for displaying the latest military products of participating countries, as well as the latest technology of defense industry in the world. On this occasion, the position of Egypt as a leading and active country in this part of the world  is affirmed with the possibility of organizing international military activities at a highest level which at the same time strengthening the strategic role that Egypt plays in the region and confirms its contribution to overall regional and international security and stability. More than 373 companies from different countries of the world have presented the richness of their military production with the discussion of developments in the industry, ways of doing business and developing a partnership for future cooperation. Fair  "EDEX" was attended by representatives of companies from R. of Serbia "YUGOIMPORT SDPR J.P." and representatives of "Vlatakom" with necessary assistance of Embassy of Republic of Serbia in Cairo.

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Sameh Shoukri, on November 28th, discussing the ways of developing bilateral relations between the two countries, which are bound by long-standing friendly relations. During the talks, the two sides agreed that it is necessary to make efforts to improve and expand the various areas of cooperation such as economy, tourism, construction, agriculture and water management, as well as the area of military-technical cooperation. As agreed, in the first half of next year, the first meeting of the Joint Committee will be held with the aim of strengthening economic cooperation, bearing in mind that the level of trade exchange in the last year was only $ 70 million. The interlocutors expressed their desire to establish a direct flight between the capital cities -Cairo and Belgrade, which would contribute to strengthening the ties between the two countries. The Egyptian Foreign Minister stressed that the Egyptian market offers great economic opportunities for Serbian companies, while President Vucic, on the other hand, invited the businessmen of Egypt to make the best use of their business conditions in Serbia. As both countries represent the pillar of stability in the region, President Vucic expressed hope that Egypt will continue to respect Serbia's interests in international organizations.
Heads of diplomats of Serbia and Egypt, H.E. Ivica Dacic and H.E. Sameh Shoukri discussed progress in bilateral relations between the two countries. During the second day of the official visit to Serbia, Minister Shukri participated in a round table discussion with businessmen and owners of the largest Serbian companies. On this occasion, the Ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Institute for Diplomatic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, while the Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic and Minister Shoukri signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the fields of Youth and Sports between the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Youth and Sport of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Both sides pointed out that their goal is to promote bilateral relations between the two countries that are tied to strong friendship, since Egypt and the former Yugoslavia were the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement. During his official visit to Serbia, Minister Sukri also met with the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, Branislav Nedimovic.

November 14th, Red Sea Governor General Ahmed Abdullah received a Serbian delegation in Hurghada's airport headed by member of the Serbian parliament, Mr. Dragan Markovic Palma where they stayed at a tourist resort in Marsa Alam, had a tour through the tourism sights in the Red sea governorate and held a meeting to sign the agreement of the Egyptian-Serbian Business Council
A formal conference were held in Hurghada between Serbian businessmen and  officials of the Egyptian government who came from Cairo specifically to meet Dragan Markovic Palma, member of the Serbian Parliament and members of the Serbian delegation For his part, the member of the Serbian Parliament stressed the need to strengthen the Egyptian-Serbian relations, especially in the city of Mars Alam in the Red Sea, by asking the Serbian tourist companies to increase the number of tourists from Yagodina to the Red Sea and to work on the establishment of Egyptian-Serbian companies in both countries.
The memebr of the Serbian Parliament also thanked the Governor of the Red Sea for the proposal to establish a business council between Egyptian and Serbian businessmen, which will be of great importance to Serbia and will have a strong return, pointing to the need to agree on the necessary and required needs between the two countries.

On the occassion of the state holiday and the Armistice Day in the WWI representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo Mr. Bojan Stamenković, Minister Councellor and LtC Zvezdan Kričak, defense attache visited Military War Memorial in Port Said, egyptian town on shore Meditteranian Sea to honour the fallen Serbian soldiers in the WWI and to lay wreaths.

The Egyptian archaeological mission led by the Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Halid Al-Anani, on November 10, 2018, presented new discoveries that occurred during the months of excavation activities carried out in the area of the Pyramid Complex "King Userkaf".
Minister Halid Al-Anani pointed out that this time the mission has uncovered three tombs from the period of the New Kingdom used during the Late Egyptian period, cats necropolis, four tombs from the Old Kingdom, of which the most important one belongs to Khufu-Imhat, the supervisor of royal buildings in royal palace. A rich collection of antiques reveals a diverse content in which, among other things, found 100 wooden gilded statues of cats, a collection of statues that show the physical characteristics of lions, cows and falcons, as well as numerous writing tools.
The archaeological event was attended by the Governor of Cairo, Major-General Ahmed Rasheed, along with members of the Parliament and 30 ambassadors as well Ambassador of Republic of Serbia. On this occasion, the important role that antiques play in attracting the attention of the whole world to the magnificent monuments and promoting the unique heritage of Egypt is highlighted.

         Jelena Jevtic was honored to sit next to the President of the ARE Abdel Fatah El-Sisi

In the period from 03.11. until 06.11. 2018 in the Egyptian Sharm El Sheikh resort, the World Youth Forum was held for the second time in a row under the auspices of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi.
Several thousand participants were present at the event including a large number of Egyptian and foreign officials, representatives of diplomatic missions and organizations accredited to Cairo, as well as representatives of sports organizations and associations from around the world.
The World Youth Forum is traditionally held once a year in Egypt (Sharm El Sheikh) in order to link and enhance the relationship between promising young people from around the world who are determined to contribute to younger generations in order to achieve their goals.
On this occasion, representatives of the Republic of Serbia, Jelena Jevtić from Niš, student of the generation of the American Bluefield State College and Vukašin Grozdanović, the Coordinator of the OPENS 2019 Initiative in the presence of the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo, Jugoslav Vukadinović took part in the event.
Vukašin Grozdanović emphasized the importance of the Initiative OPENS 2019 for the needs of youth and the implementation of activities in partnership with different organizations. We note in particular that the city of Novi Sad was proclaimed the Youth Capital of Europe for 2019 in Varna (Bulgaria), bearing in mind the development and promotion of youth policy as well as the relationship and cooperation among young people through the implementation of numerous projects and programs, which simultaneously contributes to the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Major General Ahmed Abdullah, governor of the Red Sea region, together with the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo, Jugoslav Vukadinovic, led a delegation from Egypt that was on a five-day visit to Serbia. On this occasion, the Agreement on twinning of two cities-Jagodina and Mars Alam was signed,  representing the upgrading of the deep-rooted historical relationship between the two countries, the strengthening of diplomatic relations lasting for 110 years and the rapprochement of two friendly nations. Various number of successful bilateral meetings were held with the officials of the Republic of Serbia, while business meetings with numerous tourism and other  sector companies paved the way for successful partnership, which will contribute to strengthening economic cooperation between Serbia and Egypt. Return visit of the delegation of the local self-government of the city of Jagodina to Arab Republic of Egypt is expected on November 14, 2018.-19.11.2018.

On the occasion of marking the anniversary of allied victory over the Axis forces in World War II, on the African battlefield in battle of El Alamein in October 1942, a memorable ceremony was organized in this Egyptian town on the Mediterranean coast on October 20, 2018 in honor of the killed soldiers of both sides.
The ceremony was attended by a large number of officials of the Arab Republic of Egypt, as well as representatives of a number of diplomatic and consular missions accredited to Cairo, including representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Egypt.
The Battle of El Alamein took place in the second half of October 1942 and was a turning point in the confrontation of the Allies with the Axis forces in the north-african military field in the Second World War. The forces of Erwin Rommel, the celebrated German general were stopped in the breakthrough toward Alexandria and the Suez Canal in the fierce battles defeated and suppressed from Egypt.
By the allied victory near of Al-Alamein, the main British route of supply through the Suez Canal was secured and the penetration of the Axis Force into the Middle East and threatening the left side of the Soviet Russia through the Caucasus was disabled. From the Battle of Al Alamein, Rommel’s forces were continually withdrawing from a North African battlefield (Libya, Tunisia), which ultimately resulted with their capitulation in Tunisia in May 1943.
The ceremony of marking the Battle of Al-Alamein by celebrating the victory over the Axis Powers and giving honor to the death soldiers of both sides is traditionally held every year, bearing in mind its significance in the Second World War.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, was in a visit to the city of Aswan, center of the governorate of the same name in southern Egypt, on October 15, 2018.
During the visit, Minister Dacic met with the officials of the town of Aswan where among other things he discussed possibilities for improving cooperation in the field of tourism, bearing in mind the large number of Serbian citizens who visit Egypt during the year.
The development of comprehensive bilateral relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Serbia and the promotion of cultural-touristic and other forms of cooperation is additionally contributed by the initiative at the level of local self-governments on the development of cooperation agreements and twinning between the city of Uzice and the Egyptian city of Aswan which signing is expected in the next period.

On the occasion of marking 110 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Egypt, a mural portraying traditionally good relations between the two countries and two friendly nations was presented in the consular premises of the Serbian Embassy in Cairo. Mural was officially presented during the visit of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Veljko Odalovica to Cairo, at the beginning of October 2018.
Mural was painted by Maha Ibrahim, a young Egyptian artist, where she highlighted meeting and pervasion of the elements of Serbian cultural and historical heritage with the Egyptian. On one side was shown the Orthodox monastery Gracanica, located in Kosovo and Metohija, and the fresco of White Angel, a masterpiece of Serbian and European painting, which is located in the Church of the Assumption of Christ in the Mileseva Monastery, which represents the greater part of the Serbian side of the composition which melts on the other side of the mural with the symbols of Egyptian history, culture and tradition, represented by the images of the pyramids in Giza, the sphinxes (all elements of ancient Egyptian history and tradition) and mosque minarets (elements of Arabic Muslim history, culture and traditions on which modern Egypt was created.
In addition to officially established diplomatic relations 110 years ago, the ties of Egypt and Serbia date back to the developed Middle Ages. In the second decade of the 12th century, Saint Sava, the brother of the Serbian King Stefan the First-crowned, visited during his second trip to holy places in the East, among others, Egypt. Before he visited the Sinai, he visited the Cairo egyptian sultan Al Malik Al Kamil from the Ayyubid dynasty, who received and hosted him with great state honors. The sultan sent Saint Sava from Cairo to Sinai, supplying him with all necessary things for the journey and giving him gifts of honor as it is in historical sources confirmed as extremely valuable "gifts from the Nile". Mural was exhibited at the consular premises in the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo and expressed the long-lasting deep and friendly relations between the Serbian and Egyptian people.

In the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia on 10th October, 2018 ambassador’s wife and ambassador hosted women who are members of The Woman Association of Cairo.WA is a community of women who speak English, all nationalities, ages, religions that participate in social and cultural activities. It provides information about the receiving country, Egypt, and countries of all women. WA provides its contribution to local charity organizations in order to assist those in need. With pleasant sounds of piano, Serbian and international specialties, guests were informed about Serbian-Egyptian relations for the past 110 years. WA members are also women of other ambassadors. During the day, warm words of gratitude came in regarding to well organized reception.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs V. Odalović, during the period from 5 to 8 October 2018, was in a working visit to the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo. The visit was realized with the aim of reviewing activities related to the construction of the New Capital City near Cairo and the impending moving of the Embassy. The visit and tour to the Egyptian Government's mega-project - the construction of the "new administrative city" was carried out on October 7th, and it would have planned to displace about 5 million inhabitants, including the president and the presidency, the parliament and Government, all ministries and administrative apparatus of the Arab Republic of Egypt, including the planned resettlement of all diplomatic and consular missions. It is expected that the decision to move the diplomatic and consular missions be made as soon as possible.
During his two-day working visit to Egypt, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs V. Odalović was informed about the current status of the facility in which the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia is located in Cairo, which is owned by the Republic of Serbia, and represents an object of special historical and cultural significance for the Republic of Serbia. It was agreed that, with the consent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs activities be carried out in the phases on the plan of restoration and reconstruction of  the facilities of the Embassy, with the support of the Serbian donors, who in the previous period participated in similar activities of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo.

The Grand Imam said that Al-Azhar spares no effort to serve Muslims around the world, expressing Al-Azhar’s  readiness to support the Muslims of Serbia in all cultural, scientific and religious fields by increasing the number of scholarships offered to Serbian students to study in Al-Azhar and to send for imams to train them in a special training program specialized in dealing with temporary issues and problems.
For this part, the Ambassador of Serbia to Cairo, expressed his great happiness to meet the Grand Imam, as the largest religious symbol in the Islamic world, stressing his country’s keenness to benefit from Al-Azhar’s scientific and advocacy efforts in the service of Muslims of Serbia and spread the true Islam.

Ambassador J. Vukadinovic was received for talks on 3th of September 2018 by Egyptian “Kader Factory for Developed Industries” with  the newly appointed  Chairman, Abd El-Mohsen El Sadek, with the experts for the military industry who are involved in the realization of the project with “ FAP Korporacija a.d. Priboj“, where it was  proposed a strategic partnership and possibly approach to the third potential customers.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia I. Dačić met with the Governor of the Red Sea Governorate, Mayor General Ahmed Abdulah at the Hurghada International Airport Two statesmen discussed the enhancement of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, especially in the field of tourism and air travel, but also in other areas such as civil engineering, culture, water resources management and environmental protection. The forthcoming twinning between the City of Jagodina and Hurgada, and the planned visit of the delegation of the Red Sea, R. Serbia and the City of Jagodina in October was also at stake. Egyptian host handed over the Honoured Citizen key of Hurghada to Mr. Dacic. The meeting was attended by Ambassador R. Serbia in Egypt Jugoslav Vukadinović.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ali Abdel Aal held Sunday talks with the ambassador of  R. Serbia in Cairo.
Meanwhile, he discussed boosting ties with Serbia and his expected visit to Belgrade on Wednesday July 18th at an invitation of his Serbian counterpart.
The visit comes on the 110th anniversary of establishing relations between Cairo and Belgrade.

Embassy of Serbia opened art exhibition "Modernism" with a work of the three young Egyptian artists as a part of wider ongoing projects aimed at supporting the development of the Serbian-Egyptian relations in a more creative way with the main objective to put culture at heart of the bilateral relations of Egypt and Serbia.

Under the auspices of the French Institute and the Embassy of Serbia in Cairo Saša Vatković presented his collection of photographs titled United Colors of Beauty in Soma Gallery in Zamalek. The exhibition consists of three categories  first inspired by Egypt, second of portraits from Svilajnac in Serbia a place that the author originates from and the third one containing his various works.

The author himself was born in Paris, where he went to school of fashion photography in the most distinguished fashion houses (Elle, Vogue France) where he had the opportunity to work with the most famous photographers  like Sarah Moon, David Lynch and Vincent Peters.

On the 19th of June 2018., ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Belgrade, Amr Aljowaily, visited the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo, hosted by ambassador Jugoslav Vukadinović as they discussed the future bilateral relations and to continue on fulfilling the projects they already started together on the benefit of both friendly countries.

In final matches in national league in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Serbian couches  won titles in their clubs. In Egypt, coach Milan Djordjevic won title with water polo club "Heliopolis" and coach Nebojsa Obradovic won national title of Saudi Arabia with club "Al Ahly".
Ambassador J. Vukadinovic during final-four had a honor on wining ceremony to award  winning cup to a winner. During announcement of   ambassador J. Vukadinovic, speaker said that ambassador of Serbia is coming from the country who is caring European, World and  Olimpic championship gold medal.     
In the young-junior categories of water polo club "Heliopolis", ambassador awarded medal to Pavle Djordjevic for participation in tournament.

Ambassador of R. Serbia J. Vukadinovic was hosted by Dr. Hassan Kamel Rateb, Chairman of SAMA Group in Cairo  in regard to establish coorporation between two countries in various fields mostly education and University exchange of students and professors.   
Dr. Hassan Kamel Rateb introduced ambassador about one of major projects of Sama Cairo City that is an contemporary integrated city designed by a group of major specialized companies in designing new cities in Egypt and Middle East. It has been designed as a new updated city with marvelous planning to provide the current and future needs for its residents and frequenters.

Ambassador of Serbia in Egypt, Jugoslav Vukadinovic with Ambassadors of Singapore and Norway participated 8th of May in Cairo in a session held by European-Egyptian Business Council (EEBC) to discuss Egypts latest steps in economic reform in light of its 2030 development strategy.
Ambassador J. Vukadinovic highlighted cooperation with Egyptian government in several fields, foremost among them being education reform, vocational training and sporting exchange.

On the occasion of the Victory Day in WWII the representatives of the Serbian Embassy in Cairo Lt Col Mr Zvezdan Kričak, the defense attache and Mr Dražen Bekonja, consul, layed wreaths on the Central Monument in Military Memorial in Heliopolis – Cairo on 9th of May 2018. 

07.05.2018. Red Sea Governor,  General,  Ahmed Abdullah and ambassador of R. of Serbia J. Vukadinovic, establishes cooperation and twins city of Hurghada and Jagodina on the base for further deepening of friendship of the people of Serbia and Egypt, especially the citizens of two cities . In order to build common attitudes on important issues in the field of economy, education, culture, health, physical culture and tourism, exchanges of delegations to develop a cooperation program.

Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, Jugoslav Vukadinović, attented the ballet performance ”La Bayadere”, on 5 May 2018 in Cairo Opera House.
Front roles went to ballerinas Anja Ahćin, Valentina Đurašin, Anja Gavrilović and Kristina Lazović, who on this occasion once again showed their talent and remarkable dance.

Cairo - Miss World Eco, organized on 27 April 2018 observes and evaluates personality and character of the national beauties. Ms. Hristina Vujović, representative of the Republic of Serbia, entered top 15, following the decision of the International Jury. The representatives of the Embassy attended the Final Evening, provided the necessary assistance and hosted Ms. Vujović.

Serbian documentary „The Same“ directed by D. Petrovic has taken Grand Prix in short meter documentary category at 20st International Film Festival in Ismailia, Egypt (11-17 April 2018) supported by National Film Centre and Egyptian Ministry of Culture.
Serbian ambassador to Egypt Mr. Jugoslav Vukadinovic has attended the closing of the Festival and the award ceremony. In the same category 12 other films were compeeting for the award (Iran, Denmark, USA, Poland, Spain, Turkey, France, Syria, Egypt, India and Japan).

Ambassador R. Serbia in Egypt J. Vukadinovic met on April 3rd, with the Minister of Tourism in the Government of Arab Republic of Egypt, Ranija Mashat.
Boosting bilateral relations in the area of tourism between two countries and the possibilities for their improvement was discussed.
Ambassador assured Ms. Mashat that Serbian tourists were among the most loyal to the Egyptian touristic offer and that there exist room for the further improvement.

Director of the   Factory “ FAP Korporacija a.d. Priboj“, mr. Ranko Vuković, arrived with a team of experts to Cairo in March 27, 2018 in order to establish business arrangements with Egyptian “Kader Factory for Developed Industries” and to continue the chassis export project (6x6 and 8x8) which was previously sent to the upgrade for testing and compatibility checking in Kader, according to the needs of Ministry of Defence of Egypt .
Our delegation was received for talks by the Chairman, Abd El-Sadek Ahmed Abd El-Raheem, with the experts for the military industry who are involved in the realization of the project and the Serbian delegation was led by the ambassador Jugoslav Vukadinović.
After the video presentation of the FAP program and minutely technical details, primarily for the supporting chassis and its endurance characteristics, Egyptian team noted during the meeting that the offer is appropriate, according to the all indicators and price as well.
Chairman of Kader Factory expressed satisfaction with the arrival of the FAP Director, adding importance to this visit, noting in particular in behalf of the Egyptian state-owned company he wants to propose a strategic partnership and possibly approach to the third potential customers.

President of the Arab Republic of Egypt H.E. Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi on the Ceremony of the presentation of the Letters of Credence on February 22nd 2018. received Ambassador Jugoslav Vukadinovic and on that occasion express that two friendly countries will continue to upgrade relations in various fields including mutual frequent visits at all levels in future.

His Beatitude the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa , Theodoros II invited and housed the Ambassadors of all Christian Orthodox countries in Egypt on the 10 th of March 2018.,  at a Greek Monastery of Saint George in Old Cairo in a presence of Minister of Antiquities of Arab Republic of Egypt,  H.E. dr. Khaled El Enany.
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate hosted ambassadors of Russian Federation, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria Romania and Serbia.

Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Egypt has honor to meet on 8th of March 2018., Minister of Antiquities dr. Khaled El Enany in esteemed  Ministry. During the meeting, there were number of initiatives for cooperation between two friendly countries, Serbia and Egypt in field of Antiquities and Archeology.
   Serbian Ambassador expressed interest for participation of Serbian team Archeologist in research of Egyptian archeology treasury as well as preparation for both countries for upcoming celebration of 800 years of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Egypt.
    During the meeting with H.E. Minister dr. Khaled El Enany with Ambassador it was discussed about necessary preparation for MoU between Museum of African Arts in Belgrade and similar Museum in Egypt (possibly Aswan or Nubia Museums. It was also considered many other initiatives for bilateral cooperation between two countries in field of cultural development between competent ministries.

Egypt's Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany and Sharqiya Governor Khaled Saeed inaugurated Saturday Tel Basta Museum in Sharqiya governorate after the completion of its restoration.

The inauguration of the museum comes within the framework of efforts by the Ministry of Antiquities to increase the archaeological and heritage awareness of Sharqiya inhabitants as well as creating more tourist attractions across Egypt.

The honor of opening the ceremony of great significance belonged to his Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia Jugoslav Vukadinović who held a speech attended by Elham Salah, head of the Museums Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, Waadalla Abu El-Ela, head of the Projects Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities and other numerous ambassadors. The ambassador expressed gratitude for the honor given to him, and stressed on that occasion that the heritage of Egypt doesn’t belong only to Egypt but to the human civilizations.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi sent on the 14th February.2018. the Chamberlain of the Presidency in the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo with the aim to convey congratulations on the occasion of marking state holiday of the Republic of Serbia- Sretenje.
Ambassador J.Vukadinović expressed in his conversation with the High Representative his willingness to deepen the relations of the both countries in all fields,stressing the cooperation in the field of sport in the coming period and the need to intesify activities on the economic and cultural level.
The current political and security situation in  Egypt in the light of the upcoming presidential elections is also analyzed.

Cairo, 11. February 2018 -  On the occasion of the National Day and the Army Day of the Republic of Serbia, Jugoslav Vukadinović, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, and Lt. Col.  Zvezdan Kricak, the Defense Attaché, hosted a reception at the Marriot Hotel in Cairo on February 11, 2018., attended by more than 200 guests, such as high officials of the Governmental institutions as well as Army and Police generals,  representatives of the MFA of Egypt, representatives of the Greek and Coptic churches, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives from the fields of intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo.

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Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Egypt Mr Dragan Bisenić and the Defence Attaché lt.col. Zvezdan Kričak attended the ceremony organized under the auspices of the British Embassy in Cairo to commemorate The Armistice Day of the First World War in Heliopolis War Cemetary (11:00 to 12:00h). Atendees to the commemoration ceremony were the representatives of the diplomatic and military diplomatic corps and the high dignitaries of the Egyptian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces. Serbian representatives layed wreath at the site of The Central Monument. 

Please note that the Decision on waiver of visa regime for the holders of ordinary Indonesian passports has entered into force on 14 October 2017 providing visa free stay up to 30 days in period of one year.
For the holders of diplomatic and service passports of both countries visa free regime entered into force on 2 September 2017, providing visa free stay up to 30 days.

For the holders of diplomatic and service passports of both countries visa free regime entered into force on 8 September 2017, providing visa free stay up to 90 days.

First Channel of Egyptian TV broadcasted 05.10. and 12.10. two parts Interview with Serbian Ambassador in Cairo, Dragan Bisenic. In the Interview  has been spoken about mutual relationships between Serbia and Egypt, further prospective of those relationships, meetings of the Presidents and Ministries of Foreign Affairs two countries, dialog on highest level current foreign political priorities  of Serbia. 

Two presidents discussed bilateral relations, cooperation in the field of tourism and Serbia's support in the global fight against terrorism. Vučić stressed that there is a decades-long friendship between Serbia and Egypt, that it is necessary to develop bilateral relations faster, and work on increasing trade. He also stressed that an atmosphere has been created for the re-launching of the two countries' cooperation committees.
President El Sisi emphasized that he wants to work on improving the relations between the two countries, as well as on organizing a mutual visit, which will greatly contribute to improving the cooperation between Serbia and Egypt.

Please note that the Decision on waiver of visa regime for the holders of ordinary Indian passports has entered into force on 2 September 2017 providing visa free entry, transit and stay up to 30 days in Republic of Serbia.

Please note that the Decision on waiver of visa regime for the holders of diplomatic and service Kyrgyz passports has entered into force on 13 July 2017 providing visa free entry, transit and stay up to 90 days in Republic of Serbia.

- 25th of May is proclaimed the „Friendship Day“ with the Peoples of Africa.
- „Friendship Day“ with the Peoples of Africa shall be celebrated every year.
- The Ministry of Foreign affairs shall be in charge of marking the „Friendship Day“ with the  Peoples of Africa.
In the name of the Government of Republic of Serbia ,  Decision was signed  by Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic.

Please note that the Decision on waiver of visa regime for the holders of ordinary Peruvian passports has entered into force on 20 May 2017 providing visa free stay up to 90 days.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic met on 10th May Ms.Moushira Khattab, a candidate nominated by Egypt for the post of Director-General of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The meeting was an opportunity to lay out to the candidate for the UNESCO Director-General Serbia's priorities in the cooperation with this Organization, to point to our active work within the UNESCO Executive Board of which Serbia is a member in 2015 – 2019, and in particular to highlight our active efforts aimed at preventing UNESCO from being politicized.

Ms. Moushira Khattab presented the priorities that constituted the basis of her programme, should she be elected to head this important Organization.

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia marked Victory day, on 9th of May 2017 visiting and paying the honour of Yugoslavian army forces in II World war. M.Vasovic and V.Obad in Heliopolis War Cemetery in Cairo

We would like to inform that the Belgrade City Administration, Secretariat for Culture, has announced a “Public international two-phase open competition for the design of a conceptual solution for the Zoran Djindjic memorial at the Students square in Belgrade”.
The aim of the competition is to obtain the best quality conceptual solution for the Zoran Djindjić Memorial at the Students Square in Belgrade and to create a dignified memory of  Zoran Djindjic, his life, work and social and historical changes he initiated in Serbia, as well as of his tragic death at the entrance to the building of the Government of the Republic of Serbia on March 12, 2003.
Zoran Djindjic was one of the founders of the Democratic Party and served as President of the Executive Board from September 1990, and as President of the Party from January 1994. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy and Social Theory, member of all three multiparty sessions of the National Parliament of the Republic of Serbia and the Council of the Republics in the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
He was elected Mayor of Belgrade on the 21st February 1997, representing the Together coalition, which topped the polls in many Serbian cities in the 1996  local elections. In June 2000, Djindjic took on the role of coordinator in the Alliance for Change and then became head of the Central Election Committee and promotional campaign coordinator of the Serbian Democratic Opposition (DOS) for the elections held on the 24th September 2000. He became Prime Minister of Serbia on 25th January 2001, after the victory of DOS in Serbian parliamentary elections in December 2000.
Zoran Djindjic was murdered on March 12th 2003 in front of the Serbian government building, for striving to liberate Serbia from her past and to lead her into the future. Djindjic left behind his wife Ruzica, daughter Jovana and son Luka.

Text of Competition
 

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo, in cooperation with the Faculty of Art Education of Helwan University, has organized on 19 March 2017 The Fourth Exhibition of Students' Artworks with the awards ceremony. More than 250 art creations took part in the official competition with ten awarded in cash prizes, while three artworks were awarded outside the competition.
As in previous years, the exhibition has been realized with the support of Aleksbank as the general sponsor of this event.
The exhibition will be open for visitors from 19 to 23 March 2017 in the Gallery Ahmed Bassiouni of the Faculty of Art Education.

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Information of  Presidental Elections in Serbia 2017. you can find on cirilic version.

Cairo, 22. February 2017 -  On the occasion of the National Day and the Army Day of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Mr. Dragan Bisenić, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, and Lt. Col. Mr. Zvezdan Kricak, the Defense Attaché, hosted a reception at the Marriot Hotel in Cairo on February 22, 2017 attended by more than 300 guests, such as high officials of the Governmental institutions as well as Army and Police generals,  representatives of the MoFA of Egypt, Envoy of Grand Mufti of Egypt, representatives of the Greek and Coptic churches, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives from the fields of intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo.
During this event was delivered decoration  to Secretary General of Arab League, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt,  HE Ahmed Aboul Geith.

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Cairo, 23 February – On the occasion of the celebration of the Serbian National Day and the Armed Forces Day Secretary General of the Arab League and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Ahmed Abul Gheit has been awarded with a high Serbian decoration Order of Serbian Flag-First Rank by means of the Presidential Edict of Serbian President Mr. Tomislav Nikolić for special merits in the development of friendship between Egypt and Serbia.
In his word of gratitude HE Mr. Ahmed Abul Gheit said that this decoration presents a particular honor because Egypt and Serbia maintain a long-standing friendship and traditionally good relations. For the first time he had visited Serbia nearly 40 years ago, and subsequently many times stayed in Belgrade, which has always been a great pleasure.
The ceremony was attended by a large number of Egyptian officials, government members, representatives of the diplomatic and military diplomatic corps, public figures, and by the large number of journalists who paid special attention to the event.
The Order was awarded by Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Nedeljko Tenjović.

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Please note that the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the People's Republic of China on mutual waiver of visa regime for the holders of ordinary passports has entered into force on 15 January 2017 providing visa free stay up to 30 days.

Serbian Ambassador to Egypt H.E. Dragan Bisenić, handed over gifts from Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II in the Coptic Patriarchal siege in Cairo. Serbian president gave the Pope Tawadros II the Phototype Edition of Serbian Emperor Dušans Codification and Monograph about Christian heritage in Kosovo and Metohija.
During the meeting Ambassador Bisenić conveyed the greetings from Serbian President and seized that opportunity to post Pope Tawadros II with the current situation in Serbian Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.
On his behalf Pope Tawadros II thanked and showed interest for the monasteries and cultural heritage of Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija and for the faith of the remaining Serbian population in the Province. 

The Embassy of Serbia took part in this year Charity European Christmas Bazaar on Saturday, December 3rd, 2016. The Embassy presented agricultural products and drinks from Serbia as well as various touristic offers. Alongside with this the Embassy's staff together with Serbian expats prepared traditional Serbian cuisine specialties and served it to the visitors. There was significant interest in the Serbian offer during the manifestation. The Serbian stand was supported by  the following companies from Serbia:  “Jomil” – Belgrade, “Mitros”, - Sremska Mitrovica, “YU Keops” – Kraljevo and “Invej” – Belgrade.

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Embassy of the Republic of Serbia commemorated The Armistice Day and The Centenary of the World War One on 9th November 2016 by organizing the screening of the film “Milunka Savić – the Heroine of the Great War” followed by a cocktail in the residence of the Ambassador.
Many guests from diplomatic core, Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with Serbian expats in Egypt participated. Hailing the spectators and guests Ambassador Dragan Bisenić expressed hope that all of them would understand Serbian historic role far better.

Under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Youth and Sport a bicycle tour was organized in surrounding areas of El Fayoum.

It was the first of several tours to be organized across Egypt with general aim to promote Egyptian culture and tradition and to learn about Egypt trough friendship and sports. The representatives of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Egypt took role together with students from various universities in Cairo.

The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia was represented by Mr. Jugoslav Vukadinović, Minister Counsellor and Mr. Dražen bekonja First Secretary.

Complete documentation of this tender you can find here.

The Serbian Ambassador in Cairo, HE Mr. Dragan Bisenic met Minister of International Cooperation of Egypt, HE Dr. Sahar Nasr. During the meeting, the Serbian Ambassador expressed readiness of Serbia to enhance cooperation with friendly and close country - Egypt and to involve Serbia in process of Egyptian transformation having in mind similarities which both country face and historical ties between both countries.
The number of agreements between two states are under consideration and pending, with special importance of cooperation in project of 1.5 million fedans. It will significantly increase level of current cooperation.    
It is expected that the join bodies of two governments – Join Committee and Egyptian – Serbian Business Council to get bigger role in future cooperation and intensify their activites.

HE Ambassador Dragan Bisenić handed over first award painting from this year competition of young artists to Alexbank CEO Mr Dante Campioni as a sign of gratitude for long standing support of Alexbank to cultural manifestations of the Serbian Embassy.

In this year competition organized by the Embassy of Serbia in cooperation with Helwan Universitu, Facultu for Art Education in Cairo, 100 participants applied with more than 150 artworks. General sponsor of this manifestation for the third time in row was Alexbank local branch of Intesa San Paolo Group.

Competition was endorsed by both The Egyptian Ministry for High Education and Ministry of Culture.

During the conversation between HE Ambassador Bisenić and the Bank management comprised of current CEO Mr Dante Campioni, President of the Board of Directors Mr. Mauricio Baraco, and ex CEO Roberto Verceli future cooperation was stipulated and changes in the incoming competition were introduced regarding the learning of Serbian and Italian culture by the prospective Egyptian young artists.     
 

Serbian Ambassador HE Dragan Bisenic met Secretary General of Arab League, HE Ahmed Aboul Geith. During the meeting was discussed situation in Middle East and Arab countries. He stressed importance  of political settlement of all conflicting situation, preserving dialog as only mean to achieve lasting peace.  Ambassador Bisenic expressed support to the work of new Secretary General and efforts of Arab League to play constructive role in regional politics and global stage. 

Serbia and Egypt have long history of friendship which last up to today, agreed Serbian Ambassador HE Dragan Bisenic and Egyptian minister for of local development  HE Zaki Badr during the meeting.
During the meeting were considered many initiatives for cooperation between two countries in field of local development and between ministries of both countries.
Ambassador Bisenic said Serbia has long tradition of local self management and would be glad to assist Egypt in mutual agreed framework which is most beneficial for Egypt.
On the end of the meeting, both interlocutors exchanged souvenirs and presents.

Serbian Ambassador HE Dragan Bisenic met today Minister of Antiquities HE Dr Khaled El Enany. During the meeting, number of initiatives for cooperation between Serbia and Egypt in field of Antiquities and Archeology were registered.  Serbian Ambassador expressed interest for participation of Serbian team of Archeologist in research of Egyptian archeological treasury.
Serbian Ambassador Dragan Bisenic stressed his conviction that Egypt need to be supported from broad international community of states to overcome difficulties arisen from current problems in tourism. Egyptian heritage is not only Egyptian, it is treasury of human civilization as whole, says Ambassador Bisenic.
He emphasized that Serbian tourists never had a ban of visiting Egyptian resources and they will continue to flow to Egyptian resorts.  

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo organized introductory Charity Exhibition entitled “Young Egyptian Hopes” in the Residence of Ambassador in Zamalek. Serbian Embassy together with Faculty of Art Education of Helwan University every year traditionally organizes competition for young students of art for every graduate level. Authors of best works are awarded by Serbian Embassy and Alex bank which sponsors this manifestation. This year in autumn is planed Charity Auction of the best and others works competing in the manifestation. All donations will be given to the educational institutions in Egypt.
On this launching event, Ambassador of Serbia, HE Dragan Bisenic said Egypt has talented and gifted young  which deserves support of the Embassy. It gives to Egypt very high place in cultural history in the world. That all justify Egyptian pretentions to the high ranking position in international institutions, like UNESCO.    
Many ambassador of the diplomatic corps attended this event, ambassadors from Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and dignitaries from Egyptian political, social, business, academic and artistic community in Cairo.

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The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the Faculty of Art Education – Helwan University organized Third Student Juried Art Exhibition with the prize giving ceremony on 15 May 2016. More than 160 works of art has been submitted for the exhibition and seven works were awarded.

HE Dragan Bisenić Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia during his speech emphasised the importance of this manifestation and explained that the aim is to encourage talented students of the Faculty of Art Education – Helwan University in their work and in promoting the Egyptian culture.

Like in previous years manifestation was supported by the Alexbank as general sponsor of the event.

The exhibition will be opened for general public from 15th to 19th May 2016 in Ahmed Basiouny Gallery - Faculty of Art Education. 

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            Embassy of Serbia in Cairo, as every year, has marked properly 9th of May, Victory Day in World War Two. This time representatives of the Embassy, Minister Plenipotentiary Mr. Branko Nikolic and Defence Attashe Lt.Col. Zvezdan Kricak, have visited Fayid War Cemetary in that small town about 130 km south-east of Cairo on Great Bitter Lake which is part of the Suez Kanal and is situated between cities of Suez and Ismailia.
            On that ocasion a wreath was laid at central monument of this perfectly maintained cemetary with almost 2,000 graves, including six of them belonging to brave soldiers and officers of Yugoslav Army and Air Force and one civilian. Among members of over 40 nations put on eternal rest there, most of soldiers are British, than German and after that from many allied countries and territories, with only one Egyptian.   

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Embassy of the Republic of Serbia   Faculty of Art Education
                  C a i r o                                                                             

STUDENT PAINTING COMPETITION AND JURED EXHIBITION
“TRADITIONAL EGYPTIAN MOTIFS”
CALL FOR THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ART EDUCATION
OF HELWAN UNIVERSITY

             Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo has the honor to call undergraduate and graduate students from the faculty of Art Education of the Helwan University, to submit their artistic creation for Juried Art Exhibition and students Art Competition with cash awards donated from suppliers.
            Juried Art Exhibition and students Art Competition are open for undergraduate and graduate students of the Faculty of Art Education of the Helwan University. The national citizens can apply with one artwork representing traditional Egyptian motifs.
            The purpose of the contest is to show the possibilities of artistic creation and creativity of the Egyptian young students/artists from the Faculty of Art Education of the Helwan University. Students Art Competition has the following tasks:

-to give undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to share their experience in a special exhibition that provides visibility for their work
-to give students the opportunity to meet and share ideas
-to recognize and reward outstanding student art expression

            All accepted art works will be exhibited in Gallery of the Helwan University
            The prizes will be awarded to first five artworks: 1st place: 1 artwork, 2nd place: 2 artworks and 3rd place 2 artworks. These five winning artworks will complement the art collection of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo.
            Submissions may be made to Gallery Manager of the Faculty of Art Education.
Submission deadline is till April 17th 2016 in Gallery Ahmed Basiuny.
            For the other artistic artworks will be organized at art auction whose proceeds will be earmarked to help schools in Egypt. Of all the painting sold at auction, students will have a 20% percentage of revenue.
Be informed that the Auction for the remainder of the last year artworks would be organized during May 2016 as agreed between Embassy of the Republic of Serbia and Faculty of Art Education HU.

                                                                   H.E. Mr. Dragan Bisenic

     
                                                          Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia                   

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia has presented Serbian touristic capacities and culture during the manifestation “International Day” at the Helwan University – Faculty of Art Education in Cairo. At the exhibition mounted for this occasion visitors could feel Serbian tradition, culture and customs trough correspondence and materials shown and dispatched. Members of Serbian Diaspora being the medium of mutual understanding and cultural dialogue between Serbia and Egypt also took part at the manifestation.  

Information on how to vote in diplomatic missions of the Republic of Serbia

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On the occassion of the tragic death of the two employees of the Embassy of the Republic od Serbia in Tripoli Slađana Stanković and Jovica Stepić who died on 19 February during the American air raids against jihadist strongholds near Sabrata (Libya) Embassy of the Republic of Serbia opened a Book of condolences in the Embassy for the following dates: February 22 from 11:00 to 13:00 and February 23 from 11:00 to 15:00.

The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdelfattah El Sisi has sent an envoy Mr. Abdel Aziz Al Sherif, Chamberlain of the Presidency to the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo to convey his personal congratulations on the occasion of the Serbian National Day.

The performance of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra in Muscat was organized from 29th to 31st December 2015 in a crowded hall of the most modern opera house in the world - Royal Opera House of Oman.

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo in charge of Oman initiated and strongly bolstered the presence of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra in this prestigious house of arts. High number of Serbian expats in Oman attended the performance.

Serbian Embassy very successfully took part in Charity manifestation European Christmas Bazaar. Embassy exhibited products of Serbian food industry and traditional handcrafts from Serbia.
Serbian participation was supported by several companies and individuals: Carnex – Vrbas, Jomil  - Beograd, Danas – Beograd, Invej – Zemun, YU Keops – Kraljevo, Total – Beograd and Djordje Jankovic.   
Serbian exhibition attracted attention of great number of visitors from Cairo who tested Serbian products and familiarized with Serbian tourism and Serbian Food industry.

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• Because the request for its membership is a serious breach of the international law, the Constitution of UNESCO, the legally binding UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the Charter of the UN whose Article 25 says that „The Members of the UN agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter“. 
• Because according to the UN Security Council resolution 1244, which reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Kosovo and Metohija is an integral part of the Republic of Serbia, under the administration of the UN. Since Kosovo cannot be considered a State, it does not fulfill the basic requirement for membership set out by the UNESCO Constitution.
• Because unilateral attempts such as this one seriously harm and disrupt the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, under the auspices of the European Union in which mutually acceptable solutions for many complex issues have been devised so far. The issue of the Serbian cultural heritage and the property of the Serbia Orthodox Church has not yet been discussed within the dialogue where it belongs.
• Because this is an unacceptable politicization of UNESCO which should not overtake the competences of the UN Security Council as the highest authority for the preservation of the international peace and security. UNESCO should not serve as an instrument for the affirmation of an illegal and unilaterally declared independence of a part of the territory of one UN member state. The primary goal of UNESCO is to promote universal values of humanity through education, science and culture not to make political decisions with regard to the statehood. 
• Because this would be a dangerous precedent, harmful for many states. This would open the door for other entities to follow the same path thus threatening territorial integrity and sovereignty of other member states.
• Because this issue is polarizing the membership of UNESCO.
• Because, besides not being a state, Pristina does not have moral credibility for membership. Anyone aspiring to UNESCO membership must prove not only in words but as well in deeds its commitment to the goals of the UNESCO Constitution, which certainly is incompatible with deliberate, systematic, vandal demolition of Serbian cultural and historic monuments with the aim to remove the traces of centuries-long existence of Serbs in this area as well as the impunity of the perpetrators of such barbaric acts unworthy of the 21st century. These acts are comparable only to the acts of destruction of cultural heritage by terrorist groups in the Middle East and elsewhere that the world is witnessing and UNESCO is strongly condemning.
• Because four Serbian orthodox monasteries are inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in danger although the armed conflict in Kosovo is over for many years now. In danger from whom?
• Because the inclusion of this item in the provisional agenda of the 197th session of the UNESCO Executive board raises serious concerns about the compliance with procedure and the respect of the established UNESCO rules. Just to mention that that even publishing of the document on the unacceptability of Kosovo’s application for UNESCO membership from the standpoint of the international law, prepared by Serbian Delegation to UNESCO, as an official document, as we requested, was refused. And the only intention was the voice of Serbia also to be heard.
• Because we all would have to live with the negative consequences of such an irresponsible decision from the lesioning of the international law up to the fate of the Serbian cultural heritage in the province of Kosovo and Metohija which not only belongs to the Serbian people but also represents a part of the historical and civilizational heritage of modern Europe and the world.

The Serbian president tackled the refugees crisis which has recently affected Europe, noting that his country understands the humanitarian  nature of this crisis and is seeking to find solutions.
Sisi, for his part, said the  refugees crisis is the direct outcome of the problems suffered by the Middle East countries which are in need of final political solutions to achieve security and development and encourage their citizens to return to them.
The two presidents agreed on the importance of intensifying cooperation between the two countries in the coming phase to achieve mutual interests.

Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic attended the 6th of August 2015, the opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal.
Minister Dacic also had a separate meeting with Foreign Minister of Egypt, Sameh Shukri.
During the opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal Minister he met with President of Egypt Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, President of France François Hollande, Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras, and others.
Dacic also visited the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia Cairo, where he had a talk with the Embassy's Staff. 

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The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo marked the 70th years of the outbreak of the Second World War by hosting musical performances “The Dream of the Balkans” given by the Serbian Theatre Company “The Balkans New Wave”, held at the Ambassador’s  Residency on 8th of May 2015.
During commemorative ceremony, the Ambassador Dragan Bisenic expressed eternal gratitude toward Serbian heroism and sacrifice during the Second World War.
The same evening after the performance, the Ambassador hosted in his Residency a reception attended by numerous guests, such as Egyptian high officials, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives from the fields of intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo. 
The musical play “Dream of the Balkans”, inspired by traditional Serbian culture as well the myths, legends, beliefs and other spiritual customs of Balkan region, also was performed on May 5th, 2015 in the scope of Alexandria International Festival for Contemporary Theater which was held from 2nd to 7th of May 2015.

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Embassy of the Republic of Serbia participated with a great success at the “Carnival of Food: Salt and Bread”, which was held at Faculty of Art Education, Helwan University on 26th of April, 2015.
Numerous audiences consisted of the professors, students, professionals working in culture, arts, education, representatives of journalism: “Nile TV” as well as Serbian Diaspora, have had the opportunity to enjoy a variety in Serbia’s cuisine and one of the most popular traditional dishes: pasulj prebranac (Serbian beans), gibanica (prepared of several varieties of cheese), pita (bread with meat minced), musaka, proja (corn bread), etc.
For visitors touristic and other informative materials about Serbia were available at our stand.

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In framework of Music Program “ Serbian Music spring”, Embassy of Serbia in cooperation with Cairo opera House organized concert of Serbian pianist Ivan Basic in monumental building of Arab Music Institute on April 16th. Concert was followed by the reception held in the Residence of Serbian Ambassador in Zamalek.

Numerous audiences have had the opportunity to enjoy excellent performing of the compositions of D. Scarlatti, J. Haydn, F. Chopin and Aleksandar Vujić  (1945- ).

The reception which Ambassador Dragan Bisenic hosted in his Residency was attended by numerous guests, such as Egyptian high officials, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives from the fields of intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo.  

Following day, on April 17th, the same event was organized in Alexandria Opera House with the attendance of the Alexandria governorate, representatives of Consular and Diplomatic corps in Alexandria and many others domestic dignitaries.  

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Sharm Al Sheikh, March 15th - Serbian Ambassador Dragan Bisenic represented Serbia at EEDC held from 13 – 15 March in Sharm Al Sheikh. Serbia was participating among 100 world countries interested for development and prosperity Egyptian economy and mutual ties between two countries.
Serbian Ambassador during the Conference had a dozen meetings with participants from Egypt, UAE, Russia, USA and Great Britain.

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Serbian Embassy together with Faculty of Art Education – Helwan University, organized the Second Student Juried Art Exhibition for the best student’s artworks. Award ceremony and opening exhibition were held on Sunday, March 15, 2015 with the attendance of the representatives of Ministry of Culture of Egypt, Faculty of Art Education - Helwan University, Embassy of Serbia in Cairo, representatives of foreign embassies and Alexbank, students, media representatives and other guests.
Among more than 120 participants, special Jury awarded the first five artworks with: First prize:  Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Abd El All; Second prizes: Ms. Safaa Mostafa Bastawesy and Ms. Hagar Hussain Khalifa; Third prizes: Ms. Dina Mohamed Aly and Mr. Mostafa Ahmed Hatem. 
Guests were welcomed by Mrs. Hanan Monieb, First Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Culture of Egypt, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Eshak Cotb, Dean of the Faculty of Art Education, representative of the Embassy of Serbia Mr. Branko Nikolic, Minsiter-Councellor.
Exhibition of students artworks is organized by the Embassy of Serbia in Cairo and the Faculty of Art Education of the Helwan University and under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of Egypt and Ministry of Higher Education of Egypt, and sponsored by Alexbank.
The exhibition will be open until 19th March 2015 at the Ahmed Basiouny Gallery – Faculty of Art Education, 12 Ismail Mohamed St. Zamalek, daily from 10 a.m. until 16 p.m.

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Cairo, March 9th - Traveling from Sudan, Serbian minister of defense Mr. Bratislav Gasic made stop at Cairo airport. He was received by representatives of Egyptian Ministry of defense and Serbian ambassador  Dragan Bisenic with military attaché, vicecolonel Predrag Prlic.
In conversation with Egyptian hosts, minister Gasic expressed wishes to improve cooperation between Serbian and Egypt in defense sector and to continue long time and historical relations.
Egyptian interlocutors welcomed this initiative and promised its commitment.

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On the occasion of Sakia Exhibition for Cultural Services, held on February 26, 2015 at El Sawy Culturewheel, the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia presented movie “One Journey Million Impressions” and Serbian Folklore Ensemble "KOLO", prepared degustation of national dishes for visitors, presented touristic publications, photos as well as the documents related to Serbian culture properties inscribed on the UNESCO Heritage List (Gamzigrad–Romuliana, Medieval Monuments in Kosovo and Metohija, Stari Ras and Sopocani, Studenica), Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature Ivo Andric and reformator of Serbian language Vuk Karadzic, world famous scientists: Nikola Tesla, Mihailo Pupun, Milutin Milankovic and Mileva Maric as well as publications related to top world tennis player Novak Djokovic.

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Within the framework of celebration of the National Day of the Republic of Serbia, Embassy of Serbia in cooperation with Cairo opera House organized concert of Serbian pianist Lenka Petrovic. Concert was organized in monumental building of Arab Music Institute on February 8th. Concert was followed by the reception held in the Residence of Serbian Ambassador in Zamalek.
Numerous audiences have had the opportunity to enjoy excellent performing of the compositions of J. S. Bach, M. Clementi, R. Schumann, F. Liszt, G. Ligeti.

The reception which Ambassador Dragan Bisenic hosted in his Residency was attended by numerous guests, such as Egyptian high officials, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives from the fields of intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo.  

Following day, on February 9th, the same event was organized in Alexandria Opera House with the attendance of the Alexandria governorate, representatives of Consular and Diplomatic corps in Alexandria and many others domestic dignitaries.   

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Programme:

Sunday, 8 February 2015 at 8. p.m.
Cairo, “Arab Music Institute”

Monday, 9 February 2015 at 8. p.m.
Alexandria Opera House “Sayed Darwish Theatre”

Mr. Dante Campioni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer - Alexbank; Mr. Andrea Minogini, Chief of Human Resources and Corporate Governance - Alexbank; H.E. Mr. Dragan Bisenic, Ambassador of Serbia to Egypt; Mrs. Marija Sosic, First Secretary - Cultural Section of the Embassy of Serbia in Cairo; Mr. Roberto Vercelli, former Alexbank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

In an elegant ceremony held on January 29, 2015, the triptych of the painter Ms. Shorouk Ismail was handed to the Mr. Roberto Varceli, former Alexbank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Dante Campioni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Alexbank in gratitude for Alexbank’s support of the Art Program 2014.  
Speaking on the occasion Ambassador of Serbia H.E. Mr. Dragan Bisenic praised the concept of the Alexbank to open many new opportunities for Egyptian young students/artists in order to develop and enhance their art skills.

Serbian Ambassador, H.E. Dragan Bisenić gave two hours Interview for central Egyptian broadcaster Nile TV. Ambassador Bisenić  answered at numerous questions related to  development of bilateral Serbian – Egyptian relation, situation in Serbia, priorities of Serbian chairmanship of OSCE, foreign political goals of Serbia and relations to Arab countries. 
Interview will be broadcasted in two parts, day before New Year and day before orthodox Christmas.

Ambassador and the Governor

Serbian Ambassador HE Dragan Bisenić visited governorate Fayoum on December 20 – 21st. During the stay, Ambassador had a meeting with Governor, HE Hazim Attia. During conversation, both interlocutors expressed wishes to strength cooperation and  improve presence of Serbian tourists in Fayoum. First opportunity will be artistic seminar for ceramics which will be organized in April 2015.
Ambassador Dragan Bisenić attended two very prominent cultural events in Fayoum: International Festival of Traditional music and Winter solstice in Temple Qasr Qarun.

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Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Dragan Bisenic was honored on Thursday, December 18th 2014, from Regional Union of non governmental organizations in Cairo and League of Arab States for promotion of social values and solidarity.
Ambassador of Republic of Serbia received recognition for support of art and humanitarian work organized by Serbian Embassy in Cairo.
Medal is delivered on the Conference “Secure Egyptian societies” under auspices of Secretary General of Arab League, HE Nabil El Araby. Conference was held in Headquarter of Arab League in Cairo.   

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Embassy of the Republic of Serbia participated with a great success at the traditional European Christmas Charity Bazaar, which was held at Cairo on 6th of December, 2014.

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo presented this year Serbian national products, food and drinks, as well as, national cuisine. For visitors touristic and other informative materials about Serbia were available at our stand.

Appearance of the Embassy of Republic of Serbia was helped by numerous Serbian companies and individuals: "Jomil" - Belgrade, INSA - Belgrade, JU Keops - Kraljevo, "Dan Graf" - Belgrade. "Agent Plus" - Belgrade, "Zlatiborac" - Belgrade, winery "Zaric" - Ivanjica, wineries: "Toplicki Vinogradi" and Momir Kovacevic, "Mackov Podrum" - Irig, "Stemina" - Trstenik, "Braca Rajkovic" - Aleksandrovac, "Radosevic" - Banostor, "Cokot" - Zupa. "Janko" - Smederevo, as well as, Djordje Jankovic, Goran Aleksic, Rade Veljkovic and Miroslav Milic.

Income made from entry tickets sale, tombola, presents and donations will be donated to the humanitarian organizations in Egypt, particularly to those for childcare and to those helping women and elderly.

Embassy of the Republic of Serbia continuously and actively participates in this manifestation and with help of companies from Serbia and assistance of  Embassy staff and their families, Embassy's contribution is multiplied.

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Film “Barbarians” was screened within the 7th Panorama of the European Film (from the 19th of November until the 29th of November, 2014), at Cairo’s cinemas “Galaxy” in Manial and “Zawy Cinema Odeon” in Downtown, in the presence of Serbian director Ivan Ikic, Egyptian film audience, representatives of the Embassy of Serbia in Cairo, members of Diplomatic Corps and Diaspora.

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On the occasion of granting a scholarships within the Project “World in Serbia” to Egyptian candidate Mrs. Phepy Gamil Anwar Dawod, Assistant Teacher at the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, as wеll as Palestinian candidates Mr. Bayan Asha and Mrs. Fadwa Saqer, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia H.E. Mr. Dragan Bisenic hosted an Award Ceremony followed by reception, in his Residency on November 13th, 2014.
The Ceremony was attended by distinguished governmental officials from the Ministry of Higher Education of Egypt, Ministry of Culture of Egypt and the Embassy of Palestine in Cairo as well as representatives from the fields of intellectual, artistic and media societies.  
The Project “World in Serbia” is aimed to the students from the member states and observer states of the Non-aligned movement.
Bearing in mind the decades-old friendship between Serbia and Egypt as well as Serbia and Palestine, the Republic of Serbia invites the Arab Republic of Egypt and Palestine to propose their outstanding young people to study in the Republic of Serbia, every academic year, starting in September 2010. More than a dozen Egyptian and Palestine students have improved their specialization in their chosen area since then.

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The Egyptian Film Critics Association have announced Vuk Rsumovic's Serbian film "No One's Child" as winner of the Shady Abdel Salam prize for Best Film, in the closing ceremony of the International Critics Week competition of the 36th Cairo International Film Festival (from 9 to 18 November 2014)
Ahmed Hassouna, President of the Competition, mentioned that there were 500 submissions for the pre-selection stage, only seven of which were chosen as the competition's line up. The ceremony was attended by the representatives of the Embassy of Serbia in Cairo as well as Mohsen Weefy, President of the Week, and Khamis Elkhayaty, President of the Jury, with members.
Serbian Embassy in Cairo before the screening at the Festival invited broadly all foreign missions, friends of Serbian Embassy in Cairo and media to pay attention to the movie and to attend the screenings.
In the absence of awarded director, winner’s certificate and medal were given to the Cultural Attaché of the Serbian Embassy in Cairo, Mrs. Marija Sosic. 

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On the occasion of November 11th as the anniversary of the Armistice Day as the end of World War One in 1918, representatives of the Serbian Embassy in Cairo have visited the Port Said War Memorial Cemetery. Minister Plenipotentiary Mr. Branko Nikolic and Defence Attache colonel Predrag Prlic paid tribute to the alied and other soldiers who gave their lives during the Great War and laid a wreath on the grave of a member of the glorious Serbian Army.

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The Republic of Serbia celebrates “Armistice Day in World War I” as a national holiday starting from November 11, 2012. By celebrating a historically important event for the entire world: November 11, 1918 when the Allied powers and Germany signed the ceasefire and thus ended the Great War this date, tribute is paid to all the soldiers of the Kingdom of Serbia who fought bravely, and to all the innocent victims of the 1914 -1918 period.

During these four years, the Kingdom of Serbia had to make tough decisions, withstand a great loss and suffering, and resist many temptations. From the magnificent victories at Cer and Kolubara, to the Albanian Golgotha and Salonika front breakthrough, the Serbian government eventually found itself on the side of the winners and managed to rise like a phoenix from the ashes that the Great War left behind. 

This magical ability of resurrection and progress represent the main link between the Serbian state and the flower Natalie’s Ramonda (which was discovered by Doctor Sava Petrović in the vicinity of Niš, and Josif Pančić described it in 1884). Growing in Serbia, Macedonia and Greece, this flower is an endemic plant of the Western Balkans and it is strictly protected species in Serbia.

The successfully concerts of the famous Serbian musicians have been held in Cairo and Alexandria, in organization of Serbian Embassy in Cairo and the Cairo Opera House and upon the invitation of Serbian Ambassador to Egypt H.E. Mr. Dragan Bisenic. Concert in Cairo Opera House was held on October 16 and in Alexandria Opera House on October 18, 2014. Egyptian audiences have had the opportunity to enjoy excellent performing of the compositions of Duparc, Poulenc, Donizetti and Bellini.

In honor of the Serbian artists, the same evening after the concert, the Ambassador Dragan Bisenic hosted in his Residency a reception attended by numerous guests, such as Egyptian high officials, members of the Diplomatic and Military Diplomatic Corps, representatives of the  intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media, as well as the Serbian community in Cairo.

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The Delegation of the Republic of Serbia took part in the International Conference on Palestine, held in Cairo on October 12, 2014. 
The donors’ conference is hosted by the Governments of Egypt and Norway, together with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Government of Serbia participates in the reconstruction program for Palestine and  expresses longtime support and friendship for Palestinian people. Among several projects, Serbia especially supports high education of the Palestinian students in Serbia.
Delegation was led by the Ambassador of Serbia to Egypt and non-resident Ambassador of Serbia to the State of Palestine Dragan Bisenic, who held several meetings with Foreign Ministers from the Region. 

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Programme:

Thursday, 16 October 2014 at 8. p.m.
Cairo Opera House - Small Hall

Saturday, 18 October 2014 at 8. p.m.
Alexandria Opera House “Sayed Darwish Theatre”,

In framework of manifestations which mark 100th Anniversary of First World War, Serbian Embassy together with Faculty of Art Education – Helwan University, Cairo, organized competition for the best students art works. Award ceremony and opening exhibition were held on Sunday, June 15, 2014. with the attendance of the representatives of Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Higher Education of Egypt, foreign embassies, students and participants in competition and other guests.
Among more than 70 participants, special Jury awarded with first prize work of Ms. Dina Reda Mohamed, with second prize among Mr. Hatem Mostafa Shmed and Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Rehab, and third-place Mr. Saruk Ismail and Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Abdulal.

The Serbian government declared at its session on May 20 three days of mourning over the death and suffering of a large number of citizens in the floods, to be observed on 21, 22 and 23 May 2014.

A Book of Condolences will be opened at the premises of the Residence of the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, located at the 33, Mansour Mohamed Street - Zamalek - Cairo, on Thursday, 22nd of May and Sunday, 25th of May, 2014, from 11:00 to 14:00h.

The Serbian government stated that starting from 18 May it will be possible to donate humanitarian assistance to victims of floods in Serbia through PayPal service from 193 countries and the region.
The account belongs to the diplomatic mission of Serbia in Brussels, from where the funds will be sent directly to the account of the Republic of Serbia intended for the assistance to victims of floods.
The payment of humanitarian assistance, through the PayPal service, can be made on the address:
floodrelief.gov.rs

In accordance with instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, and in response to extraordinary willingness of numerous citizens and organisations to offer assistance to the Republic of Serbia, to recover from the extremely serious consequences of floods, the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Cairo has opened a dedicated bank account with AlexBank.

Swift code: ALEX EG CXXXX

Email: Cash_newzalalek@alexbank

Alexbank new Zamalek branch

Address: 19 ismail Mohamed St. Zalamek

Account number in L.E. 163000383003
Account number in EU 163000383004.
The Embassy will daily distribute the information about the account and guarantees total transparency.
The account funds will be continuously transferred to the central account that the Government of the Republic of Serbia has opened.
The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia will be available at any moment – you can contact us by phone or e-mail – in the aim of giving additional information in regards of obtaining the necessary help to the eliminate the extremely difficult consequences of floods. Mobile phone for contact – 01061818418 – Marija Sosic, First Secretary.

Suppllies currently needed: mattresses, quilts, blankets, bedding, folding bed, toiletries (soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, diapers for babies and adults), rubber boots, asepsol disinfectant reception centers, bottled water, canned food.

The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia has set up a call center for all those wishing to obtain information on how to make a donation and offer help in the current emergency situation caused by heavy rain and floods in the country.

The call centre will be available 24 hours a day, and will also serve for the coordination of activities with other state bodies.

The call centre numbers are the following: + 381 11/ 312- 07-41, + 381 11/ 312- 07-39, + 381 11/ 312- 99-39, + 381 11/ 312- 07-42 and + 381 11/ 312- 06-46. The information can also be obtained through e-mail pomoc.vanrednasituacija@mup.gov.rs.

The Serbian government has opened dinar and foreign currency accounts at which those who want to help victims of floods can deposit money.

The assistance to those in need can be paid to the dinar account 840-3546721-89, purpose of payment: the removal of consequences of the emergency situation - floods.

The number of the foreign currency account at which the assistance for the removal of consequences of the emergency situation can be deposited is 01-504619-100193230-000000-0000.

Assistance to the vulnerable population in flooded areas in Serbia can be sent through SMS to the number 1003, for all three mobile network operators – Telenor, Telekom and VIP Mobile.

The text price is RSD 100, and the funds will be directed to the account of the government of the Republic of Serbia especially open to collect the aid.
 

PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS - USD

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PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS - EUR

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The Qabila Short Film Festival, which kicked off on May 4th and ended with a closing ceremony at Cairo's Artistic Creativity Centre, where the winners in each of the festival's categories were announced on May 11th. This year's winner in the category of the Best Short Documentary is film “Secrets & Doubts” (Serbia) directed by Zelimir Gvardiol.
This year, the festival received 484 short films from 66 countries across the globe.

Cairo, April 14 - 16, 2014
Serbian pianist Hrvoje Ivovic performed two successful concerts before appreciative Egyptian audiences: the Alexandria Opera House "Sayed Darwish Theatre" - 14th of April 2014 and the Cairo Opera House “Gomhouria Theatre” - 16th of April 2014.  Pianist has been playing compositions of Bah, Vivaldi, Petri,  Hajdn, List, Rahmanjinov and Vasilije Mokranjac.  
Hrvoje Ivovic graduted Faculty of Music in Belgrada in the class of Profesor Maja Rajković, and obtained master degree in Freiburg (Germany) in class of Ilisa Kolodin. He is winner of numerious music awards and he performed in Serbia and other European cities.
The concerts have been held in the framework of the “Serbian Spring Piano Fest” in organization of Serbian Embassy and Cairo and Alexandria Opera House. 

On the occasion of the inauguration of the Serbian Spring Piano Fest, Ambassador Dragan Bisenic hosted a reception at his Residency in Zamalek. The reception attended by high officials of Egypt, members of Diplomatic Corps, representatives from intellectual, politics, business, artistic and media societies as well as the Serbian community in Cairo. 
Pianist Hrvoje Ivovic has been playing several compositions at the Reseidency and welcomed the esteemed guests to the forthcoming concerts in Alexandria and Cairo.
Amog the pianist’s performing during reception the audiences also had the opportunity to injoy a piano playing of two talented girs Milena and Milica who performed few melodies, too.

Programme:
Monday 14 April at 8pm
Alexandria, Sayed Darwish Theatre (Alexandria Opera House)
Wednesday 16 April at 8pm
Cairo, Gomhouria Theatre, (Cairo Opera House)

Cairo, April 1st 2014 - On behalf of Embassy of Serbia in Cairo, Ambassador Dragan Bisenic signed Memorandum of Understanding with Egyptian Council for Sustainable development (ECSFD).
The purpose of this MoU is to establish a practical framework for the development of stronger relations between the two parties, and to set forth ways and means, which can enhance the implementation of their objectives.
-This cooperation will give opportunity to Serbian companies to access to Egyptian and international partners in Egypt more easily and secure, said Serbian Ambassador.
Delegation of the Council composed by president Motaz Raslan, executive director Rasha Kamal, members of the Board Said El Derini and Omar El Derini during the meeting with Ambassador introduced goals of the Council in efforts to strengthen international cooperation of Egyptian economy and expressed satisfaction with decision of the Serbian Embassy to join this association

Cairo, March 31st - Serbian Ambassador Dragan Bisenic met owner of Bukhamseen group, Jawad Bukhamseen and his son and CEO of the company, Emad Bukhamseen.
During the meeting, owners of the company informed Ambassador Bisenic about current development in activities of the Group ion Serbia and their further plans. 
Bukhamssen group is one of the leading companies of Arab world, ranged at 8th place among wealthiest companies with estimated capital of 8 bln USD.

Serbian Ambassador to Egypt Dragan Bisenic and the representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia participated on Tuesday, March 18th at the “International Day” of the Faculty of Art Education – Helwan University in the scope of exelent cooperation between the Embassy and the University and efforts aim to bring the students of the two countries closer together.
Ambassador Dragan Bisenic congratulated the President of the University Prof. Dr. Yasser Sakr, the Dean of the Faculty of Art Education Prof. Dr. Mohamed Eshak and to the Vice-Dean Prof. Dr. Bilal Makled for excellent organization of the manifestation and called the students to participate in Student Painting Competition in May 2014, in organization of the Embassy in cooperation with the Faculty of Art Education. 
Serbian exhibition stand caused great interest of students and other visitors.
The event counted on participation of Diplomatic Missions and Universities/Institutes of India, China, Germany, Palestine, Kuwait and Sultanate of Oman.

Serbian Ambassador in Cairo Dragan Bisenic accompanied by the the representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia delivered on Friday, March 14th, donation to the Kindergarten “Saint Samaan” – which is part of the Mother Maggie Gobran Foundation, in Cairo's settlement Moqattam. Donation is provided by Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Serbian milk producer company “IMLEK” from Belgrade. 
Serbian Ambassador said this donation is small contribution to the great efforts which is done by from Maggie Gobran personally and her associates in Foundation to improve living conditions of the children in this part of the Cairo and expressed hope that they will become excellent scholars and members of Egyptian society.
During stay in this institution, Embassy representatives talked about work and functioning of the Kindergarten, and attended presentation of educational activities.