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June 2017 | ISSUE No. 16 | Price 350 RSD

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MORE INVESTMENTS ARE NEEDED IN CHILD INITIAL TRAINING

PROF. JAN PEETERS Director of VBJK, Centre for Innovation in the Early Years, at Ghent University Belgium

02 FESTA DELLA

WE LIVE AND LOVE CULTURE IN THE SAME WAY

JUN page 41

REPUBBLICA IN BELGRADE

Ecology as Priority of Serbian Government STANA BOŽOVIĆ

State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection

ENRIQUE CAMACHO Director of the Cervantes Institute in Belgrade

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF CSR IN SERBIA

MICHEL SAINT -LOT UNICEF Representative in Serbia

Strong Support to Public and Private Sector DUBRAVKA NÈGRE

Head of the Western Balkan Regional Office of the European Investment Bank (EIB)

The

Italy

Netherlands I N

H.E. GIUSEPPE MANZO Italian Ambassador to Serbia

F O C U S

H.E. HENK VAN DEN DOOL Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

ED ITO RI AL

Trump’s Reality Show

CO N T E N T S

Dear readers, Depeche Mode is singing “Where’s the revolution?” these days across Europe, lamenting the pitiful condition in which we live, where bigots and extremists of all kind are taking over the world.

I’m pretty sure they don’t mean that what Donald Trump is doing could be a revolution, but somehow it is... We are witnessing one of the greatest showdowns in the history of democracy: President vs. “Deep State”.

The so-called Deep State (inner structures of the American state, built over the course decades) accepted Trump’s surprising victory, but never gave up. From impeachment trials to the undermining of every step, they are trying to redirect the “runaway train” of the American presidency to somewhat calmer tracks, where everything is predictable. But Trump is anything but predictable. This former cunning businessman has reversed many of his pre-election stances since becoming president: he was critical of Saudi Arabia, but now sells tonnes of weapons there; he praised Assad, the later started bombing him; He embraced Russia as part of the Western world, but is now calling it a threat to America; NATO was obsolete, but now it isn’t. And he fights the Deep State with constant shape-shifting. Furthermore, he is a media provocateur: in Riyadh, Melania was rebelling, bear-headed.

In the Vatican she was “1898-Italian lady in the church”-style. Trump was always a master of reality shows, and now he has the greatest one of all. And one more thing: the Deep State is doing its best to take him down, but he can utilise the same weapons he used in his campaign: social networks and direct democracy to undermine the Deep State.

Let’s not forget what Erdogan did: the Deep State in Turkey had the army, while he had only Facebook and the people. After their showdown he now has it all. Here’s the revolution. ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ

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NO-STRESS DREAM HOUSE RADE BUČEVAC

Marketing and Strategy Director at Lafarge Serbia

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FOOD PLANET 2017

OUR RELATIONS HAVE NEVER BEFORE BEEN SO EXCELLENT AS TODAY H.E. dr. ATTILA PINTER

Ambassador of Hungary to Serbia

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Reportage

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WE LIVE AND LOVE CULTURE IN THE SAME WAY ENRIQUE CAMACHO

STRONG SUPPORT TO PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR DUBRAVKA NÈGRE

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Diplomacy&Commerce Editor in Chief

ECOLOGY AS PRIORITY OF SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

Head of the Western Balkan Regional Office of the European Investment Bank (EIB)

Editor-in-Chief

ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ

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Director of the Cervantes Institute in Belgrade

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IKEA – STORY OF SIMPLICITY, PERSISTENCE AND SUCCESS Reportage

MORE INVESTMENTS ARE NEEDED IN CHILD INITIAL TRAINING

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Director of VBJK, Centre for Innovation in the Early Years, at Ghent University Belgium

ALEKSANDRA TANASIĆ

PROF. JAN PEETERS

YOGA - THE WAY OF LIFE AND MIND Yoga instructor

RUŽA RISTANOVIĆ Magazine director

ruza.ristanovic@color.rs

ROBERT ČOBAN Director

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T E RRO R IN LO N DO N

Britain Suffers its Third Deadly Terrorist Attack in as Many Months The attack on London Bridge marks a return to crude, low-tech assaults

The attack in London on June 3rd, which left seven people dead and 48 injured, was the third deadly terrorist incident in Britain in less than three months. At about 10pm a van was driven at speed into pedestrians on London Bridge, before three men got out and began stabbing people around Borough Market, just south of the Thames. The men, who one witness said had shouted “This is for Allah,” were shot dead by police.

Although the three suspects wore what looked like suicide-bombers’ vests, they turned out to be fake. Knives and a large van were the only murder weapons involved. Police believe that no other attackers were involved.

The crude attack bears some similarities to the assault on March 22nd in which Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old British convert to Islam, mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four, before getting out to stab a policeman to death. In that attack the target was the Houses of Parliament. This time it appears that the terrorists honed in on people drinking in bars.

The simplicity of the latest assault is in contrast to the attack on May 22nd at the Manchester Arena, in which a relatively sophisticated bomb was used to kill 22 people and injure more than 100. The perpetrator of that attack, Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old British Muslim, may have undergone training in Libya.

Britain’s run of attacks demonstrates the dual nature of the terrorist threat. On the one hand are complex plots such as the Manchester attack, which have the potential to kill many but whose multiple strands give the security

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which was briefly raised to “critical” after the Manchester attack, has remained at “severe”, the next rung down, indicates that investigators are not looking for accomplices who may be planning a follow-up attack.

What is worrying the security services most is the possibility that low-tech simple attacks of the kind that have now struck London twice in just over two months may be attracting imitators. This was one of the suggestions made by the prime minister, Theresa May, in her response to the horror of Saturday night. “Terrorism,” she said, “breeds terrorism”. She also went on to say that there was too much tolerance of Islamist extremism. In particular, she demanded that more pressure be put on internet firms such as Google and Facebook to be made accountable for material they publish that may aid terrorism.

Quite what she has in mind is not clear. Mrs May used the odd expression that “enough is enough” as if any level of political violence were acceptable. It seems probable that after the general election on Thursday, a major review of counter-terrorism policies will be an urgent priority. Among the measures likely to be recommended are: longer prison sentences for terrorist offences; the issuing of many more “Tpims” (terrorism prevention and investigation measures) to tag and curfew some suspects; more use of powers to confiscate passports; a beefing up the “Prevent” anti-radicalisation strategy; and even more resources for the security service (MI5) and counter-terrorism police.”

services a better chance of disrupting them. On the other are low-tech attacks like the latest one, which tend to have fewer casualties (in large part because of Britain’s strict gun laws) but are harder to anticipate and prevent.

The arrest of 12 men in the Barking area of east London in the aftermath of the attack does not at this point suggest that there was “network” behind the perpetrators, as police believe there was behind Abedi. It is almost certain that the identity of the three men is known, although not yet whether, as is likely, they had appeared previously on the “radar screen” of the security services. One of them is believed to have been a married man and a father of two children. The arrests are likely to be part of a normal information-gathering operation involving raids of the perpetrators’ homes and interviews under caution of anyone who might have been close to them. The fact that the terrorist-threat level,

From The Economist, published under licence.

The original article, in English, can be found on www.economist.com

CONTEXT TO THE KILLING

United Kingdom, terrorist attacks, deaths excluding perpetrators

Single attacks with over ten killed 350

Birminghan London Bridge*

Lockerbie

Omagh

London

Manchester Jo Cox murder Lee Ridgy murder

300 250 200 150 100 50 0

1970

75

80

85

90

95

2000

Sources: Global Terrorism Database, University of Maryland; press reports

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15 17 At 10.30am GMT, June 4th 2017

Economist.com

www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs

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I NTERVIEW

Ecology as Priority of Serbian Government Our task and obligation is to prepare 94 legal acts by the end of 2018 in order for our legislation to fully comply to the EU Acquis in the segment of environmental protection and climate change

STANA BOŽOVIĆ State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection

In the period from 2014 to 2020, Serbia has 160 million EUR worth of grants for investments in environmental protection at its disposal. If we take into consideration that that is 80% of the total project value, that means that, with the help of the EU funds, we are going to be able to fund projects of the total value of 200 million EUR. How far along is Serbia in harmonizing its environmental protection legislation with the EU’s?

— The Republic of Serbia has been recording continous success in terms of harmonizing its environmental legislatin with the EU Acquis. In February 2016, we adopted amendments and supplements to three laws that are crucial for regulating environmental issues, and these are the Environmental Protection Law which gives legal basis for the Green Foundation that started operating early this year with the budget of over 2 billion

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dinars; the Law on Waste Management which brought essential changes to the segment of separation and recycling of utility waste on the local level; and the Law on Nature Protection.

In May this year, we ratified the Paris Agreement, with Serbia now being legally obligated to reach the target in reduction of emission of greenhouse gases. Serbia is the first country in the region and 10th in the world to have submitted its target regarding reduction of greenhouse gases to the UN Secretary General. In the last few years,

talks, we are the only candidate country to have unconditionally opened Chapter 27 (environmental protection).

This chapter covers a wide range of sectors – from air quality to controlling industrial pollution to civil protection. How did you delegate tasks in the government regarding these complex issues?

— We have been cooperating with almost all line ministries, the EU Integration Office, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce,

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT RESISTANT TO CLIMATE CHANGE IS A PROJECT THAT AIMS AT HELPING LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENTS WITH REDUCTION OF EMISSION OF GREENHOUSE GASES our economy suffered losses in the amount of 5 billion EUR du to the consequences of climate change.

The Serbian government, the line ministry and the negotiation group, which comprises of 22 institutions wiht over 200 domestic and foreign experts, are working together on adopting and harmonizing over 700 different legal acts.

To illustrate how huge this committment is, let me just say that, in the course of the EU accession

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the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, and the representatives of civil society organizations on this complex task. Our job is to ensure and facilitate communication and coordination between required institutions so that we, as a candidate country, could invest in this segment. Water supply is one of the cooperation areas, and we expect 2 billion EUR worth of investments in water supply systems and securing healthy, drink-

ing water for all citizens of Serbia.

How much do we, in Serbia, implement the European rule that environmental protection should be incorporated into other EU policies concerning agriculture, transport, and energy, for instance?

— Environmental protection is a field that is completely intertwined with all aspects of our society, which includes agriculture, transport and energy.

In terms of agriculture, I would like to mention an example that we are all familiar with and it relates to organic production.

Growing and consuming organic produce significantly contributes to well-being of the entire eco-system. Thanks to the policies we have mentioned, agri-ecological measures have become an important subject to finance from IPARD funds on which preparation and utilization our ministry and minister Nedimović have been regularly and successfully working on. One of the most demanding environmental directives – the Nitrates Directive – stipulates measures and way to limit the level of nitrates in land and waters that originate from agricultural production.

On the other hand, energy is one of the segments that will receive

the biggest investments in terms of environmental protection. This entails devising programmes and projects pertaining to energy efficiency, using renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels, using desulphurization filters and similar, as well as projects like filtering waste waters in large heat and electricity generation systems.

duce the number of these projects to only 3 in record time and with rather limited financial resources.

These projects are waste water filtering in Vrbas and Leskovac, and water supply system in Smederevska Palanka and Velika Plana which are supposed to become operational in 18 months' time.

EBRD or EIB, 3) funds from private partners invested through the concession systems or other types of public-private partnership, and 4) national funds, be it state or local funds. Also, there is the environmental fee that big polluters pay which is now 20% higher compared to the same period last year.

structure, primarily in waste management, water supply, construction of sewage and waste water filtering. In the following period, Serbia will invest around 8 billion EUR in these segments alone.

Currently, we are filtering less than 8% of the municipal waste water, and our goal, which entails

Do you think that Serbia has enough qualified professionals to see that this job is done?

— Yes, Serbia has enough qualified environmental protection experts.

I would like to use this opportunity to announce a youth job fair that will cover jobs in environmental protection that will take place in September this year, and that we are organizing in cooperation with consultancies, universities, institutions and donors that we are collaborating with. However, the issue of administrative capacities is the issue that we have to constantly work on. Our Ministry doesn’t have enough people to deal with these tasks and for now we are trying to compensate this lack in staff with increasing the efficiency in certain sectors and providing various types of technical support.

When the time comes to use European and pre-accession structural funds we want to be ready in order to fully utilize all the opportunities available to us. Also, we would like to avoid mistakes and learn from bad examples of some of the newer EU members which, although having a billion euros worth of grants for water supply, sewage, waste management and waste water filtering projects, did not have enough qualified professionals or serious projects to use these grants.

THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN IS CURRENTLY OUR MOST IMPORTANT BILATERAL PARTNER IN TERMS OF ASSISTANCE. THE MINISTRY CURRENTLY HAS SIX ONGOING PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED TOGETHER WITH SWEDEN

Despite high costs, this segment is very appealing to investors too. How many FDIs could Serbia count on in this sector?

How much money could Serbia get from the EU pre-accession IPA funds for infrastructure projects relating to environmental protection?

— In the period from 2014 to 2020, Serbia has 160 million EUR worth of grants for investments in environmental protection at its disposal. After a three-year-break, during which we have been working on resolving the issues with certain infrastructure projects dating back from the 2008-2012 period, the Serbian government and line ministry can again use the pre-accession funds for investments in infrastructure. The Ministry inherited around 20 different and quite problematic infrastructure projects. We have managed to re-

constructing and launching 320 waste water filtering facilities in the next 25 years, is 100%.

Also, while we are on the subject of waste management, we have a lot of work ahead of us on establishing new regions, separation and recycling of waste with an ancillary infrastructure, hazardous waste management, construction of sanitary landfills and biodegradable waste treatment systems with or without energy utilization, and proper closure and re-cultivation of over 160 local landfills that take around 2 million tons of waste every year.

What other financial resources do you use in this segment and what are the Ministry’s priorities?

— There are four different financial sources for this segment: 1) grants from the EU funds or bilateral funds, 2) long-term infrastructure loans granted by KfW,

Also, as a result of implementing various payment measures and instruments for the first time ever, we expect a 50% increase in the collected amount by the end of 2017 and relative to 2016.

The Ministry’s priorities are investing in development of infra-

— Our long-term financing plan, which also contains a forecast of financing resources for environmental protection, says that 20% of investments will come from the private sector which, in translation means, that we expect around 2 billion EUR worth of private investments in this area. It is encouraging to see that private funds have invested in 50% of the regional sanitary landfills in Serbia, and that there is a growing interest among international financial institutions, investment funds and renowned global companies in the waste and water management sector.

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ANALYSI S Text: ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ

New President What to expect?

The former PM has become the new President, while the old president, Tomislav Nikolić, stepped down silently. The five years of their joint reign over Serbia was marked by dramatic changes in the political equilibrium, with the new dominance of Realpolitik and the Serbian Progressive Party. What can we expect from Vučić's presidency?

A SILENT PRESIDENT

First of all, Tomislav Nikolić was a model constitutional president of the Republic of Serbia. He strictly adhered to the constitution, which prescribes that, in contrast to the Milošević period - with its Frenchstyle constitution and a strong presidential republic, the president should now be something like a German or Italian federal president, or a UK monarch: a symbol of unity. This unity, however, was severely challenged from the very

the demise of the Democratic Party, thus paving the way for Aleksandar Vučić, as party leader, to form a parliamentary majority and later extend SNS’s rule over the Vojvodina Provincial Assembly. Nikolić decorated many presidents of countries that refused to recognise Kosovo's independence, and was at least consistent in showing preference to perceived friends. Just like Putin always congratulates the presidents of all former Soviet republics except the Baltic ones, and he always expresses congratulations to “the peoples of Ukraine and Georgia”.

But history will judge him as “the silent president” who he became more appealing to the general public towards the end of his term.

SHIFT OF POWER

The Serbian political scene has always been indelibly marked by rapid shifts of power, as the power is concentrated with the person, and not the institution or the post.

A LOT OF FUSS WAS MADE ABOUT THE ELECTION, BUT THE RESULT IS GOING TO BE PRETTY MUCH LIKE ‘MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING’, AS THE BARD SAID. EVERYTHING WILL REMAIN STABLE… LIKE IT OR NOT start, when many in Serbia stated “Not my president”, just like many in the U.S. are doing today. For many it was strange to imagine the less-than-sophisticated Nikolić occupying the post formerly held by stylish, sophisticated smooth-talker Boris Tadić, but in reality Nikolić was silent and correct. His term was marked by the beginning of the end of the “Yellow-clan” and

For instance, when Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia, it was the most important post, while the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a second-rate organisation.

Zoran Lilić, the then federal president, was merely a figurehead. But when Milošević became Federal President, it became the most important function, with Milan Milutinović becoming a figurehead

SURPRISES, SURPRISES He also surprised us with some of his personnel choices, the biggest being the naming of Ana Brnabić as the first openly LGBTQ-person to hold a senior government post.

No other allegedly pro-European party was able to do something like that, so Vućić got the upper hand. Now the country does not even have a problem envisaging her as the new PM, which represents a tremendous shift in mindset. If you thought Vučić would be more conservative than the Democrats, you might be really, really wrong.

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Serbian president. This probably created the shift with Đukanović's Montenegro and led to the collapse of the federal state, but that’s another matter entirely. When Boris Tadić was president, the real power was in his hands, and the same is to be expected now. We can expect the position of the president to be the most influential “from the shadows”, since the personal power of Aleksandar Vučić is beyond question. But the same shift has happened in other democracies, like Russia (with Putin shifting between presidential and PM functions) and Turkey (with Erdogan doing the same thing).

WHAT NOW?

Now the president has been inaugurated and consultations regarding the new PM have commenced. It is highly unlikely, however, that many ministers will change with Vučić moving from an executive function to a ceremonial one, because he still wants the new government to continue doing precisely the same work as

he did in the last few years. Yet, he proved to be a clever mastermind in the complicated game of chess between global superpowers (the U.S., Russia, China and the EU), nationalists and liberals, the Church and citizens. Another thing we can expect is for the media to, rather unfairly, pick on the foundation of Tomislav Nikolić and his wife Dragica, as nobody dares touch any subject when the incumbent president is in power, but there is always an easy target to aim for. As for President Vučić, the rumours, according to Minister Brnabić, are that the newly appointed PM will be an “ikebana”, or a decorative vase. But it is unlikely that anything major will happen. The direction of the government and politics will remain the same – balancing between personal solutions somehow “approved” by major powers.

A lot of fuss was made about the election, but the result is going to be pretty much like ‘much ado about nothing’, as the Bard said.

Everything will remain stable… like it or not.

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NATIONAL DAYS

ARRI VALS & D EPAR T UR E S SEM FABRIZI New Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia

in June July

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini appointed Sem Fabrizi as new Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia.

He will be formally appointed once his agreement has been received. Sem Fabrizi comes to Serbia after vacating the position of Ambassador of the European Union to Australia since September 2013.

An Italian career diplomat, he served as advisor on international relations to the President of the European Council in Brussels and to the Prime

Minister's Office in Rome.

He also served in Geneva at the Italian Permanent Mission to the WTO and in Beijing at the Italian Embassy in the PRC. At the MFA in Rome he held positions in the EU Department and the Secretariat General's Office.

He holds degrees in International Law and International Economy from "La Sapienza" University in Rome. He served as Lieutenant in the Italian Army. He was awarded the honor of Cavaliere Ufficiale dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana. He is married and has three children.

JUNE

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RUSSIA Russia Day

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THE PHILLIPINES

Araw ng Kalayaan, Declaration of Independence

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UNITED KINGDOM Queen’s Birthday

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MALTA

ational Day N (St. John the Baptist)

MILOŠ BRUSIN

ALEKSANDAR RUŽEVIĆ

New Chairman of Telenor Bank’s Executive Board

New Chairman of NALED’s Managing Board

Financial and Risk Management Director, Miloš Brusin has been appointed the new Chairman of Telenor Bank’s Executive Board starting from 1st June.

Brusin has a wealth of experience in the banking sector as he was an executive both in risk management and retail operations.

He started his career in Findomestic Bank 13 years ago, and has

been working in various positions and segments – from risk and support system management to retail operations (collection of receivables) and payment card operations. He joined the Telenor Bank team in 2016 as a member of the bank’s Executive Board and Financial and Risk Management Director. He graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Economics.

The previous Chairman of Executive Board, Martin Navratil will continue working in Telenor Bank as an advisor to the Executive Board until 1st August when he is leaving to work for an international financial organization Home Credit Group, helming a new bank development project in India.

CEO of Coca-Cola HBC Serbia and Montenegro, Aleksandar Ružević has been appointed the new Chairman of NALED's Managing Board. He was appointed by the new Managing Board to a period of four years, and will be in charge of the implementation of strategic goals and priorities as set

by NALED's members.

Aleksandar Ružević graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Law, and has been a part of

Coca-Cola’s team since 1998. During his career, he led teams of professionals in various markets, from Macedonia to Ukraine.

He was appointed CEO of Coca-Cola HBC Serbia and Montenegro in August 2015. He became a member of NALED’s Managing Board in 2016. Before that, Ružević was at the helm of NALED’s Fair Competition Alliance which was established following an initiative

by Coca-Cola.

The following were appointed Vice Chairpersons of NALED’s Managing Board: CEO of Gomex, Goran Kovačević, on behalf of business community, Mayor of Pirot, Vladan Vasić, on behalf of local self-governments, and a member of ACES’ Managing Board, Dragana Čukić, on behalf of civil society organizations.

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SLOVENIA Statehood Day

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UKRAINE

Constitution Day

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VATICAN National Day

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THE CONGO

Independence Day

JULY

01

CANADA Canada Day

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BELARUS

Independence Day (Liberation of Minsk in 1944)

04 USA

Independence Day

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MILAN DRAGIĆ

VENEZUELA

New director of Bisnode for southern markets

On 1st June, Milan Dragić was appointed the new director of the Bisnode Company for southern markets which include Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania. Dragić has over 25 years of experience in the Slovenian and international compnies. He is a manager with a wealth of experience in business management in large international IT companies in Central and Eastern

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Independence Day

Europe. He spent 13 years of his career in Microsoft, and the last job position he held was a business solutions director for Central and Eastern Europe responsible for the transformation of 15 regional organizations with the view of increasing efficiency and market coverage. Two and a half years later, he accepted an offer from SAP Slovenia to run the company with 32 employees – Bisnode's press release reads.

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MONTENEGRO

I ndependence Day (Berlin Congress 1878)

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FRANCE Bastille Day

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I NTERVIEW

Our Relations Have Never Before Been So Excellent as Today Since the realization of the so-called "Hungarian-Serbian historical reconciliation" in 2013, the quality of bilateral relations between two countries is getting better every day. This is true in both the political and economic fields H.E. dr. ATTILA PINTER Ambassador of Hungary to Serbia

Controversial or open issues burden neither bilateral relations between Hungary and Serbia nor their relations with regard to the Serbian accession process. On the contrary, two countries are finding new possibilities for cooperation from the political field to the economic joint projects to tourism, says Nj.E. dr. Attila Pinter, Ambassador of Hungary.

This positive upturn is visible in every aspect starting from the cooperation when it comes to the migrant crisis to the trade exchange and the status of the Hungarian minority in Serbia. Although for historical reasons, most of the Hungarian engagement in business are located in Voivodina, there is a growing interest of the investors to explore new opportunities in other parts of Serbia.

Aleksandar Vučić, in 2012. We can safely state that the quality of bilateral relations between our two countries has never before been so excellent. This is true in both the political and economic fields. At the same time, of course there is always a space for mutually beneficial development. That is why I consider it highly important, that the leaders and the most influ-

HUNGARY IS ONE OF THE EU MEMBER STATES THAT SEEKS TO PROMOTE THE FASTEST POSSIBLE INTEGRATION OF SERBIA AND THE COUNTRIES OF THE WESTERN BALKANS INTO THE EU ential politicians of Hungary and Serbia maintain a friendly, constructive, mutually supportive and friendly relationship.

In which way did the migrant crisis impact these relations?

What is your explanation for such a fast and positive development of bilateral relations between the two countries?

— As you are probably well aware, the Hungarian-Serbian bilateral relations have improved greatly since the realization of the so-called "Hungarian-Serbian historical reconciliation" in 2013. This went along with the formation of the first government of now President

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— Hungary and Serbia developed a successful cooperation in fight of illegal migration and smuggling of human beings. In summer 2015, at the Serbian-Macedonian border and since the October of 2016 at the Serbian-Bulgarian border Hungarian police officers were supporting the work of the Serbian police. Hungary is willing to continue to provide all possible support to Serbia to keep

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the migration situation stabile, and to protect Serbia’s borders.

Concurrently, the two countries have been developing a closer cooperation within the framework of collaboration with Chi-

SERBIAN METHODS OF MINORITY PROTECTION ARE WORTHY OF RECOGNITION Are you satisfied with the treatment of the Hungarian national minority in Serbia?

— Due to the "Hungarian-Serbian historical reconciliation" and the very sincere and friendly cooperation between our governments the state of Voivodina Hungarians has been much better today than during the previous years.

The biggest political organization of Hungarians living in Serbia, the Alliance of Voivodina Hungarians has been the member of the Serbian government coalition for 3 years with 4 MPs and 4 state secretaries. Their activity has contributed to deepening of confidence among Serbs and Hungarians living in Serbia.

Serbian governments led by Mr. Vučić did a lot for improving the state of Hungarians living in Voivodina. Serbian methods of minority protection are worthy of recognition.

na. Which opportunities, do you think, are being created from the cooperation with China?

— When we talk about the cooperation within China’s “One belt, one road” initiative, we must not avoid mentioning infrastructural projects.

Not only our large scale joint project the Budapest-Belgrade railway, but also construction of motorways, regional highways and other similar projects in which Hungarian and Serbian construction companies could jointly participate.

The Chinese companies have been showing a growing interest and activity in the areas of environmental protection and renewable energies, as well as in agro-industry, so there are many opportunities to find interesting projects of mutual interest. These could be for example the modernization of old technology (coal) based thermal power plants, construction of modern recycling centers for hazardous waste, also creating new technology based food processing plants.

Last but not least, the geographical proximity of our countries and their similarities, the easy accessibility, as well as our complementary tourist attractions (beautiful cities, spas, wine routes, historical ruins) create the possibility for joint action and presence on third country markets. Serbia provides visa free entry for Chinese citizens for short-term stay (up to 30 days), so we expect that this measure will significantly increase the number of Chinese tourists visiting the region. For this reason, we would like to develop joint tourism offers,

special tours across both countries, which could be really interesting and attractive not only for tourists, but also for businesspeople arriving from the Far East.

Why is there no significant progress in construction of the Belgrade-Budapest railway which, according to the initial plans, was supposed to be under construction already?

— The realization of the project turned out to be slower than expected, but according to our plans the works will begin in the end of this year. Hungary as the member state of the European Union must find balance between the fulfilment of its obligations defined by EU legislation and the expectations of the Chinese side, which takes time and additional efforts. From that aspect, Serbia is in a little bit easier situation and Minister Mrs. Zorana Mihajlović could already sign the commercial agreement for the reconstruction of the first section of the railway in Serbia.

Parallel with the good bilateral relations, the external trade between Serbia and Hungary has also been growing. In which

economy segments is this trade the biggest?

— According to the data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office in the period of January-March 2017 the Hungarian-Serbian trade turnover was already EUR 620.1 million, which represents a 38% increase compared the same period of 2016. The majority of our trade was traditionally made up of processed products and petroleum

trade turnover shows such a fast growing trend.

Also, the volume of Hungarian investments in Serbia has been growing. In which parts of Serbia and which industries did Hungarian companies invest the most?

— The largest Hungarian investments in the last two years were realized in the automotive sector.

WE WOULD LIKE TO DEVELOP JOINT TOURISM OFFERS FOR CHINESE TOURISTS, WHICH COULD BE REALLY INTERESTING AND ATTRACTIVE NOT ONLY FOR TOURISTS, BUT ALSO FOR BUSINESSPEOPLE ARRIVING FROM THE FAR EAST products (fuels) for our company MOL. In addition, the sector of machinery and transport equipment is showing significant growth, which is caused by the increased number of foreign investments in Serbia, mostly in the production sector. For the same reason, Serbia is not exporting only raw materials and basic food products anymore, but more processed products, parts for the automotive industry, thanks to which the value of our

Traditionally the Hungarian companies mostly invest in Vojvodina because of the similarities in the business environment and of the lack of language barriers. At the same time we try to turn their attention towards other parts of Serbia too and we encourage them to find business partners and investment opportunities in the Southern part of the country. Therefore we were glad that last year in November the Joint session of the Hungar-

ian and Serbian governments was held in Niš. On the margins of the government session, the OTP Bank Serbia opened its Regional Center in Niš. So we hope, that others will follow, and Hungarian companies will start operating also in that part of the country.

Are there any unresolved issues between Hungary and Serbia in terms of the EU integration process?

— As a starting point regarding the issue, we have to state, that the bilateral relations between Hungary and Serbia are excellent, and are not burdened by controversial, or open issues. As you know, Hungary is one of the EU Member States that seeks to promote the fastest possible integration of Serbia and the countries of the Western Balkans into the EU. So there is nothing to be solved on the EU level for us. However, during the accession negotiations, should there be a dispute between any of the sides, the given candidate country and the Member State should try to solve the dispute on a bilateral basis. As usual, this principal was ascertained at the beginning of the Serbian EU integration process as well.

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I NTERVIEW

Strong Support to Public and Private Sector We plan to catalyse EUR 3.5 bn investments in the Western Balkans over the next 3 years DUBRAVKA NÈGRE Head of the Western Balkan Regional Office of the European Investment Bank (EIB)

cedures which are based on the EU acquis helps them to implement the EU values through the projects we develop together.

What are the major landmarks in the EIB engagement in the Balkans as the EU institution?

EIB decided to open the Regional Office for the Western Balkans in 2010. Serbia, the largest country in the region in term of size, population and economic activity was and still is the largest country of our activities. For the time being the EIB is represented in the whole region through our Regional Office in Belgrade, but nonetheless in view of the Economic Resilience Initiative we plan to step up our presence, which will help us to increase visibility and accessibility across countries of the Western Balkans.

As the financial arm of the EU, what is the role of the EIB in strengthening EU values among the countries seeking to become new member states?

— EIB, as the EU Bank, aims to facilitate integration of the accession countries into the EU. It does so, by supporting infrastructure upgrade and private sector development, and often by blending grants with our already very favourable financing conditions. As an EU institutions, the principles, regulations and and acquis of the EU are imbedded into our procedures, in particular when it comes to transparency, environmental protection, public procurement rules, promoting competition and efficiency, which are all strong EU values. We implement our procedures in all the projects we finance.

All the countries of the Western Balkans including Serbia aspire to become the member of the EU. Adhering to EIB guidelines and pro-

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— EIB is the largest lender to the Western Balkan economies with close to EUR 9 billion of the approved financing in the last 15 years. We have supported and plan to continue to support in the future infrastructure development across many sectors ranging from transport, energy, health, education, research and development, and municipal infrastructure including environmental protection. Infrastructure development can raise countries’ productivity, foster economic growth and consequently improve living standards of people.

The accessibility and quality of infrastructure determines countries’ attractiveness to foreign investors.

The role of the EIB Group is also to facilitate access to finance for

SUPPORTING ACCESS TO FINANCE FOR SMES AND MIDCAPS IS A TOP PRIORITY FOR THE EIB GROUP SMEs at better financial conditions and channel increased long term funding through our partnership with the banking sector. SMEs are important drivers of growth, employment and innovation in the Western Balkans, and employ over 70% of the active working population in the region.

We are cooperating with the largest banking groups in the countries of the region, including among others, Credit Agricole, Erste Bank, Intesa San Paolo, ProCredit Bank, Raiffeisen, Société

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Générale, Unicredit as well as developments banks and development funds in FYROM, Montenegro, and in Serbia, the National Bank which channels EIB’s APEX loan schemes.

In which areas EIB contribution to Serbian progress was the most significant in the past 15 years?

— The biggest EIB project in the public sector is in the transport sector, notably EIB’s contribution to the construction of a Pan European Corridor X, on E-75 and E-80 motorway sections for which Finance Contracts in the amount of EUR 579 million have been signed with the Republic of Serbia.

The largest project in the private sector is EIB contribution of EUR 500 million to the expansion of car plant in Kragujevac, with launch of a new Fiat car production, which is being re-modelled this year.

We are also very proud of our support to EIB’s health sector through the financing of upgrade and reconstruction of the Clinical Centres across Serbia, our support to the education sector where dozens of primary and secondary schools across Serbia have been rehabilitated, modernized and constructed; finalization of the Technology park in Belgrade, Petnica Science camp, Svilajnac Natural Science Museum, rehabilitation of the National Library in Belgrade and the reconstruction of the Jugoslovenska Kinoteka through our municipal loans, through which hundreds of municipal improvements in the area of infrastructure, health and education but also cultural heritage have been ensured.

How the EIBs plans to support the integration process of Serbia and the Western Balkans into the EU in the next 5 years?

— The EIB has launched its Economic Resilience Initiative (ERI) endorsed by the EU Council last

year, to increase its support and help build resilience in the Western Balkans.

The countries in this region are already facing significant economic challenges, including high levels of public debt, not enough economic growth and high levels of unemployment, especially amongst young people. The influx of large numbers of refugees is putting poor infrastructure under additional strain. Existing financial instruments do not adequately meet the region’s requirements.

Nor do they provide financing on sufficiently favourable terms for the critical investments required to stimulate growth and job opportunities and ensure basic public services to both the local and refugee populations.

The ERI is evidence of the EIB’s determination to help meet these challenges and at the same time help accelerate region’s EU accession process. It will focus on raising additional investments to support of sustainable growth, vital infrastructure and social cohesion, including creation of new jobs opportunities. The ERI will support efforts by the public sector including municipalities and public sector entities, but also by providing support to the private sector through additional risk taking capacity and more volume as well as the Concessional lending (combining grants and loans). In addition, the ERI would allow the Bank to accelerate the finalisation of key infrastructure projects and provide additional financial and technical support on the ground where it is needed.

To that end we aim to invest additional EUR 3.5 billion in the next three years in the region, and expect that Serbia will attract some 50% of that investment as the largest and strongest economy in the Western Balkans.

C O RP O R AT E TO URI ST B O ARD O F C I T Y O F H VA R

Place for Real Adventure Hvar, a true magnet for modern nomads, has been joyfully preparing to mark a great jubilee – 150 years of organized tourism on the island For a century and a half, the island of Hvar, the synonym for tourism, has been a top destination which is a well-deserved title considering the island's intriguing beauty, great cultural heritage, and pioneering tourism endavours which started with the establishment of its Hygienic Association in 1868 which also marks the beginning of the era of modern tourism in Europe. Despite changing trends in the last few decades, there is one constant, and that is that Hvar remains to be the haven for daredevils of all kinds, and ideal place for perfect adventure all year round thanks to its mild Mediterranean climate, and over 2,700 sunny hours a year. The island's sporty spirit can be seen in competitions that assemble hundreds of competitors from all over the world, like the last year's 40th International New Year's Regatta for lasers and optimists organized by the Zvir sailing club which gathered almost 200 competitors from 16 nations. Then there is the Hvar Half Marathon, a unique event where the competitors run from Stari Grad to the town of Hvar which is one of the most beautiful, and also one of the most demanding half-marathon tracks in the world. On a hot August day, over 244 marathon runners from 39 countries competed.

Owing to successfully organizing sporting events, Hvar now occupies a special place on the map of sports destinations. The latest example is the European veteran championship Laser Masters 2016, organized by the Zvir sailing club, the town of Hvar, and the Hvar Tourist Board in October. The international sailing association

EurILCA said that the competition was one of the best they had seen so far. Also, after a short recess, Hvar is again hosting the Easter PBZ Regatta right at the beginning of unofficial tourist season.

Hvar has been bestowed with a great honour this year by being chosen to host two qualification runs for the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun

HVAR REMAINS TO BE THE HAVEN FOR DAREDEVILS OF ALL KINDS, AND IDEAL PLACE FOR PERFECT ADVENTURE ALL YEAR ROUND

World Championship (swimrun is a very difficult aquathlon discipline) which will be organized by the town of Hvar and the Hvar Tourist Board in early April. By hosting this event, Hvar has made Croatia one of the few countries that have hosted the championship – apart from Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, and Switzerland. Several hundred competitors, who will compete in the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship, will run and swim 45km while experiencing the most beautiful places in Hvar – the historic town centre, the protected nature's parks that are Pakleni Otoci (the Pakleni Islands) and the Pelegrin peninsula, the ruins of ancient Roman monuments, olive orchards, vineyards and lavender fields.

This is the same route of the recently opened 13 cycling tracks which total length is 500km, and which have been meticulously mapped and posted online which is all a part of an organized and professional approach to cyclotourism. Exploring various hiking trails that coincide with the ancient roads used in old Roman times is a special treat.

Therefore is Hvar, a true magnet for modern nomads, happily preparing for the celebration of the Great Jubilee, moving forward into a new era of its unique tourism story.

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I NTERVIEW

More Investments are Needed in Child Initial Training Serbia significantly lags behind the EU countries when it comes to participation of children 4 to 6 in the early childhood education especially among vulnerable ones. Therefore, there is a need for a policy towards equal access for all children. It is good to know that the Serbian government has concrete plans to increase the number of children enrolled in kindergarten PROF. JAN PEETERS Director of VBJK, Centre for Innovation in the Early Years, at Ghent University Belgium

Professor Jan Peeters, Director of VBJK, the Centre for Innovation in the Early Years at Ghent University Belgium, was recently a keynote speaker at the workshop titled 'Key Dimensions in Development of Quality in PreSchool Education: The Basics of Pre-School Education', which took place in Belgrade. Following the workshop, we are talking to Mr. Peeters about the importance of education in early childhood years.

What characteristics should the professionals working with preschool children possess?

— Being competent to work with preschool children cannot simply be understood as an individual responsibility of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioner. On the individual and team level the following broad competences are needed when working with a diverse group of families and children: practitioners need to have an openness to dialogue with parents, colleagues and children on the basis of reciprocity; they need also to have an engagement towards children from disadvantage background and they need to have the ability to work towards social change. Practitioners and directors need to have the ability to reflect

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critically on the own pedagogical practice and that of the team and the institution and they need to have the ability to create new pedagogical knowledge and practices.

You have been involved with several projects that concern Serbia. What do you think are the biggest challenges in our country in terms of pre-school education?

— Enrollment in ECEC in Serbia is significantly lower than in other EU countries. For year 2012 average participation in 28 EU countries for children from 4 to 6 years was about 94% while in Serbia total participation of children in that age cohorts was about 74%. And the enrolment rates of disadvantaged children and children living in rural areas is much lower than 74%. So there is a need for a policy towards equal assess for all children. But the government has concrete plans

that a balance between theory and innovative pratice is essential for a high quality initial training.

Another strenght is a new quality framework for ECEC that is being developed. This can create in the future a new framework for the initial training and for the continuous professional development.

Another chalenge is the decentralisation of the policy towards ECEC. Not all the local governments have to capacity to develop a policy towards ECEC. Is it possible to have top professionals working with children in a society that allocates rather insignificant funds to this cause?

— It is essential that the govenment invest financially in quality ECEC, if not then it will be the children that are the victimes, because lot's of parents will not be able to pay ECEC on the private market, or

IT IS IMPORTANT TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION AS THE EARLY EDUCATION PLAYS SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN FORMING THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING AT A LATER AGE to increase the number of children enrolled in kindergarten.

The ECEC in Serbia has also strenghts , there is a long tradition of ECEC and also a high level of qualification, compared to some other European countries. But there need to be invested in more child centred approaches in the initial training. There is also to much focus on theory and not enough practice in the initial training.

From recent research we know

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it wimll be the practitioners who will be the victimes because of low wages, or parents who have to pay to much. Or like it is in some countries , all three will be victime of a non investment in ECEC. How important is our approach to pre-school learning for preventing children from droppping out of school at a later stage?

— From a study on the role of quality ECEC in preventing early

school leaving commissioned by the European Commission (2014) we know that the competence that the social competences that children learn in ECEC are the competences that early school leavers are missing. ECEC is the basis for life long learning and the first experiences that young children have towards learning in ECEC are very important for their attitude towards learning at a later age.

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION he European Commission has recommended that Member States ‘reduce inequality at a young age by investing in early childhood education and care (ECEC)’ and ‘revise and strengthen the professional profile of all teaching professions and prepare teachers for social diversity, says Peeters. EC also recommends to the members to deploy special cultural mediators and role models to facilitate the integration of Roma children and children with an immigrant background’ (European Commission 2013, 2.2). Through this important recommendation, says Peeters, the Commission strengthens the broad consensus that already exists among researchers and international organisations (OECD 2006; UNICEF 2008) that the quality of ECEC and ultimately the outcomes for children and families – especially for those with disadvantaged background1 – is dependent on well-educated, experienced and competent staff.

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DE BT O DYS S E Y

Greece Meets Creditors’ Demands but Gets No Relief Alexis Tsipras’s government gets caught in a fight between Germany and the IMF

Makis, a gym instructor, counted himself lucky three years ago to land a job in the public sector. The 28-year-old works as a groundsman at a sports complex in Glyfada, a seaside suburb of Athens. Hired on a temporary contract, he expected to make a smooth transition to a permanent post in local government. But times are changing. Greece’s state audit council, which normally rubber-stamps official decisions, unexpectedly ruled this month that municipal employees should be dismissed when their contracts expire.

“That’s it for me, I’ll have to leave and find a job abroad like everyone else,” Makis says, gesturing towards his colleagues: a phalanx of state employees, from rubbish collectors to computer technicians. They are outside Athens’s city hall, protesting against the audit council’s decision.

More upheaval is on the way. On May 18th parliament approved a new package of reforms demanded by the European Union and the IMF, Greece’s bail-out creditors. Sunday shopping will be extended outside tourist areas, despite objections by small retailers claiming they will be driven out of business by large stores that can afford to hire the extra staff required. “We lobbied the politicians successfully for years to stop this happening, but the game is over,” said Panos, who owns a hardware shop in central Athens.

Passing the measures was supposed to unlock bail-out funds from Greece’s creditors, which the government needs to avoid defaulting on bond payments of around €7bn ($7.9bn) in July. But a long-running squabble between Germany and the IMF has complicated matters.

The fund declined to join Greece’s current bailout, its third, when it was signed in 2015. Now Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, says Germany will not agree to disburse any more bail-out money without the IMF’s participation in the programme—which is needed, he thinks, to counter the softies in the European Commission. Mr Schäuble has the backing of some other euro-zone governments.

But the IMF believes that the Europeans’ projections for the Greek economy are too rosy, and that Greece’s debt will be unsustainable unless it gets further deferments on paying it back. Mr Schäuble is wary of granting such debt relief just months before Germany’s election in September. So despite having met its creditors’

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conditions, Greece is stuck in the middle of their row. A meeting in Brussels on May 22nd failed to resolve the dispute. Officials on all sides are confident a deal will be struck in June.

SYRIZA OFFICIALS ACCEPT THAT VOTERS WILL PUNISH MR TSIPRAS AT THE NEXT ELECTION, DUE IN 2019. THE CONSERVATIVE NEW DEMOCRACY PARTY, LED BY KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, A STAUNCH REFORMIST, HOLDS A DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD OVER SYRIZA IN OPINION POLLS FITFUL PROGRESS

Greece, GDP, % change on a year earlier 2 + 0 2

4

Critics of Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime minister and leader of the left-wing Syriza party, say his government has signed up to another five years of austerity without securing the debt relief promised by creditors in return.

Worse, he is accused of betraying his own voters. Whereas last year’s round of tax increases hit the middle class hardest, the new measures will shrink the incomes of poor Greeks.

Pensions have been cut a dozen times since 2010; another 18% will be lopped off in 2019.

The tax-free allowance on incomes will be slashed in 2020 to bring Greece in line with its euro-zone partners. (More than half of Greeks pay no income tax at all, compared with 8% for the euro zone as a whole.)

When Syriza swept to power in 2015, Mr Tsipras promised to end austerity and restore social benefits cut by previous governments.

Yet his failure to do so has prompted few strikes and street protests, compared with reforms by earlier governments. One reason is that trade unions, which include many Syriza supporters, have been reluctant to defy their fellow leftists.

But after seven years of recession ordinary Greeks seem resigned to getting by on less. “It’s hard to face the fact that your pension’s getting smaller, but what to do?” shrugs Constantina, a retired teacher.

Syriza officials accept that voters will punish Mr Tsipras at the next election, due in 2019.

The conservative New Democracy party, led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a staunch reformist, holds a double-digit lead over Syriza in opinion polls.

Some Syriza members have even suggested that the prime minister should call an early election and enjoy a spell in opposition, stirring up trouble for the conservatives while they struggle to implement tough policies already agreed upon with the EU and IMF. Mr Tsipras’s strategy is not as Machiavellian, say party insiders. With the economy forecast to grow by 1.8% this year and 2.4% in 2018, he is betting that Greece can attract enough investment to make a dent in unemployment, still the highest in the EU at around 23%. If Syriza can win back enough votes to prevent a conservative landslide at the 2019 election, its 42-yearold leader’s future still looks bright.

6 2013

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Source: Economist Intelligence Unit

Economist.com

From The Economist, published under licence.

The original article, in English, can be found on www.economist.com

CO RPO RATE

No-Stress Dream House Owing to a unique approach, buying a Lafarge house is a nice, pleasant experience – from obtaining a permit to cost control

RADE BUČEVAC Marketing and Strategy Director at Lafarge Serbia

Lafarge offers its clients a brand new approach to building a family house which is why we are talking to the company's Marketing and Strategy Director, Rade Bučevac.

What sets Lafarge houses apart from its competitors?

— Lafarge houses are different in terms of the construction concept which entails a comprehensive approach to the goal, which is to have a home. So, we are not selling building materials through houses, but are rather focusing on the needs of our clients, particularly those issues that are the most difficult to resolve like securing the funds for the house, obtaining required documents, and completing the construction in the fastest possible way with minimum stress.

By adopting this approach, house construction transforms from a stressful nightmare into a nice, pleasant experience which should be one of the happiest moments in a person's life.

In partnership with the Societe Generale Bank, people will be able to get special financing terms. Could you elaborate on this?

— What is really important to mention, when we are talking about the concept of the Lafarge

house, is credit support and safety of an investment. Lafarge houses primarily provide security of investment which means that Lafarge, as one of the biggest companies in Serbia that also has the highest business and banking ratings, will support the buyer all the way through. In order to ensure that as many people as possible get a desired home, and in cooperation with the Societe Generale Bank which is one of the market leaders in the number of granted housing loans, we have prepared an offer that is rather unique on our market. The offer entails a favourable housing loan without the need to give another piece of real estate as collateral.

The downpayment is 20% with

Which materials and construction system do you use?

— We use only the top notch materials and construction systems for our Lafarge houses with the guranteed quality. Lafarge houses have a system of double pre-fabricated walls which ensure reliable, efficient and high quality construction method that is relatively new to Serbia, but well-accepted and implemented in the world, especially in Austria where it has been applied for many years now.

What is special about Lafarge houses is how quick they can be built. Thanks to a special technology which enables precision construction and controlled quality in factory environment, now it is possible to move into a new home

BUSINESS PEOPLE AND OUR CITIZENS LIVING ABROAD, WHO WANT SECURITY BUT ARE NOT ABLE TO BE PHYSICALLY PRESENT DURING THE CONSTRUCTION, HAVE EXPRESSED THEIR INTEREST IN LAFARGE HOUSES the 25-year-payment period.

The interest rate is 3.5% plus six-month-EURIBOR.

Apart from 9 different house types, is there a possibility of building a custom-made Lafarge house?

— In addition to these 9 types of houses that we already offer, and that are known for their contemporary architectural design and simple lines, we are currently preparing a new range of family houses. Also, we can provide our clients with completely new, custom-made architectural solutions.

much faster than using any other construction method. In this way, we are eliminating most of the problems that exist in residential construction in Serbia today plus we are helping people to get a new home instead of them having to battle with never-ending construction work.

How does the prices relate to the end result of this sort of investment?

— Lafarge houses are the only concept on our market where buyers are given all the information they need, and where they have a

clear picture about the total construction costs – from obtaining permits and buying materials to construction work and deadlines.

This is the main reason why today, when people build houses, their budgets are exceed by 30%, sometimes even 100%, and this does not include breaking deadlines which is not even considered an expense in our country. If we are talking about Lafarge houses, all of the details are transparent and clear and the set budget is not exceeded.

How did the domicile market react to Lafarge houses and how is the project going to develop in the following period?

— We have received very positive reactions. The sheer number of people who have contacted us and the way in which they speak about the concept of Lafarge houses just confirm the fact that the market has been long-starved for this kind of offer. The thing that had a drastic impact on the approach to construction in our country is the fact that the dilemma „shall we build legally or not“ no longer exists. We have been contacted by many clients from the world of business / company owners who find this concept liberating in a sense that they don't have additional obligations. Also, we have quite a few interested citizens who live abroad, and who want security but are not able to be physically present during the construction.

Also, there is a growing interest among investors who are envisaging building houses in suburban areas and this is where Lafarge is considered a trusted partner in the B2B world.

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CO RPO RATE

A Landmark of Republika Srpska Delta Planet in Banjaluka, a shopping mall with the area of 62,500m2 will be the largest in the Republic Srpska. An exclusive building with a completely new concept in this market will boost the growth of trade and tourist offer of the city

Company Delta Real Estate, member of Belgrade’s Delta Holding, has been known as the leading regional investor in the field of real estate for over a decade. After major projects such as the first Delta City shopping malls, University Complex Bellville in New Belgrade and others, Delta Real Estate is beginning a new major investment cycle, where the first strategic project will be the Banjaluka shopping mall.

The works on the future shopping mall in the capital of the Republic Srpska will begin at the end of June. The value of the investment is 60 million euros. The construction site will be opened at the corner of Olimpijskih pobednika Street and Bulevar srpske vojske. The shopping mall is planned to open in November 2018.

“With excellent cooperation with the relevant institutions, it takes about two and a half months for obtaining all necessary permits for opening the construction site, which illustrates a positive attitude to investors. We are sure that, to mutual pleasure, this project will be completed on time and that we will enable people of Banjaluka to enjoy shopping and entertainment in the pleasant atmosphere of our

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shopping mall”, says „ Katarina Gajić, Delta Real Estate Director of Designing and Construction.

The shopping mall with the area of 62,500m2 will be the largest in the Republic Srpska. Thanks to its size and construction methods in line with the highest world standards will bring the best-known brands

regional economy. An exclusive building with a completely new concept in this market will boost the growth of trade and tourist offer of Banjaluka. Moreover, the construction of over 60,000m2 of business premises will also boost the construction industry in the region of Banjaluka, employ more

WITH THE BEGINNING OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF DELTA PLANET IN BANJALUKA, DELTA REAL ESTATE WILL BE ONE OF THE FEW COMPANIES WHICH SIMULTANEOUSLY FINANCE AND MANAGE THE CONSTRUCTION OF TWO EXTREMELY LARGE BUILDINGS IN TWO COUNTRIES to Banjaluka. Apart from the shops, the mall will also have a 1,500m2 cinema with 5 movie theatres and the most modern technology. The mall will have 1,000 parking spaces, a supermarket and a food court.

Large projects such as Delta Planet in Banjaluka are in many ways significant to the local and

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than 300 people during the construction and after the opening of the mall the Republic Srpska will also have 2,500 new vacancies.

With the beginning of the construction of Delta Planet in Banjaluka, Delta Real Estate will be one of the few companies which simultaneously finance and manage the

TRUST IN YOUNG PEOPLE “Company Delta Holding is known for its trust in young people and for giving them responsible tasks at the very beginning of their career. Accordingly, the coordinator for the construction of Banjaluka shopping mall will be Marko Kecman, who joined Delta Real Estate within the “Young Leaders” program”, Katarina explains.

construction of two extremely large buildings in two countries. Namely, InterContinental in Ljubljana is in the last refurbishment stage as the first 5-star hotel in the capital of Slovenia. The construction of this hotel began in December 2015 and it will welcome its first guests by the end of this summer.

InterContinental Ljubljana will have 168 rooms on 21 floors, a fitness centre, a swimming pool on the 18th floor and a roof-top restaurant led by a famous Michelin star chef, with an exceptional panoramic view of the whole city.

Further plans of Company Delta Real Estate are mostly focused on Belgrade. However, all Belgrade projects are pending because permits by the relevant bodies are being waited for. The most important planned projects are Delta Planet shopping mall, the largest in Belgrade, new Delta Holding business seat as well as InterContinental Hotel Belgrade.

“Because of aggravated working conditions in Serbia, at the beginning of the year Delta Real Estate announced expanding its business into the region and EU member-states. The opening of Banjaluka construction site is only the beginning of realizing those plans”, Katarina Gajić adds.

PEO PLE & EVENT S

18 THE EIB HAS MAY

INVESTED 4.5 BILLION EUROS IN SERBIA

Dubravka Nègre, Head of EIB Regional Representation for the Western Balkans

The European Investment Bank (EIB), Bank of the EU, in the last 15 years in Serbia invested 4,5 billion euros, said the Head of the Regional Representation for the Western Balkans in the EIB Dubravka Nègre. At the reception in Belgrade which was supported by Color Media Communications she said that the EIB in the Western Balkans has invested nine billion euros, with ambition to do more by

Aleksandar Antić, Minister of Mining and Energy, Dragijana Radonjić Petrović, Draginja Đurić, CEO Banca Intesa and Dubravka Nègre

supporting private and public sector development in the future in the countries of the Western Balkans, including Serbia, and thus support their accession process to the EU. EIB operates in 150 countries that are not EU members. The reception in Belgrade was attended by representatives of the Serbian government, public enterprises, many entrepreneurs, representatives of the financial sector and the members of diplomatic corps.

Prof.Dušan Vujović,Ph.D. Minister of Finance in the Government of Serbia and Sebastian Sosa, Head of IMF withe spouse

20 NORWAY MAY

CONSITUTION DAY

The Constitution Day of Kingdom of Norway was celebrated by the Embassy of Kingdom of Norway and the Norwegian Society in Serbia. The Constitution Day was celebrated at Kalemegdan and it included a promenade, a music programme and the children’s programme, ending with a lunch. The celebration was attended by many prominent guests from political and cultural life of Serbia and the members of diplomatic community.

Ružica Đinđić, Manager of the Foundation „Dr. Zoran Đinđić“, Dragan Šutanovac and H.E.Axel Dittmann, ambassador of Germany

H.E. Yoo Dae Jong, ambassador of Republic of Korea and H.E. Arne Sannes BJØRNSTAD, ambassador of Norway

The scholarship winners

23 ZORAN ĐINĐIĆ MAY

SCHOLARSHIP

The 14th generation of the Zoran Đinđić Foundation got their scholarships, in cooperation wthe the German students exchange organisation DAAD. The scholarships were given in the German Ambassador residence and among the organisers were H E Axel Dittmann, Minister of Education Mladen Šarčević and the Director of Serbian Chamber of Commerce Marko Čadež, and the members of the German Board for Eastern Europe Economy.

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23 UNICEF CONFERENCE ON MAY

CHILD EDUCATION

In Hotel Hyatt in Belgrade, UNICEF, in cooperation with Swiss Agency for Development and Serbian Ministry of Education, organised a conference on child education. The key dimensions of development of quality in the pre-school education, the basics of programme for pre-school education were the main topics, and Jan Peeters, from University of Gent, Belgium, organised a workshop and presented a speech covering the international practice in the field.

H.E.Ilir BOÇKA, Ambassador of Albania to Serbia,H.E.Gordan Markotić, Croatian ambassador and his wife and H.E. Radko Vlaykov, Bulgarian ambassador

Jan Peeters, from University of Gent, Belgium

H.E. Radko Vlaykov and Goran Vesić, Belgrade City Manager

23 CELEBRATION OF ST CYRIL MAY

Branislav Ranđelović, director of the Institute for Evaluation of Education and Upbringing, Michel Saint-Lot, UNICEF Representative in Serbia, Mladen Šarčević, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, Ursula Laubli, Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Serbia

25 AFRICA DAY MAY

MARKED

Bulgarian Embassy organised couple of events: in front of the monument of the two Slavic enlighteners the wraths were put together with other Slavic embassies and Ministry of Culture of Serbia.

Later that night in National Theatre Bulgarian Ensemble Filip Kutev and Serbian Ensemble Kolo organised a joint performance followed by a cocktail. Before the concert a short film about Cyrillic was screened and H E Radko Vlaykov, Bulgarian ambassador delivered a short speech.

The Palace of Serbia hosted a ceremony to mark the occasion of Africa Day, which was attended by officials of the Government of Serbia and representatives of the diplomatic corps and cultural and public life. The Serbian Government recently passed a

Ivica Dačić , H.E.Tajouri Sh. Tajouri, Ambassador of Libya, the doyen of African group, Maja Gojković, President of the Assembly of Serbia, Zoran Đorđević, Defence Minister. Behind: H.E. Mohammed Bougamra, Ambassador of Tunisia, H.E. Abdelhamid Chebchoub, Algerian Ambassador, H.E José João Manuela , Ambassador of Angola and Almamy Kobélé Keita, chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Guinea

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decision declaring 25th May as the Day of Friendship with the Nations of Africa. “As the most prominent Yugoslav successor state when it comes to policies regarding Africa, Serbia has maintained friendly relations for decades” – said Dačić.

Serbian government representatives with ambassadors of African countries

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25 GRAND PRIX OF MAY

THE FRENCHSERBIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce (CCFS) has held the sixth consecutive edition of its now traditional Gala Evening for members, partners and friends, this time on the topic of talent, with guests enjoying a programme of young performing artists.

This occasion also saw the Chamber present its annual Grand Prix awards in three categories.The CCFS Awards were presented to: Societe Generale Bank, for its strategic cooperation with ICT Hub; Fly Fly Travel,

for its CSR activities, and Dr Radan Džodić Ph.D., for his special contribution to the development of bilateral cooperation. “France nurtures talents in different areas, and also in those companies that operate in Serbia,” said CCFS President Dragoljub Damljanović.

H.E. Christine Moro, French Ambassador to Serbia, noted that the level of economic exchange between France and Serbia has increased by 12 per cent since the beginning of 2017.

Sanja Ivanić, Director of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Prof.dr Radan Džodić, Director of the Institute for Oncology and Radiology and Dragoljub Damljanović, President of the Executive Board of CCFS

25 AHK SRBIJA MAY

- MEMBERS DINNER

Traditional AHK Members Dinner brought together hundred members of the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce at the Crowne Plaza, with the speech the guest of honour, Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Administration Ana Brnabić, covering the topic of public administration reform and plans for 2017. After the welcoming speech Director of AHK Serbia Martin Knapp and the opening statement of the President of AHK Serbia Dr. Ronald Seeliger, Minister Brnabić pointed out that the aim of the Serbian government is to create an enabling business environment by reducing administrative barriers to business and to establish a mechanism that will have a positive impact on economic growth.

H.E.Branislav Mićunović, ambassador of Montenegro to Serbia and the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism of Montenegro Pavle Radulović

Dubravka Nègre, Head of EIB Regional Representation for the Western Balkans, Belgrade Serbia and Christophe Nègre, Managerial Adviser at European Investment Bank

Martin Knapp, Director of AHK Serbia

Duško Krsmanović – Economic Attaché of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Serbia, Matthias Claivaz, First Secretary, Head of Economic, Trade and Scientific Cooperation Unit, Embassy of Italy in Belgrade and Maria Eva Fernández Pavlović

26 HELLO! TRAVEL MAY

Dr. Ronald Seeliger, President Of The Executive Board Of The German-Serbian Chamber Of Commerce and Ana Brnabić, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government

MONTENEGRO LAUNCH PARTY

At the splendid atmosphere of Montenegrin House in Belgrade, the newest, 3rd issue of Hello! Travel dedicated to Montenegro was presented. The issue was elaborated with the support of NTO Montenegro.

The speeches were delivered by Robert Čoban, Director of the Color Media Communications and Željka Radak, Director of NTO Montenegro. The magazine has 188 pages and it is fully bilingual, since the second language is English. Among the guests were Knez and Sergej Ćetković and Nikšićka pivara and Plantaže supported the event..

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PEO PLE & EVENT S

26 ARGENTINIAN NATIONAL DAY MAY

CELEBRATED

On the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Argentina, the official celebration was held in the Hotel Metropol Palace in Belgrade. The Ambassador of Argentinian Republic H E Ricardo Fernando Fernández and his spouse were excellent hosts, and the celebration was accompanied by typical Argentian “churrasco” and “asado” in many varieties, since Argentina is one of the centres of meat-orientated cuisine in the world.

H.E. Vladimir Chushev, Ambassador of Belarus with his wife and Zoran Đorđević, minister of defence of the Republic of Serbia

H. E. Ricardo Fernando Fernández, Ambassador of Argentinian Republic with his wife and H.E. Denis Keefe, British Ambassador with his wife

30 BELORUSSIAN AMBASSADOR MAY

ENDING HIS TERM

The Ambassador of Belarus, H E Vladimir Chushev organised a farewell party cocktail in Villa Jelena in Belgrade, thus marking the end of his term. The party was organised together with the Honorary Consul of Belarus in Serbia Dragomir Karić, and it included Belarussian fashion show.

30 COMMANDER MAY

CROSS TO RADOJKO BOGOJEVIĆ

Polish Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia H E Tomasz Niegodisz awarded at the ceremony the Commander Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland to the former ambassador of the

in Poland Radojko Bogojević. President of the Poland Andrzej Duda has awarded Bogojević the Commander Cross for outstanding contribution to the development of Polish-Serbian cooperation.

H.E.Tomasz Niegodisz, Polish Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia and Radojko Bogojević, former ambassador of Serbia in Poland

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31 THE TASTES MAY

OF GREECE

The Greek Embassy in Serbia, Super Vero and Enterprise Greece organised a cocktail in the Metropol Palace Hotel entitled “The Tastes of Greece”. The event included the musical programme and the degustation of food and drinks from Greece. This event marked the beginning of promotion of Greek food and beverages in Super Vero hypermarket that lasts from the 1st to 25th June.

Igor Savić, Director of the Australian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce of Belgrade, H.E. Julia Finney, the Australian Ambassador and Dane Kondić, CEO of Air Serbia

01 AUSTRALIAN-SERBIAN CHAMBER OF JUN

Nikos Veropoulos, Owner of Veropoulos H.E. lias Eliadis

02 FESTA DELLA JUN

REPUBBLICA IN BELGRADE

Nadežda Gaće, Editor-in-Chief of Novi Magazine and Draginja Đurić, CEO of Banca Intesa

COMMERCE ESTABLISHED

The Australian Embassy on festive cocktail party marked the official start of Australian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce. H. E. Julia Finney, the Australian Ambassador expressed the support of the Embassy to the newly formed chamber, and she stressed successful cooperation so far and wished success in further work. Among the guests were representatives of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the Development Agency of Serbia, other foreign chambers of commerce, media, investment funds, business associations, the diplomatic corps and organisations. The primary objective of the chamber will be promoting, developing and improving economic cooperation between Serbia and Australia.

The Day of Italian Republic was celebrated in Italy on Friday, and among the guests was newly appointed President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić. Italian Ambassador to Serbia H E Giuseppe Manzo said that "we do not need speeches to show how close the relations between Serbia and Italy

H.E. Philippe Gérald GUEX, Swiss Ambassador, H.E. Giuseppe Manzo, Italian Ambassador to Serbia with spouse

are" since they are shown by the trade between the two countries, thousands of students who learn Italian language in Serbian schools and hundreds of Italian companies in Serbia. Tieste, Florence Rome, Naples and Taormina were 5 Italian cities presented at the party.

Brankica Janković, Gender Equality Ombudswoman, Alma Hado, the wife of the Italian Ambassador, Aja Jung, BDF, and Gordana Predić, State Secretary in Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development

Milija Orlandini, ICE, Mirjana Kojić, Italian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Milica Pajevic, ICE, Suzana Kumer, ICE

Sonja Lapatanov and H.E. Gordan Markotić, Croatian Ambassador to Serbia

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REPO RTAGE

Food Planet 2017 Photo: Radivoj Hadžić

The first festival of national cuisines "Food Planet” was organized during April and May in Novi Sad by companies Color Media Communications and Nina Media. Citizens of Novi Sad and many tourists had an exclusive opportunity to taste traditional cuisine of 26 countries and more than 5,000 meals. Food planet festival hosted distinguished guests from several embassies such as Consul General of Montenegro in Serbia, Miodrag Kankaraš, Ambassador of Mexico, H. E. Marco Antonio García Blanco, H.E. Ambassador of Croatia, Gordan Markotić, Indonesian ambassador, H.E. Harry Richard James Kandou, Matthias Claivaz, First Secretary at the Italian Embassy, Carmine Tarallo, President of the Italian Cultural Centre in Subotica and Honorary vice Consul of Italy in Vojvodina, Enrique Camacho García, director of Instituto Cervantes, Dutch ambassador, H.E. Henk van den Dool, Ambassador of Slovenia H.E. Vladimir Gasparič, Iva Kruleva, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Bulgaria, Ambassador of Ukraine H.E. Oleksandr Alexandrovich, Sofia Lazaridou, head of Greek national tourist organization, Chargé d'affaires, Nick Ady Arman, Embassy of Malaysia, Ambassador of Romania, H.E. Oana Cristina Popa, Ambassador of Israel H.E. Alona Fisher Kamm and Ambassador of USA, H.E. Kyle Scott. In addition to the exceptional dishes that were prepared by chefs and ambassadors of many embassies and restaurants from Novi Sad and Belgrade, the audience enjoyed in a variety of exotic performances, music from many countries and folk dance. The sponsors of "Food planet" festival were companies Nectar, Miele, Heineken and City of Novi Sad. Additionally, during the Food Planet 2017, some other activities were organized, such as: „The Pet Day“, “The International Day of Missing Children” which was marked together with the “Foundation Tijana Juric”, Second Inter-municipal "Olympics" organized by the nursery school "Happy Childhood and the charity activity that was organized in order to collect donations for the treatment of the sick girl Teodora Vranješević.

Food Planet 2017 - Festival of national cuisines is another very successful event organized by Color Media Communications and Nina Media after „Winter Fest“ and „Festival of Love" at Trg slobode in the center of Novi Sad.

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H.E. Alona Fisher Kamm, Israeli Ambassador

H.E. Gordan Markotić, Croatian Ambassador

H.E. Harry Richard James Kandou, Indonesian Ambassador

H.E. Henk van den Dool, Dutch Ambassador

Nick Ady Arman, Chargé d'affaires, Embassy of Malaysia

H.E. Kyle Scott, US Ambassador

H.E. Vladimir Gasparič, Ambassador of Slovenia

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Carmine Tarallo, President of the Italian Cultural Centre in Subotica and Honorary vice Consul of Italy in Vojvodina

Miodrag Kankaraš, Consul General of Montenegro in Serbia

H.E. Oana Cristina Popa, Ambassador of Romania

Iva Kruleva, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Bulgaria

H.E. Oleksandr Alexandrovich, Ambassador of Ukraine

Sofia Lazaridou, head of Greek national tourist organization

Matthias Claivaz, First Secretary at the Italian Embassy

Enrique Camacho García, director of Instituto Cervantes

H.E. Marco Antonio García Blanco, Ambassador of Mexico

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B USINESS NEWS Banca Intesa

Ambassy of India

UNVEILING OF INDIA LIBRARY

LEADING POSITION IN E-COMMERCE MARKET Serbian citizens performed more than 650,000 online transactions in 2016 using Banca Intesa e-commerce services, and merchants recorded more than RSD 3.5 billion of turnover. Growth in the number of transactions by 66% and turnover by 53% compared to 2015 confirmed Banca Intesa’s leading position in Serbian e-commerce market.“ In 2017, we expect more than a million transactions and turnover growth of more than RSD 4.5 billion. Moreover, it is our plan to include DinaCard card in our e-commerce service, as an addition to Mastercard, Maestro, Visa, and American Express payment cards,” said Darko Popović, member of Banca Intesa Executive Board

and Head of Retail Division. In addition to high level of security, Banca Intesa also made e-commerce simpler and more efficient to use. Airline tickets have the biggest share in Banca Intesa e-commerce transactions, followed by tickets for culture events, house appliances and books, clothes and footwear, cosmetic products, and mobile telecommunication services.

Optimum Prime

INTERPACK 2017 PACKAGING FAIR

Over 170,000 people visited the Packaging Fair this year, and more than 2,800 exhibitors showcased their novelties and services. Managing renewable resources with software, latest trends in business optimization, digitalization in recycling and optimization, and reducing food waste with the help of packaging were just some of the novelties that were presented at the Interpack Fair which took place in Dusseldorf in May. With its pres-

entations of the best practice cases and numerous seminars, the World Packaging Organization focused on the latest optimization trends. Many panel discussions and professional gatherings also took place at the fair, with the dominant topic being the latest packaging solutions and developments in renewable resources. Side by side to the global leaders in this industry, the Serbian company Optimum Prime was also one of the very few privileged companies to participate in this biggest global packaging industry event. Optimum Prime presented software for optimization of packaging and packaging units based on statistical analyses of over 40 safety-related inputs. The software can be used by anyone – from online vendors to large corporations.

Portonovi Marine

UNIQUE LUXURY RESORT PRESENTED IN BELGRADE A unique luxury resort in Montenegro, Portonovi was presented to the members of SPK "Privrednik" and representatives of business, on 11 May in Belgrade. At the cocktail presentation, with the music of Lena Kovačević the guests had the opportunity to learn more about the project and the investment opportunities it offers. Portonovi The project, worth € 650 million, the size of 26 hectares, which will have 275 residences, ranging from spacious luxury houses and apartments in the heart of a Mediterranean village, the elegant villas with gardens, to classy penthouse suites with infinity pools overlooking the Portonovi Marino. Capacity Portonovi Marine has 238 berths for yachts and super yachts. This will be one of the

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most naturally protected marinas in the region, which provides excellent access to the Adriatic and Dalmatian islands on a day of sailing. Within Portonovi resort there will be located the first One & Only hotel in Europe, with 140 rooms and branded villas.

When completed the hotel will offer world-renowned Espace Chenot Health Wellness Spa. For more information about the project, visit www.portonovi.com.

H.E. Mrs. Narinder Chauhan, Ambassador of India to the Republic of Serbia officially dedicated the first library of India’s cultural history to the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, on 23rd May, 2017. On this occasion, From Nalanda to Hilandar, a book published by Faculty of Philology and Matica Srpska, was presented. The book spearheaded by Prof. Aleksandar Petrović represents description of the first library of Indian culture in Serbia and short introduction in the comprehension of century-old interrelatedness of Serbia and India. Ambassador in her inaugural remarks referred to the development of relations between India and Serbia, emphasizing India's traditional openness to Serbia, along with the existing possibilities for the development of cooperation, particularly in the field of Indian culture, yoga and science. The students of the Faculty presented a very captivating and intellectually stimulating project on the translation of Mahabharat (Sanskrit) into Serbia.

British International School (BIS)

BIS - LEADING THE WAY

In this the 20th anniversary of the British International School (BIS) in Belgrade, we are proud of the exciting learning culture that has been developed here BIS prides itself on the quality of teaching that takes place in the school. Following the British curriculum, students from ages 4 to 18 can learn to the best of their ability. Whether they are learning their first few words or taking A Levels to get into university, our highly-qualified teachers focus on the needs of each student. With formal, externally marked examinations at the end of Primary School (Year 6), in Year 9, and the IGCSEs and A Levels, our results demonstrate that our students are capable of achieving high scores equivalent to the best in the UK. We are proud to say that all students leaving BIS enter universities of their choice.

However, at BIS we also focus on other areas of student’s development. From taking them to museums when they are 5, through to taking them mountaineering when they are 18, there are many opportunities for students to take part in other extracurricular events, both during and after school hours. With regular visitors to our weekly assemblies from embassies, at BIS students get a feel of the world beyond. Students themselves regularly take part in assemblies, thus developing their own self-esteem and abilities to perform within and to a group. With a family-feel to the school, students are more than welcoming to new students. Come along and see why so many students from all over the world enjoy the education on offer at BIS.

The municipality of Novi Beograd

Neregelia

FIRST TO INTRODUCE THE MODERN SOFTWARE

EXPANDING TO LOGISTICS SECTOR

Novi Beograd today became the first municipality in Serbia where the payment of administrative fees is possible by payment cards. Thanks to the developed software solution, citizens will pay their fees and administrative fees, and will be able to perform all actions in its entirety simply and quickly at one counter. "We are the first municipality in the country to adopt a system of paying taxes with credit cards, which will significantly facilitate and accelerate this type of service." said the Mayor of New Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić. This project is the result of cooperation between the municipality of Novi Beograd, the company Avantech and Vojvođanska Banka. "Vojvođjanska banka is one of the pioneers in the introduction of modern software systems that facilitate the operations and transactions of our clients." said Milorad Nikić, Director of Operational functions of Vojvođanska Banka.

Neregelia Company, which is a leader in the distribution market of Montenegro, celebrates 20 years in business. The largest distribution company in the country, which has 26 principals and an annual turnover of 62 million euros in the year of jubilee plans to expand to the logistics sector, in cooperation with Montenomaks C & L. Neregelia distributes products of leading international companies in the consumer goods and pharmaceutical businesses, such as Procter & Gamble, Mars, Philip Morris, Mondelez, SC Johnson, Sebapharma, Neoplanta, etc. "Neregelia started its journey 20 years ago with only 4 employees. Today, the company employs nearly 200 people,

and the value of the assets is estimated at around 20 million euros. We continue to expand our business areas and this year we are planning a strategic partnership with Montenomaks, which at this stage includes the exchange of knowledge and expansion of capacity" said the executive director of Ljilja Pižurica, who has led the company since 2008.

Coca-Cola

SUPPORT FOR 1000 YOUNG PEOPLE IN SERBIA

Heineken Serbia

ZAJEČARSKO BEER WITH OUR OLYMPIANS ON THE WAY TO TOKYO 2020 Božidar Maljković, President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia and Alexandros Daniilidis, CEO of Heineken Serbia, on behalf of the brand Zaječarsko pivo, signed an agreement on further cooperation in the Olympic cycle TOKYO 2020. "Congratulations to Mr. Maljkovic and the newly elected members of the Olympic Committee of Serbia. We are proud to be a partner with the Olympic Committee of Serbia, which lasted for eight years and we are happy for the continuation of cooperation in the next four years."- said Alexandros Daniilidis. "We are very proud that our brand Zaječarsko beer, with the support of the citizens of Serbia, last year donated valuable resources for clubs who needed help." he added. President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, Božidar Maljković, expressed his appreciation for the continued cooperation and support to the National Olympic team. "It is a great pleasure to have such a partner"- said Maljković.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the National Employment Agency and NALED, Coca-Cola HBC Serbia launches national programmme Coca-Cola youth support, within which 1,000 young people out of work will get a chance to improve their personal and business skills, the key to successful employment. This national programme is intended for unem-

ployed young people aged between 18 and 30 and with a minimum of secondary education, and who do not participate in other formal training programs. Workshops will be held in May and June in Ćuprija, Kraljevo, Šid, Smederevska Palanka and Aleksinac, and in September and October in Kovin, Prijepolje, Novi Pazar, Prokuplje and Leskovac. Interested candidates can apply for participation in the programme on the site www.coca-colapodrskamladima.com and candidates need to fill in a simple form, and on the website they can get acquainted with all the details of the programme, speakers and schedule of workshops in the cities.

Telenor

THE STATE-OF-THE-ART 4G+ TELENOR NETWORK Company Telenor has rolled-out the state-of-the-art 4G+ network in seven towns of Serbia. Up to two and a half times faster internet, even better quality signal and instant loading are the advantages of the new technology available to citizens of Serbia in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac, Subotica, Zrenjanin and Pančevo. “Over one half of mobile internet in Serbia goes through Telenor network, while on the annual level, the growth in internet use has doubled. That is why we have additionally invested in the latest 4G+ technology, which is now available to users in the largest towns of Serbia. The digitalisation of Serbia is our priority and we

are building a network for the future, which will continue to support even the most advanced requests of our customers”, said Ingeborg Øfsthus, CEO of Telenor Serbia. The largest amount of data is used by applications such as YouTube and Facebook. On average, Telenor customers use 300 gigabytes in one day for these applications, for contents rich in video and photos.

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B USINESS NEWS MK Commerce

LARGEST EXPORTER OF AGRICULTURE IN SERBIA

According to jury of Novi Sad Fair of Agriculture, MK Commerce, a member of MK Group, has been declared the largest exporter of grains and oilseeds. In 2016, the exports of Serbian agriculture increased by 16.2 percent compared to 2015, while exporting of the company MK Commerce represents a quarter of total exports of agricultural and food products. "This wealth of experience we transmit to processing of more than 40,000 ha of land in Serbia and Ukraine, and in addition, the company MK Group has reliable and world-renowned partners such as the companies Cargill, Glencore, Nidera and others. In addition to the capacity of the silo for sugar which is 300,000 tonnes, MK Commerce has a storage capacity of 500.000t which are arranged on almost every 14 km around Vojvodina." said Nemanja Vuković, director of MK Commerce. In the framework of the Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad, the prize for the biggest export of flour was won by the company Žito Bačka which also operates within MK Group system.

ICC Austria & Law office of Tomislav Šunjka

MASTER CLASS SEMINAR IN VIENNA ICC Austria in cooperation with the Law office of Tomislav Šunjka is organizing a Master Class seminar in Vienna on 28.06.2017. Serbian business environment will be presented from a different perspective and participants will learn how to implement legal provisions in real business life. Seminar covers criminal and civil liability of managers and pragmatic solutions in relation to shareholders, authorities, accountants, auditors, employees, lawyers etc.

Criminal offences connected with business and criminal liability of companies will also be highlighted as well as tools which a company, as victim of fraud and corruption, can use to trace and recover its corrupt asset. Participants will learn how and why it

is important to perform Anti-corruption due diligence as part of due diligence process of Serbian entities. Serbian investment regulation and transfer of profits will round the seminar. Details on how to participate can be found on the ICC Austria website (www.icc-austria.org) and on the website of the Law office of Tomislav Šunjka (www. sunjkalawoffice.com.

13th of July Plantaže Winery

HISTORICAL SUCCESS IN LONDON

Eko Serbia

PARTNER OF SERBIAN FOOTBALL TEAM At the most prestigious wine evaluation in the world, Decanter World Wine Awards DWWA 2017, held in London, 13th of July Plantaže Winery 13 recorded a historic success by winning the gold medal for its premium wine Old Cellar (Stari Podrum) Cabernet Sauvignon 2012. Decanter competition this year evaluated more than 17,200

wines from all over the world, by a panel of judges from the 219 members where 65 of them held the title Master of wine. Applicable criteria are very strict, so the gold medals won the wines evaluated with over 95 points.

The evaluation was chaired by the famous Gerard Basset MW and MS - Former Best Sommelier of Europe and the world. Another five wines from the portfolio of Plantaže have won various medals at this competition: silver medal went to the wine Vranac Reserve 2011, while the bronze medal went to wines Vladika 2013, Pro Anima pinot blanc 2015, Chardonnay Barrique 2013 and Medun late harvest 2011.

Air Serbia

NEW FLIGHTS TO VENICE EKO Serbia and the Serbian Football Association (FSS) have signed a Cooperation Agreement, making EKO Serbia an official sponsor of the Football Association of Serbia and EKO petrol stations official FSS stations. "EKO Serbia has invested in sport for years and supports the Serbian team. We decided that this year we should support the Football Association of Serbia and make a contribution to strengthening and development of football in Serbia, but also to support the team from which we expect good news, to be qualified for the World Cup 2018”, said Vuk Radović, Managing Director of EKO Serbia. Users of EKO Smile Club loyalty card will soon be able to choose from the list of gifts with the emblem of FSS. The Secretary General of the Football Association of Serbia, Jovan Šurbatović said: "Business Energy of EKO SERBIA will definitely be our motor fuel on the way to World Cup in Russia, but also in all the activities of the Union and the functioning of national teams."

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Air Serbia launched a non-stop service between Belgrade and Venice, connecting the two cities four times a week.

The inaugural flight, JU560, landed at Marco Polo Airport in Venice at 8:35 am, where it was officially welcomed by a water-cannon salute and a delegation led by Monica Scarpa, Chief Executive Officer of SAVE Group which manages the Italian airport. On the flight was a VIP group headed by Zorana Mihajlović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure; Giuseppe Manzo, Ambassador of Italy to Serbia, and senior representatives from Air Serbia led by Dane Kondić, Chief Executive Officer. The special inaugural flight was operated on the Airbus A319

(YU-APJ) aircraft named in honour of Dejan Stanković, the renowned Serbian footballer who resides in Italy. Return tickets on the Belgrade-Venice flight start from €134 inclusive of all taxes and charges. There are an estimated 70,000 people of Serbian ethnicity living in the catchment area of Marco Polo Airport who will benefit from the new air bridge between Venice and Belgrade.

BELMAX CENTER

REPO RTAGE

SOPHIA LOREN CHRISTENS THE LATEST MSC SHIP

The celebrated film screen icon, Sophia Loren elegantly stepped onto the platform, holding the ship’s captain by his hand. After a short speech in which she touched upon the fact that she christened 12 other MSC ships, she cut the ribbon with a champagne bottle which then hit the new MSC Meraviglia ship.

This is the 13th cruiser under the flagship of the Italian company MSC which was built in 26 months. A total of 35,000 tonnes of steel and 9,000 tonnes of electronics were built into the ship which is 315 metres long, has 9 decks and can take up to 5,700 passengers.

In addition to numerous technical innovations, the ship also has the longest LED screen in the world which is positioned on top of the Promenade, on the deck no. 6. The passengers of this ship, which was officially launched in the French harbour of Le Havre on 3rd June, will be entertained by the artists from the celebrated Cirque du Soleil all summer.

Sophia Loren is the godmother to all 13 MSC’s cruisers since this company expanded into the passenger transport in 2003 after being in the container shipping business.

Meraviglia’s captain, Gianluigi Aponte is also MSC’s founder. The company was established

in 1970, and today this is the second biggest maritime transport company in the world, after Maersk, and the 4th biggest cruise company. In Europe, the company’s is the leader in its business segment. The Aponte family is still the proprietor of MSC Group.

Le Havre was chosen as the location for the christening of the new MSC ship because this French harbour, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, is celebrating its 500th anniversary this year. Just outside the town, there is the famous Omaha beach which was the starting place for the legendary Battle for Normandy in 1944. Two days before the ship’s launch, the new French President, Emmanuel Macron came to see it. On the occasion, Gianluigi Aponte promised the president that the next ten ships, that MSC planned to build in the next ten years, would be built in France which is an investment worth 9 billion EUR. The MSC Meraviglia will cruise the Mediterranean this summer with stops in Genoa, Naples, Mesina, Valetta, Barcelona and Marseille. Passengers from Serbia and Montenegro can book their place on this or any of the other MSC ships via the Allegra travel agency - www.allegrakrstarenja.com.

THE BIGGEST FAIR OF CHINESE MANUFACTURERS IN BELGRADE Over 60 manufacturers from the most developed province in China presented their products in Serbia

The 2017 Zhejiang Export Fair took place for the very first time in Serbia, in May. It assembled over 60 manufacturers and factories from Zhejiang, the most developed province in China, at the Belmax Center in Belgrade.

The Belmax Center provided support to the Fair with the view of gathering the best manufacturers and retailers under one roof which would attract many shoppers with the quality of their products and services, and especially with their affordable prices. This is the first time that a Chinese province was both the host and the initiator of such cooperation. The fair was organized by Zhejiang Broad International Convention & Exhibition Co., Ltd with the Belmax Center from Belgrade being one of the Fair’s sponsors.

“This Fair is a proof that, with a little bit of effort on both sides, we can establish direct communication channels between companies from China and Serbia. The Balkan market is mainly comprised of small and medium enterprises which need different cooperation conditions for growth and success, and this event is the right step in that direction”, said the founder of the Belmax Center, Reagon Zhou.

At the Fair, Serbian companies were given an opportunity to see the latest products the field of construction and infrastructure materials, furniture, home appliances, decorative elements, lighting, machinery and equipment. Founded in 2001, Zhejiang Broad International Convention & Exhibition Co., Ltd (BCE) is a state-run company that organizes the most reputable international gatherings, exhibitions and fairs, under the auspices of the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Since the Fair was also supported by the People’s Republic of China’s Embassy in Belgrade, the Serbian Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Serbian companies were given a unique opportunity to establish international cooperation with successful Chinese manufacturers and thus advance their businesses. The Belmax Center is here to continue supporting them in the implementation of that cooperation after the Fair too.

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T WIN P E A KS : T H E N E X T CH A P T E R

David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” is Back After 26 Years The return of one of the boldest experiments in television

It has been over a quarter of a century since the twisted world of “Twin Peaks” was first seen. Part surrealist murder mystery, part small-town soap opera, there had never been anything like it on network television. With a languid pace and meandering plotline, it was challenging viewing that was thought not to appeal to audiences back then. Yet it was one of the most popular series of 1990.

In the years since, shows from “The X-Files” and “True Detective” to “Stranger Things” have tipped a cap to “Twin Peaks” both for daring and vision. So expectations for the third season of “Twin Peaks”, which began on Showtime on May 21st, have been high. The show’s creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, are back, and so is much of the original cast. The second season ended with a cliffhanger, as Laura Palmer, the murdered prom queen played by Sheryl Lee, told Dale Cooper, an FBI agent, (Kyle MacLachlan, pictured): “I’ll see you again in 25 years.”

That same scene opens the new drama, but otherwise the world of “Twin Peaks” has moved on. The first iteration revolved around the mystery of who killed Laura. Now the drama rests on whether Cooper, trapped in the Red Room, can break free.

The structure and range of the new “Twin Peaks” is more ambitious. Set in various American cities and in the town of Twin Peaks on the Pacific north-west coast, the action unspools across multiple narratives.

In New York a young man has been hired by an anonymous billionaire to watch a spooky glass box, to “see if anything appears”. When a librarian is murdered in South Dakota, police find her dismembered head has been placed onto a man’s marbled and bloated

corpse. Meanwhile, in Twin Peaks, the Log Lady calls Deputy Chief Hawk with an urgent message: he must find something that is missing. In the netherworld that is the Red Room Cooper has an encounter with a talking tree. It is not at all clear how these unconnected scenes fit together.

MR LYNCH IS FASCINATED

BY THE DUALITY OF HUMAN NATURE. PEOPLE, HE THINKS, HAVE A LIGHT AND A DARK SIDE, A CALM EXTERIOR MASKING A MURKY INNER WORLD

With a roster of more than 200 characters, audiences are likely to find “Twin Peaks” bewildering at first. Familiar themes soon surface, however. Mr Lynch is fascinated by the duality of human nature. People, he thinks, have a light and a dark side, a calm exterior masking a murky inner world. Agent Cooper, a coffee-loving Eagle Scout, has been replaced by a murderous doppelganger in a leather jacket with long, lank hair reminiscent of Bob, Laura’s killer. Twin Peaks is a town imbued with a neighbourly American wholesomeness, yet teenagers go missing and evil spirits lurk in the woods close by.

When it first aired, in 1990, “Twin Peaks” gained a whopping “33 share”, meaning that a third of American televisions then on were tuned in to the show. When it was cancelled a year later, its share had fallen to 9%—viewers dropped off when executives at ABC, the network, insisted that the identity of the killer should be revealed. For the revival, Mr Lynch hopes to avoid such concessions. He directs all 18 episodes, which bodes well for those who enjoy his dark, idiosyncratic ideas. It may not be easy viewing, but “Twin Peaks” remains one of boldest experiments on television.

From The Economist, published under licence.

The original article, in English, can be found on www.economist.com

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I NTERVIEW

We Live and Love Culture in the Same Way When I came to Serbia three years ago, what took me by surprise the most was how much your lifestyle resembles the Mediterranean one. You are like Spain a lot in this respect, and there is a great match in terms of culture that stems from this resemblance ENRIQUE CAMACHO Director of the Cervantes Institute in Belgrade

Cultural institutions in Serbia have been incredibly receptive to the cooperation with the Cervantes Institute, and our cultural activities have been well received by the people – says Mr. Enrique Camacho, Director of the Cervantes Institute in Belgrade.

Belgrade has joined Madrid and several other cities around the world in public readings of the adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. What Don Quixote symbolizes to you today, and how do people around the world perceive and understand him?

— The public readings of Don Quijote are taking place for the second ocacions. The rationale behind it is to direct attention to this masterpiece of world literature and the first modern novel of the European literature. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, as the main characters in the novel Don Quixote, are universal heros that are fighting for universal values which have sustained themselves with success for centuries now. It is interesting to note that the two of them change their roles in the novel. Don Quixote would occasionally assume the role of Sancho Panza and vice versa. In doing so, we see the wisdom and craziness, realism and idealism constantly being intertwined.

Regardless of their differences, they continue to fight together for freedom and justice, and stand firm against injustice in the society that they were destined to experience.

It is important to note that the novel talks about life not being strictly black and white, but rather having many nuances of grey.

Writer and academic, Martin de Riquer famously said that he congratulated everyone who hadn't read Don Quixote as yet, because they „still have that satisfaction of discovering it“. I do hope that your readers will have the same satisfaction.

How much is the distinctiveness of the Spanish culture intervowen with the cultural life in Serbia, and how do they resonate with each other?

— When I came to Serbia three

and family, and are very interested in culture. You resemble Spain a lot in this respect, and there is a great match in terms of culture that stems from this resemblance.

Our cooperation with the Guitar Art Festival, the Dance Festival, the Jazz Festival. We would also thank to the editorials Laguna, Dereta, Arhipelag, Modesty stripovi and Štrik knjiga. FEST, the Archeological Film Festival, the Magnificient 7 Festival and numerous others has been truly outstanding.

The diva of the Spanish film, Ana Belen was recently given the Golden Stamp award in Bel-

IN TALKING TO PARENTS AND CHILDREN, WE HAVE REALIZED THAT THERE WAS A GREAT INTEREST IN LEARNING THE SPANISH LANGUAGE WHICH HAS TO BE TAUGHT BOTH IN PRIMARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS years ago, what took me by surprise the most was how much your lifestyle resembles the Mediterranean one. People are very warm, they express their emotions effortlessly and communicate easily. They also like to go out and spend time outdoors, they nurture friendships

grade. You have also sent thank you notes to all cultural institutions in Serbia for their contribution to promotion of the Spanish audio-visual art in Serbia. Which institutions in Serbia do you cooperate the best with?

— At the closing ceremony of a

MAGIC OF COMICS FOR THE YOUNGSTERS Thanks to you we have a national competition for the best short film in Spanish language filmed with a mobile phone called 'Cervantes Showcases...'. Is the competition going to continue in the future too?

— Three years ago, we launched the comics and short film competition for the pupils from primary and high schools. The primary school pupils can participate in the comics competition because their linguistic capabilities are not sufficiently developed to write stories in Spanish, and comics are the best medium for them to express themselves. High schoolers can participate in the short video competition that they can make with their mobile phones.

Our goal is to have all schools participating next year, both those which teach Spanish and those which do not.

film retrospective dedicated to the Spanish actress, singer and film director, Ana Belen, we wanted to thank those institutions that had contributed to the dissemination of the Spanish language and culture in the Spanish language in audio and visual arts. These are, first and foremost, DEXIM Film, the Belgrade Cultural Centre, the Novi Sad Cultural Centre, the National Museum, the Grad Cultural Centre, Mikser Belgrade, Dom Omladine, the Yugoslav Film Archives and FEST. We should also not foroget the National Theatre in Belgrade, the City of Belgrade Assembly, the Mihajlo Pupin Institute, the Guitar Art Festival, the Jazz Festival and the Dance Festival. Last but not least, we would like to extend our special thanks to the Belgrade Faculty of Philology, the Faculty of Philology and Arts from Kragujevac, and the Novi Sad Faculty of Philology which have been nurturing the Spanish language and culture in the Spanish language.

Spanish is one of the most popular languages in Serbia that is not taught at regular schools. How many people attend your Spanish language courses each year?

— The Cervantes Institute in Belgrade was opened in 2004, and, until the onset of the global economic crisis, the Institute had around 2,000 students per year. Unfortunately, the crisis did result in a drop of the number of students, but, in the last year or so, this number has started to grow again. In the beginning, we held courses for both young people and adults, and, in the last couple of years, we extended our offer to include specialized courses for children, theatre workshops for the youngsters ages 4 to 6 and courses for children ages 6 to 11.

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REPO RTAGE Text: ROBERT ČOBAN

IKEA DEMOCRATIC DESIGN: Space for work and relaxation

IKEA – Story of Simplicity, Persistence and Success In 1943, when Ingvar Kamprad was at the tender age of 17, Europe had been engulfed by World War II and tens of thousands of soldiers were dying in the Battle of Stalingrad, while IKEA was being born in the then neutral Sweden. With a personal net worth of $23 billion, the company’s founder is the world’s 11th wealthiest man, and also one of the humblest, most downto-earth billionaires on the planet

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“Welcome to Älmhult”, we were greeted by the cheerful Angelina from Singapore, who, without further ado, turned and started walking towards one of IKEA’s office buildings. It was seventy four years ago that one of the most impressive brand histories was born in this town in southern Sweden, population 7,000.

Angelina is among several thousand women and men from across the globe that came to Älmhult to work at the headquarters of IKEA, which was founded by the legendary Ingvar Kamprad 74 years ago. A group of 12 Serbian media executives followed Angelina wherever she went. After providing us with the basic information about the history of the company and its founding postulates, we started the fika. Yes, fika is an integral part of an average Swede’s life and it means coffee, tea and cake break.

We did not mind it at all! Some of us enjoyed our fika outdoors, puffing on a cigarette.

I have travelled with many companies all over the world, from Rio to Hurghada, but I have to say that the people from the Serbian

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branch of IKEA managed to put together the best group of people so far, which certainly couldn’t have been easy considering the current situation in the Serbian media. Naturally, we stayed at the IKEA Hotel, which, apart from the expected clean and simple room décor, has an interesting innovation: every floor has its own shared living room, with furniture, a kitchen, a bar, a TV, a beer cooler and everything one might find in a living room. In ‘the living room’ on the third floor, on the last evening of our stay, while munching on veggie chips and drinking beer, we watched the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest and laughed our heads off.

RETURNING TO BELGRADE AFTER 25 YEARS

IKEA, which this summer is planning to open its first retail outlet in Serbia (not counting a brief stint in 1991), is one of the biggest global conglomerates today, with 183,000 employees and 392 retail outlets in 48 countries worldwide.

The company’s total revenue in 2016 amounted to €35 billion, with profit totalling €4.5 billion. IKEA

opened a small shop in New Belgrade, just opposite the Hyatt Hotel, in 1991 – I was told by Vladislav Lalić, the company’s regional director, who worked for IKEA back then too, exactly 27 years ago. The imposing of UN sanctions in May 1992 banned international companies from continuing to operate on the Serbian market, forcing IKEA to close the doors to its experimental shop in the Serbian capital.

Prior to IKEA’s departure, all workers were given redundancy payments worth two years of their salary (as assistance in finding a new job), with the message: “If we ever come back, all of you who worked for us in 1992 will be given priority in hiring”. IKEA’s “threat” has now been carried out… 25 years later, IKEA is coming back to Serbia, and some of its former workers, from 1992, have been given jobs in the company again.

The IKEA Museum has exhibits and photographs that tell the story of how Småland, an underprivileged county of southern Sweden that people left in droves to emigrate to America in the late 19th century, became the home of a fur-

niture company that now supplies the entire world. The simplicity of IKEA’s designs is rooted in this county’s countryside, in its wood and stone, but also in the modesty and purity found in the people living in this part of Scandinavia.

THE LEGACY OF A FURNITURE SALESMAN

Ingvar Kamprad (91) became an entrepreneur as a young boy, selling matches that he got from Stockholm. He later added sales of fish, seed and Christmas decorations to his business portfolio.

In 1943, when Kamprad was at the tender age of 17, Europe had been engulfed by World War II and tens of thousands of soldiers were dying in the Battle of Stalingrad, while IKEA was being born in the then neutral Sweden. With a personal net worth of $23 billion, Ingvar is the world’s 11th wealthiest man, and also one of the humblest, most down-to-earth billionaires on the planet. The IKEA founder has three sons – Peter, Jonas and Mathias – and an adopted daughter, Annika. He lived in Switzerland until 1974, but moved back to Sweden after his wife died and bought a farm near Älmhult. Known as a humble man, he drove a regular Volvo 240 for a very long time, and always flew Economy Class.

Back in the day he was also known for using the same tea bag several times, or for pocketing small salt and sugar sachets from restaurants. There are also rumours about his alcohol consumption at the beginning of his career while he was living in Poland, as well as those connected to Per Engdahl, the leader of the Swedish pro-Nazi movement, Nysvenska Rörelsen (New Swedish Movement) during World War II. In 1976, Kamprad wrote “A Furniture Dealer’s Testament”, in which he outlined the business principles that IKEA still implements to this day. One of the most important principles is the so-called democratic design, which comprises five elements – sustainability, affordability, form, functionality and quality. We heard from the company’s HR Sector about how much attention is paid to respecting the human rights of employees and eliminating any form of discrimination – be that based on gender, age, race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation.

The company abides by the laws and customs of the countries in which it operates. It also has stores in Saudi Arabia, where many of

the aforementioned postulates of the perfectly regulated Protestant society are an ideal that is difficult to attain.

At the IKEA Group HQ in Malmö, which we visited on our last day in Sweden, there are 1,400 employees and none of them (except the canteen manager) has their own office or desk. Everybody works in an open-space arrangement, on their laptops, storing their personal items in cubicles.

If they need a conference room, they will be given access to one on condition that the meeting they are to have there is confidential.

Otherwise they are sent to have a meeting in one of the many com-

allowed to spend the corporation’s profits to buy mega yachts or mansions in Capri.

During one of my fika breaks, and inspired by the Protestant work ethic of Scandinavians, I started talking to Angelina about my simplified view of the world where good organisation and efficiency, i.e. Protestants and Jews (Israel, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, the Netherlands, the U.S., the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia – namely the wealthiest and most progressive countries) are at the top of the pyramid, while the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries, with their corruption, organised crime, various obscure

SCANDINAVIAN SIMPLICITY: Ingvar is known for being a very humble and frugal person

fortable and inspirational spaces in the building, which is completely self-sustainable in terms of energy. While we were touring several buildings inside the IKEA complex, we met a few employees from the former Yugoslavia. We even met up with a Serbian woman from Timisoara who managed to defect to Sweden during Ceaușescu’s rule, and who has been working at IKEA for 30 years.

IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR US?

I was interested in finding out more about the company’s current ownership and management structure. A foundation, which has articles of association stating that the profit generated can be used in one of two ways – for CSR activities (charity) or the further development of the business – is the founder of different segments of the IKEA Corporation. So, perpetual sustainable development has been encoded into the company’s DNA, with none of Kamprad’s heirs

dictatorships and similar creations, all of which are part of the national folklore, just below them.

Below these countries are Muslim states, where limbs are hacked off for various offences, and where the populations of Bangladesh and Pakistan slave away just to keep the Gulf oil magnates rich. This is how our planet, east of the Ganges River, looks in my politically incorrect vision, which resembles a humorous map à la the World according to Ronald Reagan, ± 10%. And then, further to the East, we have Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Angelina’s Singapore, as societies which are on par with the Protestant countries in Scandinavia or the Benelux region.

Angelina told me about the then dirty and neglected Singapore, which had just gained its independence from the United Kingdom, as a colony stuck between the undeveloped and chaotic Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia that was transformed

into an economic miracle by one man – the father of the nation, Lee Kuan Yew, aka LKY. He raised the country’s GDP from $2,000 per capita in 1960 to $50,000 in 2015, a day before he died at the age of 91.

“There is hope for us then,” I muttered. Perhaps…

“WE HATE AIR”

“We hate air at IKEA” is one of the company slogans that I heard in the Älmhult showroom. We are talking, of course, about the packaging and transportation method for IKEA furniture, which entails fitting 20 three-seat couches into a single truck, while, for instance, other furniture companies can fit only five, like we are used to seeing in the Balkans. For instance, when IKEA started to deliver its Ektorp Sofa in pieces in 2010, the number of truck deliveries was reduced by 7,477 times, which also led to a 14% reduction in the price of the sofa.

Every IKEA store worldwide, including the future one in Belgrade, has a restaurant serving traditional Swedish dishes – meatballs with boiled potatoes and mountain cranberry sauce. It is also worth mentioning an interesting principle that IKEA uses to name certain products. For instance, the rattan furniture is named after towns and villages in Sweden; beds are named after places in Norway; dining tables and chairs are given Finnish toponyms; bookcase are named after various occupations in Swedish; bathroom furniture is given the names of Swedish rivers and lakes; sofas are given male names; curtains female names; garden furniture is named after Swedish islands; carpets are named after places in Denmark; children’s toys and equipment are given the names of mammals and birds etc. Certain name proposals are sometimes rejected because they have a meaning in a different language that isn’t so politically correct. Still, there is a sofa called Klippan (Fool), though it remains to be seen whether this sofa will carry the same name when it goes on sale in Serbia.

Our return flight to Belgrade was cancelled in Frankfurt due to “bad weather” (to us it looked like just like a few raindrops) and because Lufthansa didn’t have enough adequate and available planes for such weather conditions. I asked journalist Ivana Konstantinović what Ingvar would do in such a situation and she quipped: “He would assemble a new plane out of parts and we would be on our way home”.

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CO RPO RATE

Yoga - the Way of Life and Mind ALEKSANDRA TANASIĆ Yoga instructor

YTMD help us cultivate good qualities within us and we can transform these moments to keep the natural essence of our beautiful being

Incorporating the beauty of YTMD (Yoga Through My Day) into daily life and sharing it for all to benefit from, is something I enjoy most about yoga; say Aleksandra Tanasic who lives between New Zealand and Europe.

She believes that our body is just amazing, magical, incredible, mysteries peace of art. From birth to death our body is changing all the time. But that’s a true life. Sooner we embrace and surrender to the

of time, because of its the anatomy. This is something we can’t change. Often, feeling a pain in different parts of the body comes as a result of pushing it to an unnatural position. And that’s not beautiful.

Practicing a beautiful posture and movements through the normal daily activities help us to establish a good habit, from which we gain benefits for the life time and we feel them natural.

Incorporating YTMD in our day reminds us how natural and easy it

YTMD ENCOURAGE US TO NURTURE OUR BODIES THROUGH THE NATURAL GRACEFUL MOVEMENTS AND TO PRACTICE THEM MINDFULLY WITHIN DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES life, lighter we move through it.

How we literally move its up to us.

Yes, our bodies are made to move with all feelings, thoughts and energy we have and express through the only body we have.

We often promise ourselves we will do things at the end of the day or week – and other things happen instead. I believe that every exercise we do in the morning, or at the end of the day, is beneficial for us. However, what we also do during the rest of the day is even more crucial.

Our body is not made to be static for a long period

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is to integrate beauty throughout our day, As a whole their effect is to give us the opportunity to nurture the flow of life’s power, beauty and joy.

YTMD guide us through three

interrelated gifts : Happy Rituals Become Habitual utilizes ‘mini yoga pauses”, throughout our day to free us from the highly static and sedimentary physicality of our everyday lives.

Beautiful Bearing for Self Caring demonstrate different ways of modifying natural postures to release our bodies’ natural grace, strength and energy while involved in.

Breathing is Life Receiving techniques remind us that breath its literally right under our nose and its for free. It is important to know there is no right way to breathe, but it is a wrong habit which it is accepted as the norm.

All those gifts are already given to us. Im just trying to remind people through the workshop, retreat, regular yoga session in studio or skype yoga, how to wake them up and feel the beauty within them.

To contact me for more information you can check my website yogaleks.com.

Relaxed yoga poses in the kitchen help to stand up easier.

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KOLARAC

C ALEND AR & NE W S

Concert hall

BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FOR ADVENTURERS 5 June 02, 20:00

Grand Hall of the Kolarac Foundation

Daniel Raiskin

Conductor: DANIEL RAISKIN Soloist: MARIA SOLOZOBOVA, violin

PHILHARMANIA 5 June 08, 20:00

Grand Hall of the Kolarac Foundation

Fabrice Bollon

Conductor: FABRICE BOLLON Soloists: LP DUO

FOR MEGALOMANIACS 5 June 09, 20:00

Grand Hall of the Kolarac Foundation

LP Duo

Conductor: FABRICE BOLLON Soloists: LP DUO

FOR BEGINNERS 5 June 16, 20:00

CONCERT PROGRAMME June 2017

Thursday, 1st at 18.00 Music Gallery

CONCERT OF ATTENDEES OF PIANO STUDIO PROF. JOKUT MIHAILOVIĆ

BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC

Orchestra Conductor: Fabrice Bollon Soloists: LP Duo Programme: J. Adams, M. Nyman, C. Debussy, A. Scriabin Production: Belgrade Philharmonic

Szymon Nehring, piano Programme: Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin Production: RTS Music Production

BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC

Saturday, 10th at 11.00 Concert Hall

BELGRADE SYMPHONY

Saturday, 3rd at 12.00 Concert Hall

Musical “Annie JR” Artistic director: Olivera Rialas Musical Director: Alexandra Sesenton Narrator: Milos Milovanović Production: Music Centre

Production: Music Centre Friday, 2nd at 20.00 Concert Hall

Conductor: Daniel Raiskin Soloist: Maria Solozobova, violin Programme: G. Rossini, P. Juon, M. Daugherty

BAROQUE AT NOON

Jovana Topalov, harpsichord Rastko Popović, viola Production: Belgrade Baroque Sunday, 4th at 11.00 Concert Hall

CYCLE: KOLARAC PODIUM OF CHAMBER MUSIC

SMALL SCHOOL OF BONTON/ HOW TO LISTEN A MUSIC

Sunday, 11th at 11.00 Concert Hall

CYCLE: KOLARAC PODIUM OF CHAMBER MUSIC

Concert of the Chair for Piano of Belgrade Faculty of Music Production: Music Centre

Vladimir Tošić ’s Music for two pianos Pianists: Ljiljana Vukelja, Vladimir Cvijić Production: Music Centre

Tuesday, 6th at 20.00 Concert Hall

Monday, 12th at 20.00 Concert Hall

KOLO - SERBIAN FOLKLORE

CONCERT OF MUSIC SCHOOL KOSTA

Grand Hall of the Kolarac Foundation

Uroš Lajovic

Conductor: UROŠ LAJOVIC Soloist: ISTVÁN VÁRDAI, violoncello

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Conductor: Radan Jovanović Soloist: Igor Lazić,horn Production: Music Centre Monday, 19th at 20.00 Concert Hall

12. FESTIVAL OF EARLY MUSIC

Soloists of New Belgrade Opera: B. Bulatović, S. Manojlović, A. Brkić, R. Vorgić, D. Popović Conductor: Predrag Gosta Programme: G.F. Hendel/Opera „Orlando“ Tuesday, 20th at 18.00 Music Gallery

VLADA MARS, PIANO

WORLD MUSIC DAY Wednesday, 21st at 18.00 Music Gallery ERNEST SO, piano Whirl and Swirl Jazz Inspired Piano Recital Programme: Gershwin, Kapustin,M.P. Armengol, Tanikawa, Say Production: Music Centre

EXHIBITION SOUND WORLD & CONCERT OF TRIO SENSARTIKA

Wednesday, 21st at 21.00 Concert Hall

ENSEMBLE

Production: Ensemble Kolo Wednesday, 7th at 18.00 Concert Hall

CYCLE: ENCOUNTER WITH AN ARTIST

Maja Rajčić, piano Tanja Obrenović, mezzosoprano Aleksandar Saša Petrović, tenor Marijana Radosavljević, soprano Milan Rakić, clarinet Marija Mijailović, piano Milica Đokić, piano Production: Music Centre Wednesday, 7th at 20.00 Concert Hall

MANOJLOVIĆ Wednesday, 14th at 20.00 Concert Hall

CYCLE EDITOR & ARTIST’S VISIT

Nebojša Maksimović, piano Milan Miladinović, piano Programme: Scarlatti, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Ravel Thursday, 15th at 18.00 Music Gallery

SUMMER CONCERT OF THE MUSIC WORKSHOP MAGIC FLUTE

RTS FOLK ORCHESTRA ON THE OCCASION OF JUBILEE OF RAŠA PAVLOVIĆ

Thursday, 15th at 20.00 Concert Hall

Production: RTS Music Production

Production: RTS Music Production

Thursday, 8th at 20.00 Concert Hall

Friday, 16th at 20.00 Concert Hall

Orchestra Conductor: Fabrice Bollon Soloists: LP Duo J. Adams, M. Nyman, C. Debussy, A. Scriabin Production: Belgrade Philharmonic

Orchestra Conductor: Uroš Lajovic István Várdai, violoncello Programme: L. van Beethoven, J. Haydn, P. I. Tchaikovsky Production: Belgrade Philharmonic

Friday, 9th at 20.00 Concert Hall

Saturday, 17th at 20.00 Concert Hall

BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC

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Sunday, 18th at 11.00 Concert Hall

Wednesday, 21st at 19.30 Concert Hall

OPEN-AIR CONCERT SPECTACLE On 25 June, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra will give the biggest ever open-air concert of classical music in the Serbian history, directed by the orchestra’s new Chief Conductor Gabriel Feltz.

We are inviting the audience to vote for the compositions they would like to listen to that night by choosing from a list of 25 pieces at www.bgf.rs/glasanje.

Audience from all over the country, especially families with children, are more than welcome to join us for this great concert picnic, in which they will enjoy the most beautiful classical music numbers, at the site where the orchestra’s new concert hall will be built – in the New Belgrade Block 13, near the Palace of Serbia.

The BPO open-air concert, which is expected to attract tens of thousands of people, is not solely a huge endeavour from the artistic point of view, but also an immense production challenge, which entails the preparation of the site, design and construction of the stage and the installation of top-notch audio and lighting equipment.

For all those who have never visited the concert hall of the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation – the orchestra’s current residence, the open-air concert is an opportunity to hear our orchestra on the site where the construction will soon start of the new concert hall, which will be able to receive many more visitors than the current venue.

RTS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

RTS YOUTH FOLK ORCHESTRA

BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC

ELEMENTAL CULTURE COLLECTIVE PERCUSSION QUINTET (US)

Thursday, 22nd at 20.00 Concert Hall

YOUTH ORCHESTRA FROM CHICAGO

Friday, 23rd at 20.30 Concert Hall

THE STATE RUSSIAN FOLK ORCHESTRA N. P. OSIPOV

Production: Music Play

Saturday, 24th at 20.00 Concert Hall

OLD SERBIAN SONGS AND FOLKLORE FROM KOSOVO I METOHIA

Sunday, 25th at 11.00 Concert Hall Guitar Orchestra Dušan Trifunović Programme: Pernambuco, Abreu, Joplin, Ary Barroso, Hugo Blanco, Frank Sinatra, Gypsy Kings, Paco de Lucia, The Bee Gees Production: Music Centre Monday, 26th at 20.00 Concert Hall Choir Braća Baruh Production: Goethe Institut Wednesday, 28th at 20.00 Music Gallery Winners Concert of Solo singers Competition Lazar Jovanović

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