Diplomacy&Commerce 78 by Diplomacy&Commerce magazine

THE FUTURE BECOMES A SPACE REINVENTIONFOR Professor SOHAIL INAYATULLAH, PhD UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity THIS CRISIS COULD SERIOUSLY HAMPER ECONOMIC GROWTH IN EUROPE DR. DEJAN ŠOŠKIĆ Professor at Faculty of Economics (EFB), University of Belgrade 14 JULY BASTILLE DAY IS MARKED IN BELGRADE WE ARE LIVING A GOLDEN AGE IN OUR RELATIONS WITH SERBIA H.E. HAMI AKSOY Ambassador of Türkiye to Serbia August / September | ISSUE No. 78 | Price 350 RSD 9772466380002www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs H.E. ATTILA PINTÉR Ambassador of Hungary to Serbia KHAIRUL TAZRIL TARMIZI Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of Malaysia, Belgrade Malaysia NATIONAL DAY SPECIAL EDITIONHungary GEORGIAN CUISINE REFLECTS THE DRAMATIC PAST OF THE COUNTRY TO HAVE A MUNCH Postcard by Robert Čoban

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NATAŠA NEŠIĆ

The Branko Ćopić elementary school in Lukićevo is not the only school in Vojvodina (not to mention the rural areas of Serbia) that had no children enrolling in the first grade this September and in which the Ser

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FOREWORD ROBERT ČOBAN Director

bian anthem, played to first grad ers marking the beginning of a new school year, has not been heard from 2021. I hear these and similar stories when I go on bicycle tours all over Vojvodina. In Parage, a village in the heart of fertile Bačka County, which had a population of 921 according to the 2011 census, today, as locals claim, there are no more than 500 in habitants in the village.

DRAGANA RADOVIĆ

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ROBERT

robert.coban@color.rsDirectorPhotos GORANSHUTTERSTOCKZLATKOVIĆ Translation BJELOTOMIĆSNEŽANA Print ZLATNA KNJIGA BagrdanskiJagodinaput bb WEB FACEBOOK YOUTUBE LINKEDIN TWITTER INSTAGRAM FOLLOW US TO STAY UPDATED ”Color Media Communications” LTD, 21132 Petrovaradin, Štrosmajerova 3 TIN Matriculation107871532number 20887303 Phone: +381 21 4897 100 BraćeOffice: Jugovića 23/2, Belgrade Phone: 011 4044 960 CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji Biblioteke Matice Srpske, Novi Sad Diplomacy33 & Commerce / glavni i odgovorni urednik Tanja Banković, 2016, br. 1 (mart)-.Novi Sad: Color Communications,Media2016 - , -33cm ISSNMesečno.2466-3808 = Diplomacy & COBISS.SR-IDCommerce 303269895 REAL ESTATE IN SERBIA CLICK TO GO 

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Lukićevo

ested in hearing about topics that only further demotivate young peo ple to stay in this country.

Editor in

The time has come to truly ask ourselves whether we, as a society, want to enter the European Union at all? If 85% of Serbian citizens don't want Europride to take place (as they don’t) and if 85% of citizens sup port what Russia is doing in Ukraine (as they do), then we are not advo cating European Union’s values and perhaps we should even join it. Of course, this will mean that we have to give up all the benefits that the EU brings, and I believe that the people in Serbia are willing to do that. COULD BANKOVIĆ tanja.bankovic@color.rsChief indigochild.ilija@gmail.comdirector

The results of the population cen sus, which should be carried out in October of this year, will certainly be alarming and will show what we al ready saw in Croatia a year ago - the region of Southeast Europe is losing its population. The low birth rate in combination with large emigration to Western Europe and the high mor tality rate during and after the pan demic (as a result of inadequate di agnosis and treatment in 2020 and 2021) do not give a strong enough reason for optimism. While all of this is going on, the public is inter

hile we are playing push and pull over the car number plates and stickers with Priština, in fertile Vojvodina, Lukiće vo is one of those villages where not a single child was enrolled in the 1st grade of elementary school on Sep tember 1st. According to the 2011 census, 1,804 people lived in Lukiće vo. Before 1945, Germans lived in the village, after that it was colonized by the population from Bosnia. In 1947, the village changed its name from Sigmondfeld to Lukićevo, after the national hero Veljko Lukić Kurjak.

08 THIS CRISIS

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SERIOUSLY HAMPER ECONOMIC GROWTH IN EUROPE DR. DEJAN ŠOŠKIĆ Professor at Faculty of Economics (EFB), University of Belgrade 12 WE ARE LIVING A GOLDEN AGE IN OUR RELATIONS WITH SERBIA H.E. HAMI AKSOY Ambassador of Türkiye to Serbia 14 THE FUTURE BECOMES A SPACE FOR REINVENTION Professor SOHAIL INAYATULLAH, PhD UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity 18 EVIL HAS BECOME UNBRIDLED FILIP ŠVARM Journalist and editor-in-chief of Vreme weekly 45 BE REMARKABLE IVANA PARČETIĆ MITIĆ Founder and CEO of the Marketing Network (Marketing mreža) 46 A POLICEMAN WHO MYSTERY-THRILLERSWRITES LAZAR JOVANOVIĆ Criminal investigator, writer and author of the novel "Code: Reiss" 48 THE BELGRADE CITY MUSEUM PRESENTS THE IVO ANDRIĆ MUSEUM Cultural heritage building 50 GEORGIAN CUISINE REFLECTS THE DRAMATIC PAST OF THE COUNTRY GVANTSA KESHELAVA Spouse of the Charge d'Affaires of Georgia to Serbia 52 TO HAVE A MUNCH Postcard by Robert Ćoban CONTENT FOCUS ON SPECIAL EDITION TANJA

ILIJA INDIGOPETROVIĆ CHILD Art

Ms Meloni’s party is part of an alliance that also includes the na tionalist Northern League, Sil vio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and some smaller parties. Poll ing currently suggests that this group could win more than 45% of votes, which should be enough for a majority in parliament. On July 27th the alliance renewed an agreement which dictates that, should they triumph, the lead er of the party with the most votes will become prime minister. Ms Meloni’s party is polling around ten percentage points ahead of the League and 15 points ahead of Forza

Renzi for ousting him from the premiership in 2014 and has not sought to include Italia Viva in his alliance. The absence of Ac tion and Italia Viva means his al liance will sit firmly to the left, which limits its appeal among centrist voters. Polls suggest it could end up with less than 30% of the vote. But Mr Calenda’s an tics have diverted attention from the real issue, says Anto nio Noto of Noto Sondaggi, a poll ing firm. “The only centre-left alli ance with a real chance of victory

would need to take in the Five Star Movement.”Thecentre-left under Roma no Prodi won general elections in 1996 and 2006, defeating Mr Ber lusconi, then the main figure on the right. But Mr Prodi did not have to cope with the Five Star Move ment, which was founded in 2009 with the eccentric aim of installing an internet-based system of direct democracy and which continues to defy easy categorisation. Although its support has slumped from the 32% it won at the previous elec

From The Economist, published under licence.

Can Anything Stop Italy’s Radical Right?

TheItalia.centre-left Democratic Par ty (pd), led by Enrico Letta, a for mer prime minister, is about as popular as the FDI. Both could get around 23% of votes (see chart). But Mr Letta’s efforts to build a broad electoral alliance are in ru ins, in part because Italy’s pro gressives seem incapable of bur ying their differences. On August 7th Carlo Calenda, a zi.tristupblerespondedthreeLettaheLettatheingAzionetheman-turned-politicianbusinesswholeftPDtoformacentristgroup,(Action),saidhewaspulloutofanelectoralpactwithPDthathehadsealedwithMrjustfivedaysearlier.HesaiddisapprovedofdealsthatMrhadsubsequentlymadewithothersmallparties.MrLettadrily,“TheonlypossiallyforCalendaisCalenda.”TheActionpartymaynowlinkwithItaliaViva,asmallcengroupledbyMatteoRenMrLettahasneverforgivenMr

DEFEAT FORETOLD

MS MELONI’S PARTY IS PART OF AN ALLIANCE THAT ALSO INCLUDES THE NATIONALIST NORTHERN LEAGUE, SILVIO BERLUSCONI’S FORZA ITALIA PARTY AND SOME SMALLER PARTIES. POLLING CURRENTLY SUGGESTS THAT THIS GROUP COULD WIN MORE THAN 45% OF VOTES, WHICH SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR A MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT

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taly’s politics can be be wilderingly complex. Five big parties and many small ones will compete in the general election on September 25th. Before that they will shuffle into an uncertain number of elec toral alliances. Yet already the race to replace Mario Draghi’s fallen government is boiling down to one question. Is there anything her adversaries can do to prevent Giorgia Meloni (pictured), leader of the hard-right Brothers of Italy (FDI) party, from becoming the next prime minister?

tion, the polls still give the Five Star Movement 10% of the vote. Mr Letta has said that its role in bring ing down Italy’s most recent gov ernment disqualifies it from his alliance. But without its support the Italian centre-left looks con demned to what Mr Noto calls “a defeat foretold”.

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Its opponents are struggling to put their egos aside

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

connecting Belgrade with Ma drid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Pal ma de Mallorca, which is impor tant not only for passengers and tourists but also for the economy – creating new potential in cargo operations.In2021,the overall trade ex change of goods had reached 811,4 million euros, with an increase of 36,8 per cent, primarily because of the growth of exports from Serbia

“We think that it is a unilateral declaration of independence, and we think that international law has been violated, so we cannot accept it”, said Sánchez at the joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

which reached 351,1 million euros. Spain is interested in investing in Serbia, mainly in renewable ener gy sources, transport infrastruc ture, agro-industry, energy, and environmental protection as the most attractive sectors. There’s a huge potential for increasing exports of rubber, wood, furni ture and food (frozen and canned fruits) to the Spanish market.

The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, paid a visit to Serbia at the end of July, which was the first visit of any Spanish prime minister to Serbia in more than a hundred years of diplomatic relations

Serbia and Spain are commit ted to strengthening econom ic cooperation, which has a lot of potentials. Trade has been grow ing steadily in recent years. Ser bian national airline, Air Ser bia, established many new routes

FOCUS

T he outgoing government of Serbia welcomed Span ish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the end of July. This visit was declared historic not only because it was the first of its kind in recent history but also confirmed the strong friendship between the two nations.

countries. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Serbian presi dent Aleksandar Vučić announced the Serbian – Spanish business summit this autumn.

WE THINK IT IS A UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, AND WE THINK THAT INTERNATIONAL LAW HAS BEEN VIOLATED, SO WE CANNOT ACCEPT IT

Ambassador of Serbia to Spain Katarina Lalić stated that the re lations between Serbia and Spain were on the rise and that the po litical dialogue had intensified, which, she added, was best illus trated by the fact that there had been 11 high-level visits since May last year, which were rounded off by the visit of President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić to Spain in Feb ruary this year, at the invitation of King Felipe VI.

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The Historic Visit of the Spanish Prime Minister to Serbia

Serbian hosts emphasise that Spain will support the Europe an integration process in Ser bia. Sánchez said his tour con firms that Serbia and the rest of the Western Balkans “belonged in Europe.”Atthe same time, it is one of the only five members of the Eu ropean Union that doesn’t recog nise Kosovo as an independent state. Serbia was the first stop for Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez, who made a West Balkan tour kicked off from Belgrade and con tinued to Bosnia and Herzegovi na, Montenegro, and Albania lat er on.Serbian media followed that tour with special attention, espe cially when Sánchez was in Tira na. His words about Kosovo in the Albanian capital were received with great admiration.

Bilateral relations between the Republic of Serbia and the King dom of Spain are excellent. Offi cials in both countries rate them as friendly and privileged. The 100th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Ser bia and Spain was celebrated five years ago. But, still, there has not been any official visit of any Span ish officials to Serbia since 2012. Also, this is the first visit of any Spanish prime minister to Serbia in more than a hundred years of diplomatic relations. King Felipe VI of Spain has been invited to vis it Serbia.Theprimary cause for this vis it was the deepening of econom ic cooperation between the two

since expelling it from interna tional markets, means creating a huge supply shock and breaking numerous supply chains on both sides. Inflation comes as a natural consequence of such measures, mainly driven by supply shocks, and the disentanglement of sup ply chains creates downward and recessionary pressures, not only for the Russian economy but also

Is this war the only culprit, or some other reason(s) could be blamed?

DR. DEJAN ŠOŠKIĆ

e spoke with Mr. Dejan Šoškić, professor at the Faculty of Economics (EFB) at the University of Belgrade about economical trends and cri sis that seems to harm Europe.

— War in Ukraine in itself would have had primarily a negative impact on Ukraine and Russian Economies, and on Ukraine’s ex ports due to the direct negative ef fect of the war on the economy of this country. However, sanctions imposed by the West have threat

ence in global energy, food, fer tiliser, metals, and other com modities markets. Such a large economy and such a significant supplier of global inputs is a poor ly chosen candidate for sanctions,

— Covid is partly responsi ble for some supply problems and, therefore, some inflation ary pressures. But war and espe cially the response to the war in terms of Western sanctions, close ly followed by financial specula

Can we believe that our govern ment and administration could cope with soon coming challeng es, especially if we could see how many stronger economies have suffered already?

COMPETENCE IN GOVERNANCE AND A LOW LEVEL OF CORRUPTION ARE NEEDED IF THE COUNTRY SEEKS A SOUND AND ROBUST POSITION IN AN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

for western and many other econ omies of the world. This crisis could seriously hamper econom ic growth in Europe, decrease the living standards of ordinary peo ple and bring about stagflation

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This Crisis Could Seriously Hamper Economic Growth in Europe

Professor at Faculty of Economics (EFB), University of Belgrade

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War in Ukraine caused extreme uncertainty for next winter. In how many ways could this crisis overflow? What could ordinary people with tiny wallets and en larged bills that should be paid expect?

(stagnation with inflation) as an almost forgotten, but very un pleasant state of macroeconom ic circumstances from the 70-ies. Ordinary people are already expe riencing the higher cost of fuel, higher heating costs, and higher cost of food, but also an increase in prices of many other products and services that are less in the everyday spotlight but can still further erode the living standard of ordinary people. If we combine this with the deceleration of eco nomic activity then the picture for the following several quarters, for Europe specifically, looks pret ty gloomy.

INTERVIEW

The picture for the following several quarters, for Europe specifically, looks pretty gloomy

— Serbia has wasted a lot of time and has not still completed some of the necessary economic re forms. Some internal problems, especially related to public sec tor enterprises, have nothing to do with the Ukrainian crisis, but rather with poor management and weakened institutions in the country. And these can prove to be a significant fiscal challenge in the near future. Countries that are most resilient to crises are, as a rule, with strong institu tions, and with merit-based de cision-making. Competence in governance and a low level of cor ruption are needed if the country seeks a sound and robust position in an international environment. Serbia, in my opinion, is, unfor tunately, very far from such a position.

ened to cut off the Russian econ omy and its global exports from international markets. And Rus sian economy measured with GDP corrected with purchasing pow er parity (PPP) is the sixth econ omy in the world and the second economy in Europe. It is, accord ing to World Bank data, lagging behind Germany’s only around 5%, and with a significant pres

tions based on expectations that the prices will rise as a conse quence of sanctions. This has led to prompted purchases of sanc tioned goods, both spot, and fu tures, driving the prices im mediately upward without real significant change in total sup ply and total demand for these goods. This speculative effect was fuelled by the engagement of fi nancial institutions with excess to cheap money being created for years back, and in the US since 2008. Therefore, in my opinion, excessive monetary expansion go ing on for years back, and the cre ation of this extraordinary, but in its essence, artificial supply shock (sanctions) lay in the basis of this significant increase of inflation that we are experiencing.

— Inflation in Serbia is partly spilled over from the internation al markets and partly has been in ternally generated. In July it has hit almost 12% in spite of govern ment control over certain prices (food, energy) in the past several quarters. Supply-generated infla tion was mainly imported from international markets. But there was and is also a portion of de mand-driven inflation in Serbia, mainly generated by government measures with linear support to all households, young peo ple, pensioners, etc. In addition, the National bank was also con ducting some exotic and wrong monetary policy measures dur ing Covid (purchases of specif ic corporate bonds without a de veloped secondary market) and has been late in monetary tight ening when it became clear that inflation is not just a transito ry one. Now, inflationary expec tations are on the rise, and addi tional pressures are coming due to the weak Euro, so my expec tations are that inflation is most probably here to stay longer than it is officially expected. Having

said that, my belief is that this in flation both globally and in Ser bia also, cannot be treated only with monetary policy measures. Supply-side has to be dealt with simultaneously with monetary tightening. That includes policy measures to increase the supply of goods whose prices are raising the most, but also to seek politi cal solutions and decrease politi cally generated tensions in glob al trade. Some promising moves have started occurring (grain ex ports from Ukraine, EU relaxation of sanctions for food and fertil isers), but more are very welcome and needed.

As a university professor, could you, for a moment, imagine that our government does an exam? What mark would you give to the student and why?

Do you expect a further rise in interest rates in Serbia? Could this punch the real estate market?

Could you find anything sooth ing in this situation? Any advice for people?

— We should not forget that the problems we are facing now, have been made by people, and can be solved by people. At least in a dem ocratic world, there is hope that citizens could exert pressure to wards their political elites to seek constructive solutions to the prob lems we face today. War in Ukraine should be stopped immediate ly, rebuilding and recovery of that nation should be internationally supported, and global trade should be normalized. Imperial ambi tions and games for global domi nance should be put aside. Howev er unlikely, this is possible if there is adequate political will. The world has some real global prob lems to solve (climate change, en vironment preservation, food pro duction, and distribution) and the political energy of leading na tions of the world should be shift ed away from global dominance is sues, and focused on collaboration in solving these existential issues for our species. Large democrat ic nations of the world, especially the ones with the ambition to lead, in my opinion, have a specific re sponsibility in this respect for hu manity as a whole

INTEREST RATES IN SERBIA ARE STILL TOO LOW FOR THE CURRENT LEVEL OF INFLATION AND IT SHOULD NOT BE A SURPRISE IF THEY CONTINUE TO RISE IN THE NEAR FUTURE

What the ratio of the euro to the dollar could say? Is this a sign of the stumbling of the Europe an economy? How can this re flect on the Serbian economy and GDP?

and what do you expect about its trend?

— The government of Serbia has produced certain results in the past ten years. Some infrastruc ture has been built, some laws have been enacted and some pre vious ones improved, and some results have been created in digi talisation. Moreover, most meas ures in the first government reaction to Covid were mainly ad

Inflation in Serbia – is it normal under these global circumstanc es, can it cause more troubles,

— Dollar has appreciated against the Euro since the FED started to increase interest rates ahead of ECB, and since the dollar is tra ditionally perceived as a safe ha ven in times of imminent crisis. A stronger dollar will additional ly fuel inflation both in Eurozone, but also in Serbia due to our fixed exchange rate with Euro. A weak er Euro and Dinar against the Dol lar could actually help exports on Dollar markets.

— Yes, and partially yes. Interest rates in Serbia are still too low for the current level of inflation and it should not be a surprise if they continue to rise in the near future. As for the real estate market, part of the current demand stems from the fact that interest rates are still negative in real terms (lower than the rate of inflation) and that therefore, free capital that seeks secure investments, i.e. that can protect it from inflation, sees that real estate investments, for the time being, still fit the bill. There fore, rising interest rates will grad ually decrease demand for real es tate, but not immediately. That is, rather, going to be the case in the medium and long run.

equate. However, in internation al comparisons, Serbia has had one of the lowest rates of growth in Europe in the period of 2012 to 2016, according to internation al observers it has deteriorated its position concerning corruption perception, has a rather poor re cord concerning money launder ing, and has been continuously reminded by EU institutions for its underperformance in the are as of rule of law, freedom of me dia, and overall institutional de velopment. Overall, in the past ten years Serbia has done too little, of ten too late, and in some areas (in stitutional development) has been going even backward. Many com parable countries in Europe have done much more and moved on. Obvious lack of understanding that investing in human capital i.e. investing and reforms in edu cation, research and development and quality health care in today’s world are essential elements in building a competitive econo my and that institutional devel opment (rule of law foremost) is a fundamental base for a market economy to thrive, are crippling realities in the evaluation of any governments performance.

ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES SEPTEMBER 16 MEXICO Grito de Dolores 18 CHILE The First Junta Day 28 CZECHIA St. Wenceslas Day OCTOBER 01 CHINA National Day 01 CYPRUS Independence Day 01 NIGERIA National Day 02 INDIA Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday 03 GERMANY German Unity Day 03 IRAQ Independence Day 03 SOUTH KOREA Gaecheonjeol, ancient Korea founded in 2333 BC 12 SPAIN National Day 23 HUNGARY 1956 memorialRevolutionday 24 UN UN day NATIONAL DAYS CLICK TO GO 

BROOKE ISHAM

USAID Serbia’s Mission Director

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Ms. Brooke Isham became USAID Serbia’s Mission Director in August 2022. She previously served in USAID Mission Director positions in Morocco, Iraq, and Azerbaijan.

Before serving in Mission Direc tor roles, Ms. Isham was posted in Afghanistan as a USAID Deputy Mission Director. She also was posted to Washington, D.C. as the Director of USAID's Office of Food for Peace. Additionally, Ms. Isham

was a USAID Deputy Mission Direc tor in Sudan and worked in diverse roles in Jordan, Russia, Central Asia, and Mali for USAID, focusing on pro gram management and strategy. Ms. Isham received a Ph.D. in commodity economics from Stanford University. She also holds a master’s degree in applied economics and a bachelor’s degree in economics, both from Stanford University.

Why do National Teams Have Different Jersey Colours?

I n anticipation of the Football World Cup in Qatar, which starts in just a few months, let's talk about some old dilemmas - for example, dilemmas about the colours of the national jerseys of certain, very famous national teams. Why do Germans play in white jerseys with black shorts when Germany does not have white colour on its flag, but red and yellow? Where did the Spaniards get the blue shorts? Why on earth are the Italians called "Azzuri", when the recognizable blue is nowhere to be found on their flag?

Well, sometimes the jersey colours are actually the colours of the countries that preceded today’s, from the time when the football association was founded or when the colours were registered, and nobody thought to change them in the meantime. The colours of the German national team do not mimic the German flag, but rather the flag of Prussia (abolished in 1871), and the colours of the Spanish national team come from the flag of the Spanish Republic (abolished by Franco in 1939) – and the colour changed from blue-violet to pure blue.

INTERESTING FACTS

Ireland had dark blue (St. Patrick's blue) jerseys for a long time, from before the First World War until 1931, because blue was considered the national colour of Ireland, but then green prevailed. In 1954, two nation al Irish teams were formed, Northern Ireland, with green jerseys with a maroon stripe, and the Republic of Ireland, with plain green jerseys. Needless to say, on the old flag of Ireland, the St. Patrick cross was red on a white background, and there was no trace of green and blue. Italy? The national team wears Savoy blue, the colour of the Savoy dynasty, deposed in 1946.

before you make a fixed-term de posit, you need to look at all the various offers and choose a bank wisely. For example, UniCredit Bank Serbia has an excellent offer for fixed-term savings this sum mer. You can find out more about it on the bank's website https:// www.unicreditbank.rs/ or by in quiring in the nearest branch.

As much as it may seem that you are communicating with someone out of pure interest, trust that it is completely le gitimate. Experts recommend that you expand your net work of contacts in such diffi cult times because it is in these kinds of circumstances that a sense of community is created, where the human spirit finds its full meaning. You never know whose help you may need and whose help might be crucial at a given moment.

Economic experts are unani mous in their opinion that depos iting money in the bank fixedterm is not only the safest way to save but also by far the most prof itable, considering the interest on such a way of saving. Certainly,

Why Saving is Important: The Future is Security

Economic experts from around the world share advice on how every company, as well as every individual, should prepare for the coming recession. We highlight some of them below:

DIVERSIFICATION OF YOUR FINANCIAL MEANS

You can make the worst deci sions out of fear and irrational

According to experts, in times of recession, it is necessary to monitor your spending and cre ate a special fund for it. Then in vestigate where you can cut costs, such as unnecessary subscrip tions, dining out, entertainment, etc. Perhaps even more important than increasing your savings is to spend some of your funds on cash investments such as high-yield savings accounts.

EXPANDING THE NETWORK OF CONTACTS

INCREASE EMERGENCYYOURFUND

CONCENTRATION AND DETERMINATION

cause as economists say, not all markets will suffer the same im pact and the same consequences. See it as your opportunity!

CORPORATE

n the last six months, both economists and con sumers have been obvi ously worried about the growing inflation, but this concern is also quite rational, bearing in mind the current events in the world, especially in Europe. Although some experts still claim that we are not in a recession, there is cer tainly a question of what awaits us in the future. Regardless of how the macroeconomic picture of our country and the world looks at the moment, being finan cially prepared is always an ex tremely wise move.

MAKE A FIXED-TERM MONEY DEPOSIT IN THE BANK

behaviour caused by the current geopolitical situation and the neg ative impact on the markets. Don't let that distract you and make ca reer and business mistakes that you can't fix. Focus on keeping your thoughts as realistic as pos sible, observing carefully each sit uation and giving yourself peace of mind.

It is redundant to even talk about the fact that, in the current complex circumstances in which we live, it is important to find a certain level of stability and security. On the other hand, it is not too difficult to achieve something that will give us a secure future

EXPERTS RECOMMEND THAT YOU EXPAND YOUR NETWORK OF CONTACTS IN SUCH DIFFICULT TIMES BECAUSE IT IS IN THESE KINDS OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT A SENSE OF COMMUNITY IS CREATED, WHERE THE HUMAN SPIRIT FINDS ITS FULL MEANING

Although this kind of advice could perhaps be applied to a greater extent to markets that are stock-oriented, it is certainly not a bad idea to allocate your fundsincome and investments - in dif ferent directions and areas. If it happens that one of the deals you focused on falters, you will have security elsewhere. Try to look at the situation from different an gles, so that you invest in markets where you have not been present before or in areas that have not at tracted your attention so far be

ing in May 2018 in Türkiye, and in October 2019 in Serbia, H.E. Alek sandar Vucic visited Ankara this year on 18 January to hold the 3rd HLCC Meeting between our Gov ernments. On the occasion of the 3rd Meeting, 4 agreements were signed on tourism, cultural mon

month, and Mr Recep Tayyip Er doğan just visited Serbia in the first week of September. What was the theme of that visit?

SERBIAN AND TURKISH CITIZENS WILL BE ABLE TO TRAVEL ONLY WITH IDS ONCE THE AGREEMENT IS SIGNED

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uments, cinematography, and education.On6-7September, our Pres ident, H.E. Erdoğan paid an of ficial visit to Belgrade. He was here with a significant delega tion, including 8 Ministers. The agenda of the Presidential vis it was bilateral relations and co operation in various areas, such as trade, investment, cultural re lations etc, as well as consulta tions on regional topics; the situ ation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the latest developments con cerning the Belgrade-Pristine di alogue. In addition to this ex change of views, our Ministers signed 7 documents on coopera tion regarding 1) Travel with IDs, 2) Promotion and Protection of Investments, 3) Innovation in Ad vanced Technologies, 4) Media and Communications 5) Informa tion Technologies and eGovern ment 6) Radio-Television and 7) Combatting Forest Fires.

ly, the close relationship between our Presidents has a decisive in fluence in this positive trend. Throughout the last decade, we were able to significantly improve our political, economic, commer cial, and cultural ties. Bilateral co operation was boosted thanks to the establishment of the Turk ish-Serbian High-Level Coopera tion Council. After the first meet

Throughout the last decade, Serbia and Türkiye have been able to significantly improve their political, economic, commercial, and cultural ties

— I have no doubt about it. The increase in the first quarter is promising (31%) and we expect to reach an all-time high level of 2.5 billion US Dollars in our trade vol ume this year. Our presidents set the long-term trade volume target at 5 billion euros and we are hit ting that target each year. Since we have excellent bilateral rela tions and a very positive political agenda, this target is quite real istic. The economy is the back bone of our relations. There fore, strengthening economic and commercial cooperation is one of my main priorities. Just to give you an idea of how fast our co operation is developing: Turk ish investments increased from 1 to 300 million dollars in the last 10 years. We have 23 factories in Serbia. Major Turkish brands like Turkish Airlines, Halkbank, BEKO, Acıbadem, LC Waikiki, Kiğılı, De Facto, Koton are expanding rap idly in Serbia. Many Turkish con struction firms and thousands of Turkish workers are contrib uting to the prestigious Belgrade Waterfront project. We encour age our firms to invest more in Serbia, including in new sectors such as renewable energy, infra structure, innovations, and tech nology. Obviously, we would like

— As H.E. President Aleksandar Vucic put it, at the moment we are living the golden age in our relations with Serbia. Obvious

We are Living a Golden Age in Our Relations With Serbia

Mr. Çavuşoğlu, the Turkish min ister of foreign affairs, paid an official visit to Serbia last

to invite Serbian investors to Tür kiye as well. After the establish ment of our Consulate General in Novi Pazar in 2021, we will open a Consular Office in Niš this year to help attract new Turkish invest ments in the region.

H.E. HAMI AKSOY Ambassador of Türkiye to Serbia

Economic ties between Serbia and Türkiye are developing at a strong pace, with annual trade between the two countries top ping two billion euros. Can we maintain this impressive up ward trend?

INTERVIEW

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hile currently being at their historical peak, Ser bian-Turkish relations face many challenges, from the war in Ukraine to the Bel grade-Priština talks and Euro-At lantic integration. In the follow ing interview, the Turkish Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Mr Hami Aksoy, talks about those and many other topics.

On the other hand, we do not allow policies or actions to cir cumvent sanctions against Rus sia. We also of course uphold the tenets of our national and inter national law when it comes to the flow of trade and commerce.

Today, both Serbian and Turkish citizens can travel to each other countries just with ID cards. We don’t need passports anymore. Was this a good decision to make and what will this travel liberali zation bring about?

As for our candidacy, we are ready to work on strengthen ing Türkiye’s EU perspective. But the political blockages on almost every aspect of Türkiye-EU rela tions remain to be the main obsta cle to overcome. However, current geopolitical challenges necessi tate having Türkiye on the side of and within the EU. We sincere ly believe that this is high time to put Türkiye-EU relations back on track. Our accession process is the backbone of Türkiye-EU relations. Therefore, the EU must boost Tür kiye’s accession perspective. We expect the EU to take concrete and meaningful steps to that end.

SOME INFORMAL CONSULTATIONS TO REVISE THE AIR TRAFFIC AGREEMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INCREASING NUMBER OF TOURISTS HAVE TAKEN PLACE BETWEEN THE RELEVANT TURKISH AND SERBIAN INSTITUTIONS

We openly share our views on sanctions with our partners and ask them to appreciate Türkiye’s unique position, which is based on maintaining a strategic part nership with Ukraine while hav ing mutually beneficial working relations with Russia.

What do you think about the Eu ro-Atlantic integration of the West Balkan countries? What’s going on with the Turkish ac cession process? Did you give up on it?

We hope to break a new record this year regarding the number of tourists travelling from Serbia to Türkiye, which we hope will ex ceedOn300,000.theother hand, some infor mal consultations to revise the Air Traffic agreement in accordance with the increasing number of tourists have taken place between the relevant Turkish and Serbian institutions.

government planning to negoti ate a better and more liberal air traffic agreement between the two countries instead of the cur rent obsolete one?

— Turkish Airlines (THY) now flies three times a day between Belgrade and İstanbul with widebody aircraft. As you mentioned, a direct line between Belgrade and Ankara was established in Decem ber 2021 for the first time in histo ry. This is a great opportunity for our Serbian friends to visit beau tiful Cappadocia. In addition, Air Serbia started to fly to İstanbul from Niš and Kraljevo and charter flights started from Niš to Antalya and Alanya this summer. THY could also boost touristic travels by starting direct flights between Serbia and the beautiful resort city Antalya and İzmir. Turkish Air lines has good cooperation with Air Serbia. All flights between our countries are almost 100% full.

— Türkiye only implements sanc tions decided by the UN. There fore we do not consider ourselves bound by unilateral sanctions of third parties. Sanctions against Russia fall under this category.

The number of flights between Serbia and Türkiye has been go ing up. We’ve got more flights to Istanbul and a new direct flight to Ankara. Are there any plans to go further and maybe estab lish direct flights to more cities in Türkiye? Also, is the Turkish

— Türkiye strongly supports the Euro-Atlantic integration of Bal kan countries. In fact, the integra tion of all Balkan countries into Euro-Atlantic institutions, without any discrimination, has been one of the main priorities of our Balkan

policy. The future of the region, to which Türkiye also belongs, is within the EU. Enlargement is the most influential policy that the EU can exert its transformative pow er in its wider region, providing a strong incentive for governments in the region to pursue reforms. Keeping a strong membership per spective for all candidate countries is crucial. We expect the EU to be more vocal in defending and per forming a credible, fair, and sus tainable enlargement policy by re calling the fact that enlargement to all Balkan countries, including Türkiye, is a political, economic, and moral must.

— The Agreement on Travel with IDs has been signed on 7 Septem ber 2022 during the official visit of H.E. Erdoğan, President of the Republic [Official name: "Proto col on Amendments to the Agree ment on the Mutual Abolition of Visas signed in Belgrade on 12th of July, 2010"]. Serbia is the sixth country we have this agreement (in addition to Azerbaijan, Mol dova, Georgia, Ukraine, Turk ish Republic of North Cyprus.) It will have a strong impact on peo ple-to-people contact between our countries and it will certain ly raise the number of tourists. Thanks to this agreement, Serbi an and Turkish citizens will be able to travel with IDs. However, this will take some time. Because, following the signature, the im plementation of the agreement would take a few months due to the internal legal ratification pro cedures of both countries.

Serbia and Türkiye have a sim ilar stance about the conflict in Ukraine, while both refusing to imply sanctions on Russia. Does Türkiye feel the same pressure from the Western partners as Serbia?

UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity

in sci-fi movies or the predictions of Silicon Valley gurus seem com monplace. The future has arrived, though as Gibson has suggested, it is not evenly distributed, nor may it ever be.

DISRUPTION AFTER DISRUPTION HAS FORCED ORGANIZATIONS TO SHIFT THEIR STRATEGY, FROM AVOIDING CHANGE TO EMBRACING CHANGE

solving current issues – develop ing data sets to argue for an in crease in the salaries of judges –but also identified issues down the track i.e. AI in the courts, for example. We also explored issues such as the need to move from lit

worms.” When I did not respond, he repeated his sentence.

Professor INAYATULLAH,SOHAILPhD

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igation to mediation and under standing law from multiple cul tural perspectives. Some of our more radical work asked what the world would look like if robots and legal rights.

Today these questions whether

INTERVIEW

ne of the world's greatest futurists, Professor Sohail Inayatullah, PhD, UNES

— Futures Studies and in particu lar strategic foresight is all the rage now. When I became a stu

Professor, could you share with us your beginnings in futures studies. Also, do you think that we are witnessing rising interest in the futures field?

dent of the field in the 1970s, we were considered very strange. In deed, one of my professors upon hearing my desire to contin ue in the field and enter the MA programme in Alternative Fu tures forcefully said, “it’s a can of

I did not take his advice. In stead, after completing the MA in Futures Studies, I spent ten years working with the Hawaii Judici ary. There we not only assisted in

The Future Becomes a Space for Reinvention

For many nations, the only hope forward is to leapfrog, to resist purchasing used future, and instead change

CO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity, spoke for Diplo macy&Commerce magazine about futures and the role of a futurist in modern society.

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The arrival started thirty years ago with the fall of the Berlin Wall, then with the rise of the in ternet, the Asian Financial Crisis, SARS, the global financial crisis, the rise of the extremists through out the world, 3d printing, robot ics, Crispr, COVID, and now cli mate change, here and now.

Disruption after disruption has forced organizations to shift their strategy, from avoiding change to embracing change, from thinking of the short term to exploring the long term, from seeking to man age uncertainty to embracing the unknown, and from predicting the future to using the future to

ONCE THE VISION AND SCENARIOS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED, IT IS CRITICAL TO MAKE THE FUTURE REAL, I.E. TO MOVE FROM THE DREAM TO REALITY

ing rights and retail stores to see ing the airport as a site of inno vation, for example, 3d printed avionics. The Minister immedi ately gave significant funding –50 million – to make the airport not just an international hub but a policy learning centre, indeed, the future university. The stake holders all understood that air ports and travel were to be chal lenged and they needed to not just have new products but see futures as a deeper learning journey, as a learning process.

Can you give us some examples of the futures in action?

— Let me give you a few exam ples. A few years back I was work ing with a trucking insurance company. They sensed the need to change even though they had record profits. We looked at the changes in the industry from wearables for truck drivers to AI in trucks to driverless trucks. As we explored, they suggested that while they needed to keep their core business, it would behove them to focus on new products and processes. Given that they had expertise in ICTs they decided to explore bio-informatics. These would help create a new market and would keep them focused on their mission of safety: safer driv ers, trucks, and the nation.

Let’s discuss the role of a futur ist. What methods and tools could we use to think about the futures?

The future thus becomes a space for reinvention. Indeed, for many nations, the only hope for ward is to leapfrog, to resist pur chasing used future, and instead change

You mentioned the need to go beyond used futures, those things that we keep doing that do not work but we continue to use it. If we look at futures practices from a broader per spective, could you tell us more about their potential emancipa tory role?

create alternative pathways, nov el products and reinvent self and society

studies thus help or ganizations move from the cur rent to alternative futures. Groups whether corporations or nations use the future to innovate, to cre ate new products. But the wise know it is not just a product but a deeper process.

You have mentioned some ex amples of scenario usage, and how they can lead to a more rad ical reinvention of the business landscape. Could you describe some concrete processes that led to the final futures “product”? What is the role of the public sector in that process?

— Futures seen in this lens is about decolonizing the past. The past often becomes the key bar rier. Board directors often say, “but we have always done it this way.” Employees always come to work, why should they work from home?Oron social media, citizens might say, “I know someone who is 99 and she still smokes and drinks vodka every day so why should we eat healthily?” Fu tures thinking in contrast uses evidence-based to understand emerging trends and leverages metaphors of prevention – a fence on top of the hill instead of an am bulance below – to challenge how we have always done things. The past can be a guide and a friend, but it can also become a burden, handcuffs.Clearly,what we can say, at the planetary level, is that what worked eighty years ago no longer works. Our problems, wheth er climate change or global in equity, cannot be solved by the

Working with one of the larg est car companies in the world, we analyzed the futures of the company. In the first scenar io, the no-change, we looked at quick profits through larger and smarter cars, what some have called car obesity. In the sec ond, the marginal change scenario, we looked at minor changes to the car, more AI, more tailored specifications, and more electric cars. In the adaptive scenario, we changed the goal post from just cars to the ecosystem around the cars. Suddenly driverless cars, community pods, greener sys tems and supply chains became far more important. In the radical scenario, we moved even broad er to no longer just selling the car to selling mobility services over a lifetime.Futures

current United Nations nationstate-based system nor the pow er of corporations to evade the downstream impacts of their ac tion on nature and the vulnerable. For example, evidence suggests to ensure global financial wellbe ing, money in the world needs to keep moving. This can be accom plished by creating a global wealth cap, a maxi-mini wage system.

— In one project on a nation al airport, we explored alterna tive futures of the airport. We moved the discussion from land

More and more nations, espe cially in the Middle East and Asia have developed a centre of stra tegic foresight. These collect in formation on emerging issues – opportunities and risks - and present snapshots to Ministries and CEOS. Public servants take turns becoming futurists learn ing the tools of the trade. But the research is not just theoretical as they advise nations and cor porations not just what is next but what to do next. It is not just adapting to the changing world, but as they gain confidence and capacity, to create a new world.

— To do this we use numerous methods. For example, we use the futures triangle to explore the contrast between the preferred fu ture, the desired vision as one fac tor and the weight of history, the obstacles. The triangle has a third aspect, the push of the present. These are the waves of change. One could thus make a strategy af

However, we know very well there is considerable resistance to change. As one leader of a region al organization said about climate change, “we know what the right thing to do is but do not believe we can get reelected for doing the right thing.” Those invested in fossil fuels do not wish to move toward a global renewable energy regime. Those invested in selling tobacco do not wish toward creat ing healthier communities. Those focused on roads and cars cannot imagine carless cities.

While being fully aware of the power of the status quo, the work of the future is to help imagine the unimaginable and to use every obstacle as a springboard for innovation.

Once the vision and scenarios have been developed, it is critical to make the future real, i.e. to move from the dream to reality. Back casting is one of the most power ful methods in this regard. We go from the future to the past and ask what needs to be done to create the desired future. This helps link vi sion to actionable steps.

— While futures can be grand about the next 100 years, it is also about the day-to-day, about you and me. Personal futures are as important as organizational fu tures. We live in organizations and as they change, we need to shift as well, we must change our inner understanding. Many CEOs comment how the world has changed so much they feel un comfortable, longing for a stable past that no longer exists. A new story is required as is inner rein vention. This means creating new identities moving from "I am" to "I am becoming". Once CEO saw his life as a tennis game, but now when he went to a meeting, he never knew what court it would be. Clay or grass or hard court? He realized he had to change his nar rative to the person who could play on many courts. This meant learning new skills such as con flict transformation futures. Ul timately though, in the long run, he wanted to go back to purpose, to the mission, to play for the love of the game, the rally. This was moving from strategy to presence, from optimizing over others to being with self and others.

tralization and back, in nations from secularism to religiosity and return. There are other significant patterns in history as well.

Futures may begin with a changing external world but al ways ends up with our ability to make meaning and create the worlds we want and avoid the po tential disasters ahead.

BECAME A FUTURIST

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ter having done the triangle focus on making the vision more com pelling or reducing the weight or riding the waves of change. One of the largest museums in the world used the method to imagine their role in the metaverse, in rethink ing the rule of curation and de signing personalized museums.

Is futures thinking useful only for organizations and on the na tional level? Could we use it as individuals, to prepare for multi ple possibilities?

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PERSONAL FUTURES ARE AS IMPORTANT AS ORGANIZATIONAL FUTURES. WE LIVE IN ORGANIZATIONS AND AS THEY CHANGE, WE NEED TO SHIFT AS WELL, WE MUST CHANGE OUR INNER UNDERSTANDING

In cooperation between the Belgrade-based Centre for Futures Studies and Metafuture, a world-renowned educational think-tank, Became a Futurist - online training by professor Sohail Inayatullah is now available in the Serbian language at www.futures.rs/obuke.

Finally, using the method CLA or causal layered analysis, we change the narrative, the sto ry that gives meaning. With one large bank, we shifted the sto ry from infrastructure-first to be coming a knowledge solutions bank. With the new narrative, this meant a shift in systems i.e., from funding the past to funding

the future - solar, gender equity, and moving toward peer-to-peer banking solutions. In one nation, we debated the need to shift the narrative from “live to eat” which was resulting in diabetes and a system based on subsidizing junk food to the new story of “eat to live”. In this future, the worldview was that of healthy living focused on prevention. The system is shift was toward taxing junk food, de veloping local farms everywhere, and moving toward plant-based alternatives. The new story must link to a new strategy otherwise the best scenarios can still lead to a situation where culture eats strategy for breakfast.

We also use scenarios or differ ent stories of the future to move the discussion from fixed reality to alternative realities. This helps decision-makers transition from what they know to what they do notButknow.once there are alterna tives, we need to make decisions. For this, we use visioning, where we imagine the preferred future. This could be citizen-based or an ticipatory democracy. It would be helping a board of directors move from current problems to deep purpose, where they wish to be in ten to twenty years. With one na tion, we are part of a process to help them move from a focus on GDP to a focus on wellbeing as the core measurement. In anoth er nation, it is helping them move from commodities to becoming a spaceport; in a third, from a focus on traditional infrastructure to becoming a leader in green infra structure; in a fourth, developing manufacturing scenarios that ad

To understand the changing world, we use emerging issues analysis. In this method, the goal is to focus not on what we know i.e. problems or even trends –where there is some data, but to spend time on the outliers, that do not make up the current de bate. For example, in the 1980s, we wrote about the rise of Chi na becoming the next global eco nomic centre by 2020. Also, in the 1990s we wrote on the rise of ve ganism as well as on depopula tion throughout Europe and East Asia. In the last twenty years, just like many others, we have writ ten on climate change, urbaniza tion, and the rise of pandemics. But it is not just about identifying the future, of course, but creating processes so that citizens, govern ments, and regional organizations can act on the emerging issue in stead of always being busy with current

However,problemsdisruptions often for get about what is not novel. Fu tures Studies are focused on the larger patterns of change. For ex ample, it is not just novelty that matters but pendulums i.e. we note in large organizations the shift from centralization to decen

dress COVID and changes in AI… For a large international organiza tion, we examined the changing nature of food and articulated dif ferent possibilities ahead.

he good education of our experts and the quality of delivery are the greatest advantages of the Serbian IT mar ket, and many large global compa nies are competing to offer do mestic engineers and developers better conditions. One of the glob al IT leaders, Luxoft, part of the global IT giant DXC Technology, recently opened its office in Ser bia. Luxoft, which has been de clared the best IT company in many countries around the world in which it operates, offers do mestic experts all the advantages of working in a global corporation."Currently, Luxoft has over 300 open positions. We currently have 800 employees and will perma nently have open positions for programmers in Serbia, as we plan to triple the number of employ ees by this time next year. Our big gest response expectations for the newcomers are in Belgrade, how ever since Luxoft works mostly re mote, we have no restrictions on hiring candidates from any part of Serbia." says Mihajlo Poštić, Man aging Director of Luxoft Serbia.

Luxoft operates in 25 countries worldwide and delivers stateof-the-art software solutions to over 450 clients globally. Work ing in international teams on pro jects for the world's most famous brands, cooperation with the world's leading experts and un limited opportunities for career development - are just some of the advantages of working at Lux oft. The experts of this company develop the latest software for the world's most famous car manu facturers, banks and other finan cial organisations and numerous Fortune 500 companies from oth er industries.Engineering Director Anton Bardyshev emphasises that the automotive industry is very de manding and challenging for de velopment however, he firm ly believes in the potential of the Serbian IT market: "Software de velopment for the automotive in

"Certainly, as a country, we still have to work on a higher volume of education for IT experts, so that the capacity meets the great de mand. For example, only Luxoft can employ all software engineers who graduate from Belgrade Uni versity," stated Mihajlo Poštić.

The world's leading IT company answered the greatest demand for experts to work on software for the automotive, banking sector, logistics, healthcare

Luxoft Opened 300 Vacancies in Serbia OPERATE

also points out the

dustry is still in its infancy in Ser bia, and Luxoft is an excellent opportunity for the experts who are interested in it. Faculties in Serbia provide an excellent base for this field, primarily C, C++ and C embedded programming lan guages, and we provide a unique upgrade of knowledge in practi calBardyshevwork."

Alexey Kosintsev, director for the cross-industry solutions in Serbia, also highlights projects in the field of retail, telecommuni cations and logistics: "We develop platforms that enable companies to monitor and control risks relat ed to the supply chain. Also, our top application security team de velops security solutions for one of the world's largest telecommu nications companies"

Healthcare projects also take an important role in the Luxoft port folio, says Aleksander Zhirma, who is in charge of healthcare & life sciences projects: "In the field of dentistry, Luxoft is working on, I can freely say, revolutionary pro jects that will change the current orthodontic practice." Our grow ing team in Belgrade is developing a state-of-the-art orthodontic plat form that includes all stages of the process - from scanning the jaw with 3D technology to a 3D print showing the final appearance."

CORPORATE WE

IN 25 COUNTRIES AND DELIVER STATE-OF-THE-ART SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS TO 450+ CLIENTS GLOBALLY

great advantage of Serbia as a lo cation: "Serbia's huge advantage is that it is in the middle of Europe, and by coming to this location, Luxoft got physically closer to the big European car manufacturers it cooperates with. The fact that the hardware itself, i.e. cars for test ing, is now more available to us, significantly increases the speed of delivery of solutions."

Journalist and editor-in-chief of Vreme weekly

Independent journalists who enjoy public trust are few and far between, and they pay a huge personal price for their work INTERVIEW YOU CAN'T BE A JOURNALIST IF YOU CAN'T PUT UP WITH CERTAIN THINGS

sence? If we look at the average SNS official, you’ll notice that they either bought a diploma some where, from an obscure university or that they plagiarized it. We see, for instance, the stubbornness of Siniša Mali, who, every now and then, wants to elevate him self above the academic commu nity and show, while quoting cer tain court rulings, that he is not a plagiarist, even though the same academic community had proven that he is. Looking at the current government, we realize that social affirmation in Serbia in the last ten years has been done exclu sively through a political party.

And to make matters worse, we see the same attitude towards knowledge and education. A pro fessor or a teacher is far from be ing a desirable occupation, and this is not only due to terrible sal aries, but it's also a question of a society that treats education with disdain. Where all of this is going to take us is clearly visible from (Aleksandar) Vučić and the rest tirelessly promoting dual educa tion. Is it in the best interest of this country for young people to learn how to screw in a screw and be the pillar of that “screwdriv er” economy based on cheap la bour, or is it in the best interest of this country to educate the pop ulation as much as possible and for that population to be the driv ing force behind Serbia’s devel opment? I think that this govern ment demonstrates exactly the opposite. If you advertise a coun try as having a cheap workforce, then surely there are not enough educated people in that country.

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FILIP ŠVARM

The general dumbing down of society is a global problem. The whole planet is facing it. It is one of the side effects of digitization that has caused it. Today you can advocate on social networks that the Earth is flat and that people are lizards and politicians pander to this general dumbing down.

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Why did the polarization in so ciety spill over to journalists so that today we only have two types of journalists - pro- and against the regime?

— I think that pattern that it is

Evil Has Become Unbridled

by Dragan Nikolić

H as the world run out of ideology, why does the public not react by raising a revolution, and what is the posi tion of the opposition parties and independent media in Serbia's modern and broken society? We sought answers to these and many other questions in a conversation with Filip Švarm, editor-in-chief of Vreme weekly.

important to join the party has ex isted for a very long time. It's no secret. Serbia has been a parto cratic society for decades, since the 1990s. It is easier if you gain affirmation through a political party than through your own pro fession. But what does this SNSled government consider the es

You recently stated that educa tion is lost on Serbia and that be ing a member of the Serbian Pro gressive Party (SNS) is all one needs to succeed. Is this the only way now, or was it like that be fore too, when other political parties were in power?

Why is it so difficult to deal with and search for the truth today? Is the public ready to hear it?

— I believe that the public is al

How can we then be objective and independent in the era of cancel culture? As a journal ist, you can choose whether you want to be cancelled by the gov ernment or the opposition. Or you can be totally excluded. And then what?

What does it really mean when you accuse Vreme weekly of being

Unfortunately, of all people, you know best what it means to be the subject of oppression. It all started with your documenta ry "Assassination of DjindjićMedia Background" or maybe even earlier. How much did that change your life and how did it affect your work as a journalist?

— Journalists in Serbia are not di vided into pro- and against the re gime. That division does not exist. We have people who work direct ly for the regime and we have in dependent journalists who are trying to do their job. Vučić is omnipresent in the media and the entire media image revolves around him. If you do your job professionally you are expect ed to tell the truth. We are faced with the propaganda of one par ty and the creation of a cult of per sonality of one man, so whenev er you criticize it, you are accused of being an opposition journalist, a traitor or even a foreign merce nary. On the other hand, we have a devastated public. There is de facto no opposition in Serbia. In stead, there are some groups of people who claim to be the op position, but they are very small and not very influential. The di vision that exists is not a division between opposition and pro-gov ernment journalists, but between people who are part of a propa ganda machine of the ruling party, on the one hand, and on the other, there is this tiny handful of inde pendent and professional media whose influence on the market is perhaps five or ten percent, and the market is anything but regu lated, fair and honest.

ical party. The few media that do not do this, that are pushed into a corner, are portrayed as having some degree of influence. Every body knows who actually has in fluence in this country and it is not us. The public is not the one that perpetrates the cancel culture in Serbia – politics does. The me dia cannot be fundamentally dif ferent from politics. Just look at what kind of media takes the gov ernment’s side and this is some thing that has blocked every seg ment of life. In Serbia, we don't have normal debates or an ex change of opinions. In Serbia, there are only insults. It is a po litical story. The only thing left for journalists to do is to them selves, to stick to what their pro fession dictates, and in that way, try to win their place in the pub lic space.

SOCIETY CANNOT CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IF JOURNALISM IS IDEAL AND BETTER THAN SOCIETY. THAT DOESN’T EXIST ANYWHERE

I have to underline I was not at tacked by the authorities when the film was broadcast. At that time, (Boris) Tadić was the coun try’s president, and neither he nor any government minister com mented on my film. Some politi cians congratulated me, some did not, but my film and I were the subjects of public attention. It is different now. It’s not all the same when the country’s president mentions your name.

ways ready and always wants to hear the truth simply because it affects its destiny. However, today we have propaganda that has been developed to unimaginable pro portions. When I started working as a journalist, I couldn't imagine that it would reach this level. In dependent media are in a very bad financial situation because they don't have normal access to the market and advertisers don't advertise in them, not because they don't want to, but because they can't as it would cause polit ical problems. We have a prepon derance of politics in Serbia. That policy of the current government in some way broke public life, which is today divided into pub lic enemies and those who love Serbia. If you say anything criti cal of the state, you are treated as an enemy. Here, public opinion is shaped by countless spin affairs. Just remember all those mas sive televised coups. The public is thrown a figurative bone to chew on and be distracted. One example of this “bone” is the recent court’s verdict in the case of the mur dered singer Jelena Marjanović. Let's just remember all the affairs that were created and were por trayed as the most important state issues. Politicians, starting with the country’s president, are giving statements that make public life completely meaningless.

— The ruling clique shapes the market. Practically speaking, there are the privileged media and the media that are forced into the mouse hole. Relating those two groups of journalists is wrong be cause there is only one truth. If you speak and write the truth, then I believe you will reach some segments of the audience. This is simply a false division to can cel one or the other. Just think of what national broadcasters look like. You can't appear on them, because if you do and say some thing that the ruling party doesn't like, they start attacking you. We live in a society of the so-called straw man fallacy. The public and the media should be free, but they areThenot.media should work for the benefit of ordinary people, but they don't, as they are pushed into glorifying one man and one polit

— It didn't change my life at all. It would be odd if people like Beba Popović and people like him did not attack me. I made a documen tary film that caused a public re action. I also had a lot of support, but the attacks resonated much more with the public. It is a good film that sparked a lot of debates among people. OK, I did take a fig urative ‘beating’, but it didn't af fect me that much. You can't be a journalist if you can't put up with certain things. I believed in my film then, I believe in it now and I'm hitting back.

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credibility with the public, when their profession is collapsing and discredited every day, most ly by the government and its structures?

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Why is the public's reaction so lukewarm? Some affairs here are so monumental that, in nor mal countries, they would bring down the government in one day. However, in Serbia, the pub lic seems disinterested. Why is that so?

— To quote Lenin:” It takes organ izers to make a revolution.” If you don't have a strong political factor, and unfortunately there is none in Serbia, then you cannot organize citizens to rebel and demand their rights be met. The only time when this is not true is when all hell breaks loose like in the case of Rio Tinto. When people blocked the motorways, the government froze and went into reverse. That proves that the public is capa ble of achieving something. If we want to go bigger than that, then we need proper organization. It is a big job, but it is not the ordinary people’s job, but that of political parties. You asked me an excel lent question, but it is not for me as a journalist to answer it. You should ask opposition politicians. Why did they not succeed in cre ating a policy that will attract vot ers and why didn’t they win their trust? If you want to achieve that, it’s not enough to shout “Down with Vučić!” occasionally - you must create an ideology and pol icies. It is not enough to just spot problems, but you also need to of fer realistic solutions. That's not the media’s job – it’s the political parties’ job.

a mafia/tycoon-ran media outlet? What does it really mean when you keep claiming day after day that Dragan Djilas stole 619 mil lion? If he did, why don't you ar rest him? What does (Aleksandar) Vulin’s rhetoric about Croatia re ally mean? What does the phrase "Serbian world" mean? The pub lic has to endure spin news that keep “the temperature” constant ly high, appease the national sen timent and create this constant feeling of being threatened. Public life is subordinated to the prop aganda of one party. When, once in a while, certain important top ics emerge. Once these topics find their way to the public, the gov ernment immediately shifts to align with them. I believe that the public is interested in the Jovanji ca affair and that the government has to react to what the independ ent media are reporting. Sooner or later, that will reach the audience.

THE MEDIA SHOULD WORK FOR THE BENEFIT OF ORDINARY PEOPLE, BUT THEY DON'T, AS THEY ARE PUSHED INTO GLORIFYING ONE MAN AND ONE POLITICAL PARTY

people, considering how they live, which is by no means glamorous, on the contrary, still enjoy some respect. But why are journalists generally disrespected? That's a real question. The decline of trust in journalism is caused by a far greater number of journalists who are actually propagandists and milksops and are destroying the profession. Because of them, even the few journalists that are left do not get the respect they deserve. Society cannot change for the bet ter if journalism is ideal and bet ter than society. That doesn’t ex ist anywhere. How can we regain credibility? By simply allowing

the media to do their media work freely.

— I have already spoken a lot about media freedom in my pre vious answers. I think that the media situation in Serbia is very bad, the current trend is worrying me and the hate speech is getting worse. I'm really not an optimist.

An era of uncertainty has start ed. Still, there is an ideology. That pendulum has swung all the way to the right at this point. I be lieve that the ideas of solidari ty and justice will start appearing in some public policies out of the need for people to defend them selves against the evil that has lost its compass

What is your view of media "freedom" in Serbia? What is the current trend and is there any hope that it will improve in the foreseeable future?

Today, we all classify ourselves into various groups exclusive ly according to interests, not ac cording to ideologies. Why is there a lack of ideas in modern society?

On the other hand, that true liberal ideology has transformed into a kind of neoliberalism, which is again intoxicated by thinking it is victorious. Neoliber alism quickly realized that there are no longer any limits, which created this huge gap between the rich and the poor, and a society where a very small number of ab surdly rich people rule, and a large number of people do not live bet ter than their parents. We have poverty, armed conflicts and real imperial wars like before the First World War. Afghanistan, Iraq, Lib ya and Ukraine are just some ex amples. The rise of nationalism in both Eastern and Western Europe started as a response to the neo liberal system.

— I believe that there are jour nalists whom the public trusts. There aren’t many of them, but there are a few. They are margin alized and are operating as inde pendent journalists but the public trusts them. There are journalists, like the ones working for Vreme, who pay a huge personal price for doing what they do – they are un derpaid, work terribly hard, are exposed to a lot of stress and are stigmatized. I think that these

How can journalists regain their

— That is a serious question. This is not only the case with Ser bia, but the collapse of ideology is a worldwide issue. We believed that with the fall of the Berlin Wall, liberalism would take over and that would be the end of pol itics and history as we know it. This view was exported to Eastern Europe. At that moment, the left lost its footing and did not sur vive the fall of the Berlin Wall. So cial democracy either disappeared or was sold. People like (Gerhard) Schroeder and (Tony) Blair com pletely changed the essence of so cial democracy, which resulted in the disappearance of its ideology.

NATIONAL DAY

Malaysia DIPLOMACY & COMMERCE PRESENTS

The celebrations of the National Day and Malaysia Day 2022 are themed 'Keluarga Malaysia Teguh Bersama’ (Malaysian Family Strong Together) and it is very much in line with the commitment and concept of harmony of a large family

Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of malaysiainserbiaBelgradeMalaysia,

FOREWORD

gapore and the two states in the is land of Borneo, namely Sabah and Sarawak. Singapore then separated in 1965, but the date remains pro claimed as the Malaysia Day and it has also been celebrated ever since.

or Malaysia, its National Day is celebrated on 31 August every year. This year, the celebration of the National Day commemorates the 65th Anniversary of its independ ence since 1957, when peaceful nego tiations ended the colonial rule and the Federation of Malaya emerged as the precursor to the modern Malay sia as we know it today.

National Day andDayMalaysia2022

Malaysians all over the world, in cluding in the Republic of Serbia, are celebrating the joyous and aus picious occasions of these two his torical days with pride and in the spirit of solidarity and unity.

The celebrations of the Nation

The andtogethernessinpeacethattoFamily''Malaysianphraserefersasocietylivesinandunityinclusion,gratitude

MALAYSIA 22 SPECIAL EDITION

On 16 September 1963, the Feder ation of Malaya was joined by Sin

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As the Head of Mission of the Em bassy of Malaysia in Belgrade, the Republic of Serbia, I have always promulgated pillars of enhanced relations that constitute strength ening the relationship between our two nations, and among the main ones is people-to-people. Greater ef forts must be undertaken to build a stronger people-to-people rela tionship. Strong and sustained peo ple-to-people interaction acts as a paramount foundation for the de velopment of closer and deeper understandings.

KHAIRULTARMIZITAZRIL

al Day and Malaysia Day 2022 are themed 'Keluarga Malaysia Teguh Bersama’ (Malaysian Family Strong Together) and it is very much in line with the commitment and concept of harmony of a large family as aspired by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Right Honourable Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. The phrase 'Malaysian Family' refers to a society that lives in peace and unity in inclusion, togeth erness and gratitude while the phrase 'Strong Together' supports the mean ing of strength and unity achieved collectively and sustainably. In this regard, the spirit of a Malaysian Fam ily Strong Together should be en couraged and embraced by all levels of society in our efforts to improve the lives of the people when facing the challenges of the global economy.

One of the main catalysers in this process is a continuous pres ence of cultural exchange, where it is difficult not to mention Embas sy’s outreach efforts, as well as the Embassy’s cultural troupe Chender awasih’s contribution in bringing the Malaysian arts and culture clos er to wide Serbian public.

public of Serbia, especially in the areas of education and science & tech nology, as well as youth and sports, which have inarguably inspired inter ests to explore various potentials of future cooperation as another bridge connecting the peoples in Malaysia and the Republic of Serbia.

Due to continued tourism pro motion efforts this year especially in view of the recent full opening of Ma laysia’s borders and major relaxation of measures, the number of Serbian travellers to Malaysia has started to quickly recover even better than the pre-pandemic period. With all the encouragements from both of our Governments’ to ease the travelling between our two countries, I am con fident that the exchange of visitors will continue to increase, thus con tributing to further improvement of people-to-people relations overall. In relation thereto, this Malaysia Focus On extensively features many won ders of Malaysia.

From the initial establishment of the bilateral relations between Ma laysia and the former Federal Re public of Yugoslavia in 1967 to the reopening of the Embassy of Malay sia in Belgrade in 2004, the roles of our two geographically distant but similarly warm and hospitable peo ples are of great magnitude.

I am optimistic and could see the prospects of future enhancement of bilateral cooperation between Ma laysia and the Republic of Serbia as bright, with the next few years be ing particularly conducive period for further development of relations between our two countries overall.

In addition, there has also been a recent widening of bilateral cooper ation between Malaysia and the Re

On this note, I wish to once again, extend my congratulations on the occasions of National Day and Ma laysia Day 2022 !

Keeping focus on continuity in a post-pandemic world, Malaysia has embodied Cultural Diplomacy as one of the approaches being re invigorated. And leveraging on the dynamism of the people-to-people connection between Malaysia and the Republic of Serbia as one of the main foundation of the good bilat eral relations between these two na tions, the Embassy of Malaysia in Belgrade in a great collaboration with Hyatt Regency Belgrade, Turk ish Airlines and Tourism Malay sia presents you “To Know Malay sia Is To Love Malaysia” Week which will be held from 18 till 25 Septem ber 2022 at Hyatt Regency Belgrade. This program will be featuring arts, culture and culinary presentation

23SPECIAL EDITION of Malaysia as its main elements, in a delightful ambience of Malaysia Truly Asia, a colourful multicultural experience and authentic flavours.

Serbia trade with Malaysia grew 43.83 per cent last year, valued at USD 108.94 million where both import and export of goods be tween the two countries recorded strong growths. Serbia’s import from Malaysia in creased by 40.82 per cent, meanwhile Ser bia’s export to Malaysia showed significant jumped by 100.57 per cent. Top trading goods were rubber products, machineries parts, E&Es and palm oil.

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services (EMS), payment gateway solutions, telecommunication infrastructure related services, logistic related services, oil & gas re lated services and also a regional leader in digital creative content just to name a few.

External Trade Development Corporation or MATRADE is Malaysia’s na tional trade promotion agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Indus try (MITI). MATRADE plays a major role in connecting, facilitating and assisting for eign companies to do business with Malay sia. MATRADE is tasked to promote Malay sian products and services overseas through its 46 global offices. Serbia’s market is under the purview of MATRADE Office in Milan, It aly (milan@matrade.gov.my).

As of date, Malaysia has Free Trade Agree ment (FTA) with Australia, Chile, India, Ja pan, New Zealand, Pakistan and Turkey.

There are many reasons as to why Ma laysia is Serbia’s strategic trading partner. As a starter, Malaysia is strategically locat ed in Asia, along the Straits of Malacca, one of the most important shipping lines in the world connecting Indian Ocean and Pacif ic Ocean. Malaysia also offers a very friend ly business environment where the country ranked 12th in the World Bank’s Ease of Do ing Business Index 2020. Being a trading na tion at its core also made Malaysian indus tries meet the compliances of international standards where the Government of Malaysia is very supportive with pro-business policies.

Please visit our website, www.matrade.gov.my

Despite having substantial strength in manufactured goods and selected commod ities, Malaysia also is highly capable in ser vices sector. The country is one of Asian ma jor players in the electronics manufacturing

MF in their Economic Outlook as of April 2022 positioned Malaysia as the 34th largest economy in the world with the GDP size of USD 439.37 billion, which put the country of more than 33 million people as the third largest economies in the Southeast Asia region be hind Indonesia and Thailand.

Apart from offering diverse range of high quality products and services, Malaysia also is well-known for its good manufacturing practices (GMP), where several GMP stand ards have been made the requirement stand ards by the Government of Malaysin to ele vate the quality of locally-made products.

As a member of the Association of South east Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysia also is part of the regional FTAs with China, Ja pan, Republic of Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. On March 18th, 2022, Malaysia has entered into the Regional Comprehen sive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the larg est trade pact in history.

Malaysia is one of the founding members of ASEAN, a political and economic union consists of 10 member states in the Southeast Asia region. From the Kuala Lumpur Interna tional Airport (KLIA), Malaysia is within 2 to 3 hours air journey to all of the business cap itals in ASEAN and this is one of the advan tages that make Malaysia an attractive des tination among foreign investors. Last year, InterNations, a Germany-based firm that fo cus on global expat network, named the cap ital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur as the best city for expats in their Expat City Ranking 2021Malaysiareport.

Regionally, Malaysia was Serbia’s third largest trading partner among Southeast Asia countries in 2021, behind Vietnam and Indonesia. In the same year, Serbia was Ma laysia’s largest trading partner among Open Balkan members. Malaysia is the world’s largest exporter of more than thirty particu lar products that range from high technology equipment and components, consumables to derivatives from high value commodities such as petroleum and palm oil.

eral trade pacts either multilateral or bilater al that foreign companies can leverage upon.

Having a mixed economy system which includes variety of private freedom, Malay sia is considered by many as one of attractive gateways to number of markets. English is widely spoken and the country is part of sev

In 2021, Malaysia was the 24th largest trading nation in the world and global exporter, while being the 26th biggest global importer

Regionally, Malaysia was Serbia’s third largest trading partner among Southeast Asia countries in 2021, behind Vietnam and Indonesia

In 2021, Malaysia was the 24th largest trad ing nation in the world and global exporter, while being the 26th biggest global importer. Electrical & electronic components (E&Es), petroleum and machineries are the top Ma laysian exports, along with palm oil, which Malaysia is one of the major global suppliers.

25SPECIAL EDITION

Malaysia – Your Strategic Trading Partner

Malaysia Truly Asia: It’s Time to Discover

MALAYSIA 26 SPECIAL EDITION

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ituated in the centre of the Asia Pacific region, Malaysia enjoys a strate gic location and a yearround tropical climate. With 13 states, three Federal Territories and a population that currently stands at more than 30 million, Malaysia is well known for its cultural diversity – Malay, Chinese and Indian – and the unique ethnic communities of Sabah and Sarawak.

MalaysiauponTraveller’storequiredlongerfillintheCardentering

27SPECIAL EDITION

With three major ethnic com munities living in harmony, or mu hibbah, Malaysia has become one of Asia's most friendly and toler ant countries. The muhibbah is fur ther portrayed through the coun try’s festival calendar that spreads throughout the year, beginning with the Chinese Lunar New Year cele brations right at the beginning; Ei dul Fitri and Eidul Adha; followed by Deepavali (another name for Di wali, the festival of lights) in the lat er months. Malaysians always wel come tourists to discover and enjoy these unique celebrations that are done Malaysian-style. are also no

Pavilion Hotel Kuala Lumpur Managed by Banyan Tree stands right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Berjaya Hotels & Resorts’ most prized possession, ‘The Goddess of The Sea’ and The Star of Redang lsland in Terengganu is none other than The Taaras Beach & Spa Resort which is surrounded by the blue ocean.

Iconicwww.banyantree.com/malaysia/pavilion-hotelMalaysianresort,TheDataiLangkawiofLangkawi

www.thetaaras.com

Island in Kedah welcomes back international guests with new nature experiences and enhanced facilities.

Travellers

www.thedatai.com

MALAYSIA 28 SPECIAL EDITION

Malaysia’s stunning islands and beaches provide the ideal sun, sea and sand getaways. Some of these islands, particularly along the

Uncover your new pursuits at LangkawiSoutheast Asia’s first landscapeswithislandtheGlobalUNESCOGeopark,tropicalparadiseincredible

coasts of Terengganu and Sabah, are world-class dive sites with amaz ing underwater landscapes. The Si padan Island is well known as one of the world’s top diving destinations. Being a multi-racial country, Ma laysians are very lucky to be able to enjoy the many different cuisines and cultures brought about by the diversity of its people. Food is in deed part of the Malaysia’s culture and eating is one of Malaysians' fa vourite pastimes. Thus, gastronomy is one of the main draws for tourists to visit Malaysia, so much so that the top three areas that tourists spend on in Malaysia are shopping, accom modation, and food & beverages.

Uncover your new pursuits at Langkawi - Southeast Asia’s first UNESCO Global Geopark, the trop ical island paradise with incredible landscapes. At Kuching, tuck into its foods to experience and under stand what makes Kuching a UNES CO Creative City of Gastronomy.

Melaka and Georgetown are gener ously endowed with UNESCO World Heritage Sites, not to mention Ma laysia’s first World Heritage Site of Kinabalu Park as well as Gunung Mulu National Park.

From pristine beaches and breath taking islands to a rich tapestry of cultures and well-preserved herit age treasures, Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur, is a bustling metrop olis with unique landmarks of KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers (the tallest twin towers in the world). Not only KL Forest Eco Park - the nat ural rainforest, can be found at the heart of Kuala Lumpur, but the ad ministrative capital of Putrajaya also boasts impressive architecture and bridges.Malaysia’s other destinations such as Melaka, Penang, Langkawi, Sabah and Sarawak, each have their own charms. The historic cities of

tourism destination. Since its incep tion, it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. Tourism Malaysia in Istanbul, Tur kiye is responsible for the outbound market from the Serbia to Malaysia.

Malaysia's latest attractions in clude the newly-opened Genting SkyWorld, an outdoor theme park in the highlands, and the magnif icent Merdeka 118 Tower in Kuala Lumpur, currently standing as the world’s second-tallest building.

29SPECIAL EDITION

Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, also known as Tourism Ma laysia, is an agency under the Min istry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Ma laysia. It focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia as a preferred

There are many reasons for tour ists to choose Malaysia as a holi day destination, from its beautiful natural wonders, vibrant culture, friendly people and reputation as a safe and family-friendly destina tion as well as its value-for-money experiences.AsMalaysia has officially reo pened its borders starting 1 April 2022, fully-vaccinated inbound travellers can enjoy quarantine-free travel to Malaysia and no longer need to undergo pre-departure and on-arrival COVID-19 tests, including children aged 17 and below. Travel insurance is also not a prerequisite for foreigners entering the coun try. Travellers are also no longer re quired to fill in the Traveller’s Card upon entering Malaysia. Let’s ex plore and visit Malaysia now.

Norlizah Jahaya norlizah@tourism.gov.myDirector TOURISM MALAYSIA-ISTANBUL Harman Sokak, Harmanci Giz Plaza | No:5, Kat:20 34394 Esentepe, Sisli | Istanbul – TÜRKİYE Tel: +90 212 284 44 31 Ibrahim Cagri Saglik Marketing cagri@tourism.gov.myManager Malaysia's highlandsparkoutdoorSkyWorld,Gentingnewly-openedincludeattractionslatesttheanthemeinthe www.malaysia.travel malaysia.truly.asia

ExperiencePenang

Penang remains one of the top destinations for travellers through out the years. With the unique mul ti-ethnic community, Penang is tru

“The Other Side of the Island, Teluk Bahang and Balik Pulau” and dis cover the variety of quality tourism products in “The Opposite Side of the Island, Seberang Perai”. These locations differ from the known parts of Penang, providing a passage for one to unveil the unseen charm of Penang.The“7Wonders of Penang” at tractions that are equally attractive will cater to different needs of trav ellers who opt for Penang. In fact, you are currently sitting in the place that owns 2 wonders of Penang, which is “World’s Highest Ropes Course Challenge” at The Gravityz and “World’s First Tower Curved Skywalk” located right here at The TOP, one can experience the beau ty of nature at the “World’s Steep est Tunnel Track” located at Penang Hill and be amazed by the mysteri ous world of insects at the “World’s First Tropical Butterfly and Insect Sanctuary” in ENTOPIA. There is so much more to explore and experi ence in Penang.

31SPECIAL EDITION

With the unique multi-ethnic community, Penang is truly irreplaceable in terms of its food, culture, heritage, arts and nature surrounding

Penang’s Assam Laksa TravelDish”World’snamedwas“The7thBestbyCNN

ocated at Malaysia’s northwest coast, Penang is one of the thirteen states of Malaysia that comprises an island and strip of land on the peninsular called Seberang Perai. Penang’s capital George Town, was inscribed onto UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2008 where it features Malaysia’s best restored and readapted tradi tional architecture plus a multitude of heritage trades and arts. Penang is also the first state in Peninsular Malaysia to own 2 UNESCO sites: the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site and the newly recog nized Penang Hill UNESCO Bio sphere Reserve. These 2 sites are lo cated at close proximity, allowing travellers to move from one to an other effortlessly to enjoy the maxi mum out of these.

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In line with Penang's aspiration to become a premier, sustainable, and diversified tourism destination as outlined in the Penang Tourism Master Plan and Penang 2030 Vi sion, we are unveiling the State's re markable hidden holiday gems on the island and Seberang Perai. Vis itors are encouraged to explore the beauty of the untouched shores in

ly irreplaceable in terms of its food, culture, heritage, arts and nature surrounding. Each and every one of these categories stand out among the rest, making Penang the ulti mate destination that travellers would not want to miss. This is fur ther highlighted in the multiple ac creditations awarded to Penang by international platforms such as CNN which listed Penang as “One Of The Best 22 Best Destinations To Visit To In 2022”; The Times of In dia recognized Penang as “Amongst the Finest UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Asia”; and Penang’s Assam Laksa was named “The World’s 7th Best Dish” by CNN Travel.

An unblemished nature reserve and an assortment of geo-sites load ed, Langkawi is the home of daz zling geological formations such as mammoth limestone rocks, fossils, caves and lagoons, beaches and, of course, thick forests of mangroves. Keep an eye out for the mangrove region and the muddy flats and you will catch a peek of a bunch of aston ishing animals. In various parts of

You will also find some of the world’s best and most luxurious ho tels in Langkawi for a spectacular is land getaway. Set within an array of picturesque landscapes, hotels such as The Danna Resort and Villas, Casa del Mar, and The Datai Langkawi which boasts a pristine private beach and a large infinity pool are definite ly on top of the list. These amazingly scenic beaches feature clean white sand, jungle-covered mountains in the background, and shimmering blue seas stretching for miles in al most every direction. There is also a famous beach in Langkawi that is fringed with black sand.

Keep an eye out for regionmangrovetheand the muddy flats and you will catch a peek of a bunch of animalsastonishing

has something to offer to every pal ate. When hunger strikes, allow your senses to be elevated with the sen sational line up of cuisine Langkawi has on offer to tickle your fancy.

Surrounded by turquoise waters and home to the most wonderful forest valleys, it is unsurprising that when it comes to deciding on ideal destinations to visit, Langkawi naturally comes to mind

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For an action filled trip, adrena line junkies can indulge in adven ture by participating in water activi ties and gravity defying stunts such as skydiving. Meanwhile, for those seeking a change of pace, you can’t go wrong with a relaxing night soak ing in the sunset by Chenang Beach. While sipping on sweet beverag es, night dwellers can enjoy watch ing performers lighting up the sky with a fire show in what is sure to be a one-off experience. There are also sunset cruises available for book ing. There is nothing more roman tic than going on a sunset cruise with your partner or enjoying an evening adventure with your loved ones in Langkawi. This is one of the best things to do in Langkawi at night purely because of the incred ible view of the Andaman Sea that you can get while sailing. Langka wi truly comes with the promise of unforgettable moments and mem orable experiences. Look no fur ther, your ideal holiday destination awaits you!

Alluring and idyllic in its natural beauty, Langkawi is regarded as a significant nature haven. The natu ral landscape of Langkawi is a com bination of highly vegetated rain forest hills and some rather barren rocks. There is an abundance of nat ural wonders, from ancient rock for mations and dramatic mountain peaks to a wealth of flora and fau na. The diverse land and seascapes of Langkawi are home to a bounty of fascinating wildlife: an incredi ble cast of characters that includes long-tailed macaques, the ubiqui tous eagles, and the rare colugo, the world’s only flying primate.

LangkawiNaturally – The Jewel of Kedah

the island, you will go back in time as you witness sleepy village life and vast stretches of paddy fields, ba nana trees and coconut palms.

MALAYSIA 32 SPECIAL EDITION

This scenic paradise is the largest archipelago consisting of a cluster of 99 islands off the coast of Kedah in Malaysia, where the Andaman Sea merges with the Straits of Mel aka. The exploration opportunities are endless in this electrifying is land. One of Langkawi’s most re cent developments is the explosion of its food scene. Ranging from local specialities, humble yet cosy cafés to night market snacks, Langkawi

angkawi, widely known as the “Jewel of Kedah”, is the ultimate tropical escape in Malaysia. Sur rounded by turquoise waters and home to the most wonderful forest valleys, it is unsurprising that when it comes to deciding on ideal desti nations to visit, Langkawi naturally comes to mind. The island’s du ty-free shopping scene is the next best reason to visit after its expan sive beaches and verdant moun tains. With the unbeatable combi nation of culture, history and a lively food and beverage scene, Langkawi truly has it all.

ty Based Tourism received the acco lade for ASEAN Community Based Tourism Standard 2019-2021. This success has seen the positive im provement of the rural community livelihood and socio-economy.

Danum Valleys still WhatAmazon!oldermillionagingprimarycontainsforest130years–thanthestarted

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Sabah welcomes you to explore our destination as you experience it through your vacation, business event, meetings or whatever form of travel. This is Enchanting Sabah.

where sites and landscapes of inter national geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustain able development. Global Geopark concepts embraces bottom-up ap proach combining conservation with sustainable development while involving local communities.

However, Kiulu and Kadamaian are not just rivers. Villages along the river have developed a com munity program for self-sustaina bility through community activi ties revolving around tourism. The community by these rivers formed culture and everyday routine with mother nature into a unique expe rience for visitors. Immerse yourself in their culture and learn how their culture influence their daily tasks in paddy farming, rubber tapping, tra ditional basket weaving and crafting beads handicraft apart from acquir ing new skills.

In 2019, at the the ASEAN Tour ism Ministers’ Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam the Kadamaian Communi

On March 18, 2020, Kinaba lu Geopark that covers an area of 4,750sq km consisting of 3 districts namely Ranau, Kota Belud and Kota Marudu was recognized as a Nation al Geopark. On November 25, 2020 the Malaysian National Commission for UNESCO has nominated Kinaba lu Geopark for recognition as UNES CO Global Geopark to UNESCO.

UNESCO Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas

The main attraction at the Park is the majestic Mount Kinabalu, one of the highest mountains between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Climb ers from around the world came to Sabah to scale the mountain where their 2 days 1 night journey starts from Timpohon Gate at the Kinaba lu National Park.

off as conservation more than 60 years ago, have now become part and parcel of our tourism offerings

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ituated on the island of Borneo, Sabah is blessed with nature diversity, unique cultures, fun ad venture, beautiful beaches, and fan tastic cuisines for the adventurous taste buds. For those who are famil iar with Sabah, attractions such as Mount Kinabalu, Danum Valley, Maliau Basin, Sipadan, Kinabatan gan and the Kinabalu Park are among the well sought attractions.

SabahEnchanting

What started off as conserva tion more than 60 years ago, have now become part and parcel of our tourism offerings. Among them are the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilita tion Center and Selingan Turtle Is lands. Danum Valleys still contains primary forest aging 130 million years – older than the Amazon! In the recent years, the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center was es tablished as well. These are great avenues to showcase conservation efforts.Kinabalu Park had been desig nated as Malaysia's first World Her itage Site in the natural site category in December 2000. The declaration was made at the World Heritage Conference in Cairn Australia.

The Kiulu and Kadamaian river located in the Tamparuli and Kota Belud Districts respectively are known for their grade 1-2 white wa ter rafting actions. Perfect place for those/family who are looking for na ture’s rollercoaster experience.

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If you’re one for all things his tory, feel free to explore Sarawak’s rich and well-preserved architectur al heritage dating back to the 1800s. Head on to Sarawak’s capital city, Kuching where you can follow in the footsteps of the first ‘Rajah’ James Brooke (famously played by Jona than Rhys Meyers in ‘Edge of the World’) and that of his successors.

Sarawak is HeavenModernforTourists

Sarawak offers an alternative for those seeking authentic experienc es. Live like a local and experience the lifestyle of the many indigenous tribes at any of the 46 homestays across the state; explore the gigan tic cave system of the iconic Gunong Mulu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site; kayak through Sarawak’s rivers; or simply enjoy the architectural splendours of Sar awak’s colonial heritage across all regions in the state.

You can start with a walk around the heart of Kuching filled with his

MALAYSIA 34 SPECIAL EDITION

In need of gentle winds, beautiful scenery, warm hospitality, rich culture and delicious food? We got you!

arawak is the largest state in Malaysia with a low-density population of 2.9 million people (as of 2020). Home to one of the largest pristine rainforests in the world with 28 ethnic groups living harmo niously together against a backdrop of age-old heritage and elements of modernity, Sarawak is a destination blessed with a plethora of Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festi vals quite unlike anywhere else. Given its rich multi-ethnic cul ture, vast geographical landscape and impressive biodiversity, Sar awak is heaven for modern tourists who prefer tourism products that suit their interests and passions. Ad venture lovers can enjoy thrill-seek ing activities such as hiking, offroad biking, deep-sea diving and caving, and passionate anglers can throw their reels for deep-sea fish ing in Miri waters.

Oh, did we mention that Bor neo Cultures Museum is also the second-largest museum in South east Asia? That’s right, with a total of 6,726 square metres of exhibition space, it will be one of the best and most inspiring museum visits ever!

From Sarawak Laksa (famously dubbed ‘Breakfast of the Gods’ by the late Anthony Bourdain) to Umai (a local ceviche) and Manok Pansoh (Chicken steamed in bamboo) to Kek Lapis (Layered Cake) and ice cream made from Gula Apong (a special lo cal palm sugar), visitors to Sarawak will enjoy a scrumptious culinary array that is also enriched by gener ations of history and heritage.

Sarawak is truly a celebration of different cultures. No indige nous-living experience is more com plete, authentic and fulfilling than spending a day with the local com munity at a longhouse — usually lo cated approximately an hour’s drive away from the nearest city or town. Other longhouses may require boat rides that cut through jungles.

Lying at an altitude of about 3,500 feet above sea level and lo cated in the northeast of Sarawak are the Bario Highland, Bario (pro nounced as “Bariew”) which means

The Brooke Gallery at Fort Mar gherita and Ranee Museum at the Old Courthouse provides great in sights about Sarawak in the early days is definitely worth the visit!

Explore a UNESCO world heritage site; Mulu National Park in Miri, and experience the lifestyle of the river front in Sibu, Mukah, Sarikei, Bintu lu and more! Chase Sarawak’s water falls such as Lambir Hills Waterfall, Kubah Waterfall and Ranchan Wa terfall or immerse yourself in Sar awak’s true essence of nature by checking into Sarawak’s eco stays.

Sarawak is well-known for its’ di versity in ethnicities, culture and of course, its various palate of lo cal delicacies merged with the rich flavours brought in by immigrants.

Bario also has an incredible ar ray of organic food such as the fa mous Bario rice and pineapple. One of their annual events is the inter nationally known Bario Food Festi val or ‘Pesta Nukenen’, held in July each year.

torical buildings and monuments from the Brooke era, namely the Square Tower, Sarawak Steamship Building, Fort Margherita, Brooke Dockyard, Round Tower, General Post Office and more!

This has led to an explosion of crea tivity in producing a wealth of dish es and food found only in Sarawak.

Sarawak is anywherequiteandNature,Adventure,ofablesseddestinationawithplethoraCulture,FoodFestivalsunlikeelse

For the adventurous, climb Sar awak’s highest mountain, Mount Murud (2,432m) a sandstone moun tain which is a sacred place to the Kelabit people. There is also a rock garden that’s made up of unique ly-shaped rocks and boulders and this area is considered to be sacred ground visited by worshippers.

The wild is calling! For those who are looking for a great adventur ous escape from the concrete jungle and be one with nature, Sarawak’s vast geographical landscape offers a great eco-escape! Be amazed by its renowned national parks and recre ational sites especially its rainfor ests and riverine waterways.

In need of gentle winds, beautiful scenery, warm hospitality, rich cul ture and delicious food? We got you!

Step into the brand-new icon ic museum building – the Borneo Cultures Museum! The world-class repository equipped with a stateof-the-art exhibition boasts five lev els of gallery and exhibition spaces showcasing over a thousand arte facts that represent Sarawak’s amaz ing culture and heritage.

Enjoy the culinary delights of the different cultures, dance to tradi tional music played by master musi cians on unique Sarawakian instru ments, listen to the stories, folklore and legends of the respective ethnic groups and discover the meanings of the tribal tattoos.

‘wind’ in the Kelabit language, is the gateway to Kelabit Highlands.

Sarawak’s capital city, Kuch ing is the first city in Malaysia to be named ‘Creative City of Gastrono my’ by UNESCO.

While in Bario, take a guided tour around the village to learn about the history and the culture of the Kelabit community. Enjoy the must-vis it longhouse where you can see the ancient timbers of the unique kitch en darkened by the constant smoke of generations of cooking fires.

35SPECIAL EDITION

The prolonged pandemic has al most destroyed tourism. How

BOJAN ILIĆ

— As a new hotel, we are facing challenges in positioning our selves on the market but I have to say that, so far, we did an amazing job – we are recognizable by our unique style and baroque-themed design, exceptional guest care and personalized service.

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The entire hotel is designed as a baroque-inspired masterpiece and offers so much more than a classic city hotel. Rooms that are inspired by Versailles, the res taurant that takes you to amaz ing gourmet travel, the spa cen tre and a private VIP spa zone are just a few of the things that await you at the Prezident Palace Bel grade Hotel. One of the biggest ad vantages is definitely The Roof –Open Spa Zone and rooftop bar, located on the 10th floor of the ho tel. Plus, we have an indoor ga rage with a capacity of 30 parking spaces. This unique space is ex clusive and with limited access, which guarantees our guests com fort and privacy.

The Prezident Palace Hotel has been given excellent reviews and the guests are very satisfied with both the accommodation and services. What is the hotel’s big gest advantage in the market?

— Having something different on the market comes with risks and we are fully aware that our design is not everybody’s cup of tea, and that is just fine. With one-of-akind style and design, we are tar geting a specific niche and type of guests which served us really good so Baroquefar. and gold details can be overwhelming, but on the oth er hand, they are synonyms for luxury and wealth, they will re mind you of royal balls, feasts, di amonds and desserts. We are getting various com ments about the design itself, but

As the manager of a five-star ho tel in the centre of a world me tropolis, how would you de fine luxury? What makes a hotel luxurious?

top-notch guest care which I am very proud of and how far they have come for such a short peri od. We are approaching 1 year of business and the results are out standing, but there is still a lot to do though. For every good lead er, it is very important to lead with personal example and be there for every person. I am hap py to know that every employee will be there for the colleagues, no matter the position and job that needs to be done so we can create a „Home away from home“ experi ence for our guests. Here, you will see managers setting the bar, help cleaning and employees who help each other with everyday tasks –that is something that characteriz es a successful team.

ne of the latest luxury ho tels in Belgrade – the Prezident Palace - faces many challenges as it was opened during the pandemic. We spoke with the hotel’s director, Mr Bojan Ilić, who told us more about the hotel’s unique design, hospitality, Belgrade tourism, and the travel industry in general.

— Modern lifestyle and daily hus tle and bustle can be exhausting, so people have started to look for places that offer privacy and ex clusivity. Places where you can enjoy and totally relax after a big day, not being annoyed with city street noises and too much traf fic within the hotel itself. I would say that hedonism is a central thing and after that, you need to offer premium content no mat ter whether it is beverage and food offers, events, spa treatments... Personalized service and uncom promised quality!

— Even though I have joined the team only a couple of months ago, I have to say that I have an amaz ing team of young people, dedi cated to professional service and

I do believe that this is an individ ual thing – whether you love it or not.

Does the hotel’s unusual interi or design appeal to your guests? What kind of comments did you get from guests?

Home Away From Home

CORPORATE

Modern lifestyle and daily hustle and bustle can be exhausting, so people have started to look for places that offer privacy and exclusivity

How much of the credit for ex ceptional guest satisfaction goes to the hotel staff ? We have seen that the guests highlight their wonderful experiences with the staff.

BEING DIFFERENT IN THE MARKET COMES WITH RISKS

Director of Prezident Palace Hotel, Belgrade

— On the one side, I would like to have Belgrade presented in the world outside of nightlife and gourmet offers. Belgrade and Ser bia have so much more to of fer than just that. Our rich histo

When we talk about the mar ket’s future, it is a complicated thing to presume at the moment. We are all trying to predict some of the movements, but the unstable situation in the world makes it very

— As I have already mentioned, Belgrade as a destination is grow ing rapidly and I am happy to be a part of that growth. It makes me proud to watch my city turn into a world-known metropolis and become one of the best tour ist destinations in Europe. But, we still have things to do in terms of the city's cultural and entertain ment offers and infrastructural improvements.

met events, which attract visitors from the region. This is one of the channels we can use more in the future, as well as combining busi ness and leisure.

ry and culture have stories to tell. It would mean a lot to the tour ist offer to have those stories presented.Thisisnot only the govern ment's job, but we as individu als and hoteliers, have to share de tails and attract more guests. To create our media content that will have more facts about our city and ourBelgradepeople. has become the cen tre of many cultural and gour

How do you view tourism in Bel grade since the travel obstacles have been removed? Can you tell us about short-term market developments?

Given your abundant experience in the hotel industry, where does Belgrade stand today in relation to the world?

What is the average guest in Bel grade like?

— Prezident Palace Belgrade was scheduled to be opened in the same year when the pandemic hit the world, but due to the cir cumstances, it was prolonged. Fi nally, it was opened in Septem ber last year. Still, last year was a risky move but opening time was an ideal time for training sessions and getting familiar with all op eration details. Travel restrictions have impacted the entire travel and hospitality industry, and just now we are getting back on our feet. It will take couple more years to get back to where it stopped, but I am looking on the positive side – we are getting more and more tourists in Belgrade and that will mean a lot for economic re covery in general. In terms of our hotel, we are keeping in line with procedures and standards. With our unique product on the mar ket, we are attracting visitors and guests that keep returning to our hotel. That is the fact that tells us that we are on the right track and keeps us motivated to push our limits even harder.

— Very colourful! We can proudly say that Belgrade welcomes all types of guests – from those who vis it our city for fun, travel, nightlife and rich f&b experience to those who travel for business and develop their client base in our city.

did your hotel cope with that dif ficult period, especially consid ering that it was not possible to travel for a long period of time?

What is the overall hotel offer like in Belgrade? Does it meet market needs?

— City-based offer has a wide range – from hostels and private accommodation to world-known hotel chains and local luxurious brands. Belgrade can offer accom modation for every type of guest, as the city is changing and grow

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS HAVE IMPACTED THE ENTIRE TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY, AND WE HAVE ONLY STARTED TO GET BACK ON OUR FEET

hard to set targets and budgets. As people say – go with the flow.

ing daily, I am happy to say that I am looking forward to welcoming new hotel brands to the city. This will bring higher standards, more experiences, more professional approach to guests and get us new leads in the market worldwide.

he Marketing Network, for the second time in a row, will reward the most influential marketing and com munication experts from compa nies in Serbia, as part of the Mark Awards project (powered by Pepsi Co), which this year is being held on October 21 under the headline "Be Remarkable". The goal of the Mark Awards recognition is to en courage and motivate marketing and communication experts from companies in Serbia, but also to point out their potential, talents, creativity, and ability to achieve top business results and brand recognition. On this occasion, we spoke with Ivana Parčetić Mitić, Founder and CEO of the Marketing Network (Marketing mreža), who was also voted president of the Mark Awards jury this year.

Miloš Jovović, Director of Strategic Planning for Central Europe, Pep siCo; Marko Njavro, General Man ager SBU Snacks, Atlantic Štark; Nataša Filipović, Managing Direc tor, Ovation BBDO; Milivoj Đorđić, General Manager Adria Region, SmartPoint Adria; Milija Zeković, CEO, SBB Serbia and Telemach Montenegro; Neda Đokić, Man aging Director, HEINEKEN Ser bia; Olga Ristić, General Manager, Frikom; Srđan Lazović, Gener al Manager, Philip Morris Inter national (BiH & Montenegro); Iva Đurković, Managing Director, OMD Media & LUNA TBWA Bel grade; Vanja Cvetkov, Business Di rector, Centrade Cheil Adriatic; Vi oleta Kovačević, CEO, Mercator-S; Vuk Kosovac, Head of Retail, Ex ecutive Board Member, OTP ban ka Srbija.

— Today, everything what com panies do is focused on their employees, consumers, stake holders. Their satisfaction is the company's success. When mak ing business and strategic deci sions or creating new products/ services, companies start from the needs of consumers and at the same time consider how the pub lic will perceive them. This is pre cisely where the role of marketing and PR experts is crucial because they are the link between compa nies and the public. Their knowl edge and experience are extreme ly important, so it is necessary to recognize them, reward them and appreciate their quality work. On the other hand, in this way we set standards, promote good prac tices and business models, and as a market, we develop and pro gress. After all, that is the rea son why the Mark Awards were established.

What does it mean to achieve REMARKABLE business results today?

— Today, exceptional business re sults are created by companies that have adapted their business to the needs of the environment in which they operate. A mod ern company must build its busi ness today through digital trans formation, people development and sustainable business culture In today's world, achieving excep tional results does not mean only numbers, but social responsibili ty, ecological world and caring for people

— After the very successful first edition of the Mark Awards, again this year, under the general spon sorship of PepsiCo, the Market ing Network will award recogni tion to experts from companies that have rejected the old ways of doing business and decided to be different. To professionals who have chosen to be extraordinary and to rise above the culture of sameness - with exceptional re sults. The Mark Awards continues

tribute to market development?

— Mark Awards is an award with which the Marketing Network wants to promote professional role models, but also to contribute to the improvement and develop ment of the profession in Serbia. Unlike other professional awards on the Serbian market, we award Mark Awards to individuals for personal business and profession al success, that is, to individuals who have left their mark on the market of marketing communica tions in Serbia in the last year.

Mark Awards is an award with which the Marketing Network wants to promote professional role models, but also to contribute to the improvement and development of the profession in Serbia INTERVIEW IN

to reward individuals for person al business and professional suc cess, who leave a stellar mark on the market with their work, who are guiding stars in business and who, together with other bright stars, form the brightest constel lations, visible to all in this busi ness sky of ours. We will reward individuals who inspire, moti vate and encourage us to reach for the stars ourselves, which is what makes them exceptional.

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*The general sponsor of the Mark Awards project is PepsiCo. The regional partner is Porto Montenegro, and the project was supported by MPC Properties, Propix, Evoke Group and LUNA\TBWA Belgrade. The partner agency is Ovation BBDO.

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Who can be nominated for the prestigious Mark Awards?

Why are the Mark Awards dif ferent from other professional awards?

All marketing and communi cation experts from companies in Serbia, who believe that their work and deeds have left their mark on the market of market ing communications in Serbia, had the opportunity to apply for the Mark Awards competition. Ex perts from companies could apply in one of 11 categories, personal ly or be nominated by one of their colleagues and associates.

Be Remarkable THIS WAY WE SET STANDARDS, PROMOTE GOOD PRACTICES AND BUSINESS MODELS, AND AS A MARKET, WE DEVELOP AND PROGRESS

Why is it important to highlight marketing and communication experts from companies and to what extent does their work con

IVANA PARČETIĆ MITIĆ Founder and CEO of the Marketing Network (Marketing mreža)

This year, the jury was - Alek sandar Goračinov, Partner, Evoke Group; Ivan Zeković, CEO, Carnex;

The Spirit of the World’s Metropolis

Fusion Nights on Casino Maestral stage brings the spirit of Broadway, Buenos Aires, and the French Riviera

f you are a Cabaret or Moulin Rouge fan or adore The Produc ers show, you will be thrilled with the program that Maestral Hotel in Pržno prepared for this summer. Stage of Casino Maestral that hosted so many performers from the region and the World, this time will have a real fusion of top entertainment and real art. One of the best bands from our region dominates the stage with impeccable sound, class act, and energy making an atmosphere like in world-class cities. Mladen Lukić, Mina Gligorić, and Marija Stojanović use their charm, charisma, and strong vocals to make chemistry with the audience that has to be felt. The program was created by Milan Gromilić, and a group of top dancers joined by iconic Arsenije Tubić as the event

Fashionhost.Nights in Maestral Hotel is an exciting mix of seductive Pa risian cabaret, magical New York’s Broadway, London’s West End, the Mediterranean charm of the French Riviera and Monte Carlo, and en ergetic Argentinian tango from plazas of Buenos Aires or New Orleans carnival.

BASTILLE DAY IS MARKED BELGRADEIN

H.E. Ambassador, Pierre Cochard

H.E. Christopher R. Hill, Ambassador of America and H.E. Pierre Cochard

The reception was preceded by the laying of wreaths on the Monument of Gratitude to France at Kalemeg dan, where H.E. Ambassador Pierre Cochard was joined by Zorana Miha jlović, Deputy Prime Minister and Min ister of Mining and Energy.

Siniša Mali, Minister of Finance and Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister

Dubravka Đedović Negre, member of the executive board of NLB Komercijalna banka and Jelena Bulatović, Executive Director at Serbian Association of Managers

PEOPLE & EVENTS

In the residence of the French Embas sy in Belgrade, a formal reception was held on the occasion of the celebra tion of the national holiday (Fête Na tionale), also called Bastille Day. This holiday is celebrated every year on July 14 to commemorate the Storming of the Bastille in 1789, the event that turned the tide of the French Revolu tion and resulted in the creation of the French Republic.

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H.E.Takahiko Katsumata, Japanese Ambassador and Ambassador Cochard

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The reception on the occasion of the national holiday of France, which was organized by H.E. Ambassador Pierre Cochard, was also attended by the Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brn abić, Deputy Prime Minister and Min ister of Defense Nebojša Stefanović, Siniša Mali, Minister of Finance, Jad ranka Joksimović, Minister for Europe an Integration and many other distin guished guests and friends of France.

Nebojša Stefanović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense with the ambassador of France H.E. Giles Norman, Ambassador of Canada

H.E.Mohammed Amine Belhaj, Ambassador of Morocco and H.E. Pierre Cochard,

14 JULY

Ambassador with staff of the Belgian Embassy

The Ambassador of Egypt to Serbia, H.E. Bassel Salah, or ganized a formal reception on the occasion of the Nation al Day of Egypt, which marks the 70th anniversary of the declaration of the modern Arab Republic. On that occa sion, he expressed his gratitude to the President of Serbia and the Government for the magnificent welcome of Presi dent Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, adding that he hopes he will soon be able to reciprocate. The reception attended by numer ous dignitaries, including Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic, occurred only five days after the historic visit of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Belgrade, it was an opportunity for the ambassador to remind us that this visit is an indicator of strong, friendly ties and the desire of both sides to en courage bilateral relations in all spheres strongly.

The Kingdom of Belgium celebrates 21st July as an anni versary of the date in 1831 when King Leopold I swore al legiance to the constitution as the first King of the Bel gians. On that occasion, a special reception was held in the Belgium Embassy in Belgrade with many guests from Serbia’s political and cultural scene. It was the last

H.E.wifeBassel

open-air space inside the remains of a 3rd-century Roman imperial palace. "The Infernal Comedy" combined Malk ovich's stage expressiveness in speaking a text inspired by the experiences of a serial killer and superb classical mu sic performed by two orchestras. Bach, Beethoven and Haydn’s arias were masterfully conjured up by orchestras and opera singers Ken Reise and Susan Langbein.

Jovanka

H.E. Hami Aksoy, Turkish Ambassador and H.E. Bassel Salah

Salah

PEOPLE & EVENTS

Višekruna Janković and John Malkovich

Tatjana Matić, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, John Malovich and Jovanka Višekruna Janković

official reception that was hosted by H.E. Koenraad Adam, outgoing ambassador of Belgium to Serbia. Tra ditionally, Diplomacy&Commerce magazine gave him a present – a photo collage of “Memories from Serbia” to remember some good moments of his life in the Ser bian capital Belgrade.

43 21 JULY BELGIANNATIONAL DAY AND FAREWELL TO AMBASSADOR 08 AUG THE INFERNAL COMEDY WITH MALKOVICHJOHN AT ROMULIANAFELIX 26 JULY INEGYPT'SREVOLUTIONDAYRECEPTIONBELGRADE

Hollywood actor John Malkovich, the Vienna Academy Orchestra and the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra delighted the audience at the ancient site of Felix Romuliana near Zaječar with their performance of the musical piece "The Infernal Comedy". Malkovich and the musicians were re warded for their unique theatrical experiment by a stand ing ovation of around 1,000 members of the audience in an

H.E. Koenraad Adam, Ambassador of Belgium with his

Danijela Vanušić, Assistant Minister for Cultural Heritage and Digitization in the Ministry of Culture, John Malkovich, Neda Knežević, director of the Museum of Yugoslavia and Jovanka Višekruna Janković, Artistic and Managing Director ArtLink

Anđelka Atanasković, Minister of Economy and Brankica Janković, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality

The Embassy of India in Serbia organised a reception on Independence Day at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade. India celebrates its national holiday, Inde pendence Day, every August 15 to commemorate the day it gained independence from the United Kingdom. On this day in 1947, the Parliament of the United King dom passed the Indian Independence Act, transfer ring legislative sovereignty to the Indian Constituent Assembly. India retained King George IV as the formal head of state for some time until it transitioned to an entire republican constitution. On that day, India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, hoisted the Indian flag over the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi.

Like the first three Swiss cantons that signed an alliance more than seven centuries ago, the Swiss still share common interests and values and are stronger together. This was one of the messages that marked yester day’s ceremony of celebration of the 731st birthday of the Swiss Confederation. The Reception gathered representatives of the Serbian Government, Orthodox and Catho lic Church in Serbia, foreign diplomatic mis sions in Serbia, Swiss and Serbian business community, media, and culture. For the sec ond part of the evening, the Swiss colony in Serbia was invited to celebrate their nation al day at the Swiss Residence.

Zoran Djordjević, acting director of the Post of Serbia and H.E. Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, Ambassador of Russia

PEOPLE & EVENTS

Mexican Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Carlos Isauro Félix Corona and H.E. Hami Aksoy, Turkish Ambassador

H.E. Urs Schmid, Ambassador of Switzerland

H.E. Urs Schmid and H.E. Madi Atamkulov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan with his wife

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www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs44 01 AUG NATIONAL DAY OF THE CONFEDERATIONSWISS

H.E. Sanjiv Kohli, Ambassador of India

15 AUG INDIA'S INDEPENDENCE DAY MARKED WITH A RECEPTION

Your novel "Code: Reiss" became a great success very soon after its publication. How would you, as an author, describe the success of your novel? Has it changed your life?

made its way to the public.

How much did your police work and formal education help you in writing the novel? Does real life correspond to the one fea tured in crime films?

LAZAR JOVANOVIĆ

still an anonymous writer. Then everything is much more difficult, everything goes slower. It takes time and patience. If I look at it from that point of view, I can say that I am satisfied since the nov el attracted a lot of attention right from the beginning and quickly

A Policeman Who Mystery-ThrillersWrites to be in its right place WANT MY NOVELS TO FIND THEIR WAY TO PEOPLE WHO LOVE TO READ THIS GENRE AND ABOVE ALL, LOVE TO READ IN GENERAL

novels to find their way to people who love to read this genre and above all, love to read in gener al. I hope they get the same sense of satisfaction when they finish a book as I do when I read a good novel.

— Crime novels are the reason why I fell in love with reading at an early age when I also encoun tered more serious pieces of lit erature. My love for this gen re developed thanks to Agatha Christie's novels, and the genre it self was later responsible for me choosing the police work that I do today. I would also like to men tion Dan Brown, because I learned the most from him about how to build a story in a thriller, and how to generate the pace by having shorter chapters which leave the story unfinished, which, in turn, creates a thirst for reading in the readers. Jo Nesbø is my absolute favourite among top crime novel ists and is also a good example of the best piece of advice I was giv en by my editor at the Official Ga zette, Petar Arbutina, who said that the best writers were those who never offered their best nov el first and I that I should do the same because if your first book is your greatest success, every other book pales in comparison.

fort and drive, even the most dif ficult dreams can be achieved. On the other hand, my life has not changed at all. I have all the same obligations, problems and expe riences that I had before. I don't harbour any illusions about be coming famous. I just want my

Criminal investigator, writer and author of the novel "Code: Reiss"

— The author should always be objective about the novel's po tential. Each novel has its audi ence, and one should be aware of how much resonance a new nov el can create. It is quite a pecu liar thing when you publish your first novel/debut, and you are

Which literary detective or writ er has had the greatest influence on you?

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Jo Nesbø had exactly what Ar butina mentioned. It's evolution through writing, and in his nov els, you can see his style gaining momentum. He showed that it is possible to make a series of nov els about the inimitable detective Harry Hole, without the sequels losing quality at all. Jo Nesbø is the uncrowned king of thriller novels and he will remain that for a long time.

he exciting crime novel "Code: Reiss" made it to the top 10 bestseller list in Serbia. In an interview for our magazine, the young writer, Lazar Jovanović, who is a police inspec tor by day and a novelist by night, reveals to us the connection be tween police work and writing crime novels. He also talks about the work of Dr Archibald Reiss, who was the inspiration for this mystery thriller.

My life has changed to a point. I have achieved both of my big childhood dreams - to be a police man and a writer - which is a very important thing for me, changes the way I look at life and reinforc es my belief that with enough ef

Being a policeman or an inspector when writing a thriller is more than useful if you want everything in a novel

INTERVIEW I JUST

Those procedures are, for the most part, accurately presented in books, series and films. Only the speed of the police procedures is exaggerated. In reality, everything takes much longer. There are also cases, depicted especially in evening series, where one per son does multiple things - at the same time they are a forensic sci entist, do arrests and conduct in terrogation interviews. That’s not realistic and it is mostly done by a team of people where everyone does their job. Also, investigations last much longer than shown in TV series. Another difference is in the availability and amount of ev idence. The interaction between the perpetrator and the crime scene is not quite as comprehen sive as these series make it out to be. You don't leave forensic evi dence that flippantly. It would be much easier for us if that were the case, but unfortunately, it is not.

— Being a policeman or an in spector when writing thrillers is more than useful. It saves you a great deal of research, which, if you want to have an authentic crime or thriller, you have to do to make everything in the novel fall into place. Of course, it helped me a lot that the novel showed au thentic police procedures so that people would have a realistic pic ture of the work we do.

I WOULD LIKE FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT BEHIND THOSE OFFICIAL, NOT TO SAY RIGID, FACES OF OURS ARE QUITE ORDINARY PEOPLE, WHO HAVE EMOTIONS AND LIVE THE MOST NORMAL LIVES

by ourselves where the problem lies, to be able to solve it and to open our eyes to what troubles us the most, which comes from within ourselves. Once we deal with that, other things will fall into place. When you read "Listen, Serbs!" you will understand that many things from that era have not changed to this day and that is perhaps the most dangerous thing that this book brings to the light.

— If we look at his work through the filter of criminological and forensic science in Serbia, that part of his legacy still lives on. He founded the first police school,

The popularization of Archibald Reiss is based only on the super ficial notion that he was a man who loved Serbs. How do you comment on that?

— Whenever you look at people through the filter of their profes sion, that’s the only thing you will see instead of an ordinary person who has their own interests and hobbies on the side. Due to the nature of the work we do in the police force, we are seen as very serious people and people rare ly imagine us being involved in, so to speak, finer things. There are indeed great minds in the police force. There are quite a few musi cians, painters, writers and ath letes working as police officers. The police do their work despite these prejudices and actually, we do not pay much attention to them.

live in a foreign country because he fell in love with its people and theirThevirtues.testament to how little he is remembered in our collective memory is his house on Topčider – the Dobro Polje Villa - which is overgrown with weeds. We all keep mentioning his political tes tament "Listen, Serbs!", but we of ten misquote it, including the supposed sentence "Listen, Serbs, protect yourself!", which is actu ally not even mentioned in the book. Nevertheless, some institu tions keep his memory alive, but it is nowhere near enough consid ering his legacy here.

— In terms of being benefi cial for the Serbian people, I can say that he was extremely so, but when it comes to the place he oc cupies in our collective memory, it is completely inadequate. That man came to Serbia with one spe cific task, which is to report on the crimes of the Austro-Hungar ian and Bulgarian armies against the Serbian people during the First World War, and he had a far from easy task considering that the global public was not too will ing to hear precise details about what was actually happening. Dr Reiss was a man of principle and fairness, and truth was always the greatest postulate in his work. He did his job in detail, with dedi cation, and he didn't hesitate to write about everything he saw and found, which were awful things. He got closer to our people and left a promising career as a profes sor at the University of Lausanne, where he came from. He came to

— Certainly, such an idiosyn cratic and positive thing associat ed with the police contributes to its positive image. I would like for people to understand that behind those official, not to say rigid, fac es of ours are quite ordinary peo ple, who have emotions and live the most normal lives. Colleagues look positively at my work as a writer, but they all wonder how I find time to do it in addition to being a policeman which takes up a lot of time.

Are you writing now? Do you have a new novel in the pipeline and are you going to stick with the same genre?

How significant is Dr Archiba ld Reiss’ work for the Serbian police and Serbian society as a whole? Does Dr Reiss occupy a deserved place in our memory?

which today is the Criminalistics and Police University, which, to gether with the Gačić family, one of his legal heirs, is trying with all its might to maintain his legacy. His textbooks from that era are still very much talked about, the various principles of police work that he promoted are used even today and it is always nice to read the texts from the early days of modern police training that we useThetoday.other part of his legacy is found in the fact that he knew us perhaps better than we knew our selves at that time, and by God, es pecially today. In his book "Listen, Serbs!", you can find descriptions of our mentality, our attitude to wards ourselves, our country, his tory and cultural-national iden tity, which he recognized at the time. We will conform to what he said and advised us back then, only if we accept the constructive criticisms he objectively gave us and work to change. He wanted to tell us that we have to understand

Do you contribute to a better im age of the police? How did your colleagues react to your success as a writer?

How unusual is the juxtaposi tion of a policeman and a writ er, and could this kind of ques tion result from prejudices that Serbian society has about the police?

— Of course! I have no plans of stopping writing. I am writing a new novel which is a sequel to "Code: Reiss" with the same char acters in a new adventure. I will remain faithful to the genre. I be lieve that I can both substantial ly develop in it and still offer a lot

Thebirth.new permanent exhibition has added interactive digital con tent so that visitors can explore the photo material themselves, and also see an interactive map with the destinations where Andrić served as a diplomat. Virtual tours of the museum's permanent new exhibits and former museum ex hibits are also available to the pub lic. Visitors can also see Andrić's birthplace – the town of Travnikas well as his apartment in the Soko Banja resort. Also, museum visitors are now able to hear Ivo Andrić’s voice, which brings the great writer even closer to the public.

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ABOUT IVO ANDRIĆ

erature. To celebrate this, late last year, a new permanent exhibi tion was opened, which also pref aces the jubilee we are celebrating this year - 130 years since Ivo An drić’s

CULTURAL HERITAGE BUILDING IN 2021, THE IVO ANDRIĆ MUSEUM CELEBRATED ITS 45TH ANNIVERSARY AND 60 YEARS OF IVO ANDRIĆ WINNING THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE Workroom Nobel medal CLICK TO GO 

I n the apartment, that houses the museum, the famous writer and the Nobel Prize laureate, Ivo Andrić, lived and worked from 1958 until his death in 1975. After the writer's death, the apartment where he lived was opened to the public on October 10, 1976, his birthday.

This authentic museum - the apartment where Andrić lived with his wife Milica Babić and her mother Zorka - gives an insight into the private life of the great writer, who during his lifetime was relatively unknown to the wider public. A permanent muse um exhibit reveals the great man's interests and hobbies, such as sports, interest in foreign lands, art collecting and much more. The exhibits include the writer's li brary, furniture, works of art, per sonal items, diplomatic uniform, as well as the Nobel Prize char ter and medal, which was award ed to him in 1961 for his book “The Bridge on the Drina”

In 2021, the Ivo Andrić Muse um celebrated its 45th anniver sary and 60 years of Ivo Andrić winning the Nobel Prize for Lit

French language are held, intend ed for both a wider audience, as well as for local and foreign vis iting students, to learn about the rich history of Serbian culture and the French language.

The Ivo Andrić Museum is one of the most famous museums in the capital. It is located in the heart of the city, at 8/1, Andrićev Venac

Furthermore, the Ivo Andrić Museum has francophone con tent. Also, programmes in the

Ivo Andrić (Travnik, 1892 - Bel grade, 1975) is one of the most important writers from the for mer Yugoslavia. He was born in Travnik but grew up in Višegrad. Andrić was educated in Saraje vo, Zagreb, Vienna and Krakow, in addition to serving time in Austro-Hungarian prisons as a member of the Mlada Bosna or ganization. In 1919, he became a Belgrade citizen and embarked on diplomatic service, where he re mained until the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1924, he re ceived his doctorate from the Uni versity of Graz, with his doctoral thesis focusing on philosophical

The Belgrade City Museum Presents the Ivo Andrić Museum

ABOUT THE NOBEL PRIZE

Ivo Andrić spent 21 years of his professional career as a diplomat; starting with his service in the Vatican in 1920 and then in Berlin in 1941. He steadily climbed the diplomatic ladder and eventually reached the highest positions. As an envoy of the Kingdom of Serbs,

sciences. He is the author of sev eral important novels, works of narrative prose and lyrical-philo sophical poetry, essays and criti cism. In 1961, he received the No bel Prize for Literature. Andrić wrote his most important novels (“The Bridge on the Drina”, “Bos nian Trilogy #3”, and “The Travnik Chronicle“) in Belgrade, during the 1941-1945 occupation.

Ivo Andrić received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961. He was the 55th winner, and the first and only one from the former Yugo slavia. Andrić was chosen as the Nobel Prize laureate on October 26, 1961. In the explanation, the Nobel committee said that Ivo An drić was awarded the Nobel Prize for the epic power with which he shaped themes and portrayed the destinies of people throughout the history of his country. Andrić

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Friday: 10 a.m.- 6 p.m Sunday: 10 a.m.- 2 p.m

THIS AUTHENTIC MUSEUM - THE APARTMENT WHERE ANDRIĆ LIVED WITH HIS WIFE MILICA BABIĆ AND HER MOTHER ZORKA - GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE GREAT WRITER, WHO DURING HIS LIFETIME WAS RELATIVELY UNKNOWN TO THE WIDER PUBLIC

Permanent exhibition

IVO ANDRIĆ IN DIPLOMACY

donated the monetary part of the award (SEK 250,232.88), to the li brary fund of Bosnia and Herze govina. The Nobel Prize ceremony was held on December 10, 1961, in Stockholm, in the hall of the Con cert Palace of the Swedish Acade my. On the occasion, Andrić deliv ered his thank you speech focused on storytelling in the French lan guage, in which he reflected on the meaning of stories and sto rytelling in general, expressed his views on poetics and his deep

Nobel Prize Award Ceremony

Salon Permanent exhibition - Nobel Prize

Croats and Slovenes, then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Andrić served as a diplomat in Bucha rest, Trieste, Graz, Marseille, Par is, Madrid, Brussels and Geneva. You can find out about his diplo matic work and progress in his ca reer on the interactive map, which is located in the entrance hall of the Museum. By pressing the but ton, placed next to the name of each city where Ivo Andrić served as a diplomat, the map is activated and you can hear the story about his diplomatic service at that par ticular time, as well as the books he wrote during that period.

The Ivo Andrić Museum is located in Belgrade, at 8/1, Andrićev Venac. The working hours of the Museum are the Monday:following:closed

gratitude for the honour bestowed upon him by the award. The visi tors of the Ivo Andrić can hear his entire Nobel Prize speech.

1961 Nobel Prize Winners

GVANTSA KESHELAVA

Spouse of the Charge d'Affaires of Georgia to Serbia

nfluenced by neighbors, invaders, and its religious customs, Georgian cui sine is one of the most intriguing and appealing in the World. Mrs. Gvantsa Kesheleva, Georgian dip lomat, spouse of the Charge d’Af faires of Georgia to Serbia, Mr. Ilia Koberdize, spoke about the na tional cuisine of Georgia, her life in Belgrade, and she share with us one of the most interesting Geor gian recipes.

Food plays a very important role in Georgian identity. In a country where a guest is consid ered as a „gift from God“, it's no surprise that Georgian food is a generous reflection of the ex

first toast at any traditional Su pra is proposed as “For the Glory of the TheGod.”Georgian Supra has been granted National intangible cul tural heritage status. To preserve and promote the universal impor tance, uniqueness, and traditions of the Georgian feast, the Gov ernment of Georgia has presented Georgian Supra to be enlisted into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Speaking of food: What do you miss the most from your coun try? Can you find all the neces sary ingredients for preparing traditional Georgian dishes in Serbia?

Georgian Cuisine Reflects the Dramatic Past of the Country

For foreigners, Georgian cui sine is mostly associated with Khachapuri – a cheese-filled bread or Khinkali – meat-stuffed dumplings. However, Georgian gastro culture can offer a wide range of mouthwatering tradition al courses. One of them is Chaka puli – lamb and tarragon stew. An aromatic dish made from a young lamb and the first spring herbs, symbolizes the arrival of spring. It

www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs50 FOOD PLANET

— Georgian cuisine reflects the dramatic past of the country. By geographical and political design, Georgia has absorbed neighbor ing culinary influences over the centuries, yet its identity remains intact. This is the secret to the uniqueness of Georgian cuisine. Throughout history, my coun try has been a territory of interest to many foreign countries, most ly due to its strategic location be tween the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Caspian Sea, also part of the Silk Road. Georgia was invaded by many, all bringing their influences to the Georgian table and creating a unique and exciting cuisine unlike any other.

At the same time, as part of the Silk Road, for centuries, Geor gia served as a stop on East-West trade routes. As traders passed through, Georgians borrowed and assimilated the flavors and aro mas of visitors’ culinary tradi tions. Georgian dishes now in corporate flavors and influences from the foods of Iran, Türkiye, Asia, and the Mediterranean.

GEORGIA WAS OFFICIALLY RECOGNISED AS THE BIRTHPLACE OF WINE WITH 8 000 YEARS OF WINE-MAKING TRADITIONS BY UNESCO

What is the secret ingredient to the success of Georgian cuisine worldwide?

In a country where a guest is considered as a „gift from God, “it's no surprise that Georgian food is a generous reflection of the extreme hospitality of the people

TopalovićMedakovićMundiAnimaMiomiraPhoto:

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treme hospitality of the people. Nowhere is this felt more than at the Supra - a traditional Georgian feast, which is a social event and a kind of a ritual with a special set of rules of Perhapsbehavior.themost essential ele ment of the Supra is the presence of a Tamada, or a toastmaster and the most respectable man at the Supra who leads the process and proposes toasts. A good Tamada is considered one who is eloquent, intelligent, smart, sharp−wit ted with a good sense of humor. A toast can be proposed only by a Tamada; the rest is to develop the idea. Georgians are deep believ ers. 85% of the population is Or thodox Christian, therefore, the

— Georgian cuisine is a cradle of gastronomic diversity. It is all about herbs and spices. Georgia has the ideal climate to produce a great variety of culinary herbs – including tarragon or tarkhuna (in the Georgian language) which I miss the most in Serbia. This herb is used in meat dishes, as well as soups and vegetables, pastries, and even drinks. We make a car bonated soft drink from tarragon leaves. The drink is known for its typically distinctive green color and is especially popular among foreign visitors.

• 1 kg lamb stew meat

• 150 g. of mint

While lamb Chakapuli is the most traditional you can also make this dish with veal

• 500 ml. of white dry wine

• Salt to taste

GEORGIAN CUISINE IS A CRADLE OF GASTRONOMIC DIVERSITY. IT IS ALL ABOUT HERBS AND SPICES

is usually prepared between May and mid-summer when cilant ro, parsley, tarragon, spring on ion, and mint are in season and the wild plum berries have not yet fully ripened. The dish is com prised of delicate, melt-in-yourmouth chunks of meat and finely chopped herbs stewed in a sauce of hot pepper and dry white wine. Chakapulii is traditionally served at the Easter table - the most im portant Orthodox church holiday in Georgia.Andofcourse

• 300 g. of spring onion

• 300 g. of cilantro (coriander)

How is your life in Belgrade? Did you visit some other places in Serbia and what would you rec ommend to your friends to see here?

bian Belgrade in the 19th cen tury. Kalenić Green Market is a perfect place to wander inside, es pecially during weekends, and please yourself with the smell of freshly baked bread and colorful vegetables.Iwasblessed to have been able to travel around the country. From a professional perspective, the Chapel of the Virgin Mary of Peace, or simply a Chapel of Peace is of utmost interest to me. This is the place where one of the most important events associated with diplomatic relations between Eu ropean countries and the Otto man Empire - the signing of the Karlovci Peace treaty took place. However, Golubac Fortress still remains one of the top attractions with its tumultuous history.

FORINGREDIENTS4PEOPLE

Serbian specialties offer a wide range of choices. It is very hard to single out any of them. However, for my taste roasted peppers filled with kajmak is just perfect. Vani lice is an excellent combination with centuries-old coffee-drink ing Serbian tradition.

Chop the meat in medium sizes. Chop herbs and green chile pepper. Mix them all together and place them in a separate bowl. Place the meat in a medium-wide pot in one layer. Add a third of the mixed herbs. Add another layer of meat and then herbs again. Repeat the process three times making three layers of meat and mixed herbs. Season with salt, black pepper, and chili flakes. Driz zle the wine and cover. Let it cook over medium-low heat for 45 to 50 minutes until the meat is tender. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

— Serbian cuisine just like Geor gian is characterized by the influ ences of many foreign countries because of its geopolitically stra tegic location. Our cuisines share many similarities also because of the same religious belief. The use of meat, dough, and vegetables is predominant in both cuisines. Al though, for Georgian taste, I miss more herbs and spices in Serbi an Bredishes.adplays a very important role in Serbian and Georgian cul tures. It is often treated almost ritually. For example, a tradition al Serbian welcoming is to offer the guest bread and salt. Just like in Georgia. It is an unwrit ten rule to offer a bread basket to the guests at any Georgian ta ble regardless of its formality. Bread also plays an essential role in Orthodox religious rituals. For example, many people in both

PREPARATION

What do you think about Serbi an cuisine and what is your fa vourite Serbian dish? Are there any similarities with Georgian cuisine?

• 150 g. of parsley

• 100 g. of wild plums

• Chili flakes to taste

• 300 g. of tarragon, stems removed

• Paper to taste

• Green chile pepper to taste

Chakapuli – Lamb and Tarragon Stew

It is very easy to fall in love with Serbia. For that, you do not need to discover unknown sites or explore the most attractive places in the country. The people of Ser bia will make you love their Moth erland as you will never be will ing to live anywhere else.

— Belgrade is all about relation ships. It is a very vibrant, vivid and extremely comfortable city to live in. Its architecture is im mensely varied - a perfect reflec tion of countries‘ development stages throughout the centuries. I love wandering around the city discovering hidden places, espe cially in the narrow streets of his torical areas such as Dorcol and Vracar, and enjoying the pre served works of Serbian, German, Italian, and Czech architects who contributed to raising a new Ser

I miss Georgian wine. Local cuisine is not com plete without Georgian wine. Wine always complements the delicate flavors of the food and infuses even more life into each aroma. In 2017 Georgia was of ficially recognised as the birth place of wine with 8 000 years of wine-making traditions by UNE SCO, thus enlisting the Georgian clay wine-making method into the UNESCO intangible cultur al heritage list. Currently, almost 500 sorts of grapes grow on Geor gian soil, which makes my coun try the most diverse country in the wine-producing business.

Chakapuli is served hot and complemented with a glass of white dry Uživajte!wine.

countries believe that it is sinful to throw away bread regardless of how old it is.

In 1999, after a long nation al debate, the Norwegian author ities decided to build a new opera house in the city. A design com petition was launched and out of 350 entries, the judges chose the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta. Construction began in 2003 and was completed in 2007 ahead of schedule, with the entire project costing NOK 300 million (around $52 million at the time), NOK 4.4 billion under budget (around $760 million). The grand opening on April 12, 2008, was at tended by King Harald, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, the

The Norwegian National Op era, Ballet and National Theatre have 1,100 rooms, spanning a to tal of 49,000 square metres. The main auditorium can accommo date 1,364 people, and the two

President of Finland, Tarja Halo nen, and other statesmen. During the first year, 1.3 million attend ed cultural events in the build ing. The Opera house won the Cul ture Award at the Barcelona World Architecture Festival in Octo ber 2008 and the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architec ture in After2009.ahearty breakfast domi nated by moist Norwegian bread, I headed to the cruise port where I rented a bike at the Viking Hiking & Biking agency located in a port hangar.Thedaily rental price was the highest I have paid anywhere in the world, bearing in mind I have rented bikes from Laos to Man hattan. 390 Norwegian kroner (39 euros) for one day (practical ly 8 hours) and another 1,000 kro ner as a deposit in case I break something or the bike gets stolen, which has happened to me before, last time in Odessa in 2019.

During the summer months, the Norwegian capital attracts tourists from all over the world, but also seasonal beggars from Romania. Everything is much more expensive than in the rest of Europe, alcohol in particular; cash is almost completely pushed out of use, and you can hear the Serbian (Croatian, Bosnian...) language spoken almost on every corner

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t's ten o'clock in the evening and it's still day light in Oslo - the right time for a taking walk and collect ing the first impressions about the city. Then I headed for the coast of the Oslo fjord.

formation because that was the only way to pay for the service. By the way, Norway and Sweden have been almost completely cash less for several years (since be fore the pandemic). In museums, shops and restaurants, it is al most impossible to pay with cash. The prices of an average lunch for five people, which is how many of us came to Oslo, ranged from 200 to 280 euros (appetizer, meal and half a glass of alcoholic bev erage). In Norway (it's similar to other Nordic countries I've been to), alcohol is especially expen sive - a half-litre glass of beer in a pub or restaurant costs between 6 and 12 euros, while a glass of wine is even more expensive - from 12 to 20 euros. Ordering a bottle of wine, a usual practice by our Med iterranean standards is not even thought about here

The blonde teenager who rent ed the bike to me also gave me a tablet to fill in my credit card in

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To Have a Munch

I walk along the coast in the di rection of Frogner Park and the first thing I came across, as I was leaving the harbour was, a memo rial to the victims of the maritime accident - on April 7, 1990, a fire broke out on the ship Scandina vian Star which killed 159 people. The ship, which was built in 1971, was sailing between Oslo and Frederikshavn in Denmark when the fire broke out. The captain and crew abandoned the ship be fore all passengers evacuated. The monument was erected in 2006 and depicts a mother saving her children, one of whom is reaching for a toy left on the floor. The ship, by the way, did not sink, it con tinued to sail under other names until 2004 when it was finally scrapped. I also saw a temporary monument to another tragedy, the one caused by Andres Breivik in 2011, who killed 77 and injured 319 people in a terrorist attack. In the residential area of Oslo, I came across many luxury villas that house embassies. It is interesting to note that Croatia and Venezuela share the same luxury houses.

Oslo's Protestant Cathedral, the one that stands today in the city centre, was built between 1694 and 1697. The Norwegian roy

The capital of Norway, the only European country I have not trav elled to so far, leaves an impres sion that it is completely different from Stockholm, from which we arrived that evening. On the one hand, the city is full of new build ings, resembling Dubai North, everything is clean and well-or ganized... Nevertheless, on the square in front of the Main Rail way Station, I come across doz ens of Roma beggars in tradition al dresses (almost as if they had arrived from a movie set or mu sic concert video) who approach you and ask for money in perfect English by showing a paper with someone's medical diagnosis. Un like their counterparts in our re gion, they do not carry children in their arms. Later I heard that they are from Romania and that there is a regular summer migra tion of beggars who come during the peak tourist season and then return to the Carpathians in late September.Atthebeginning of August, Oslo, the third northernmost capi tal in the world (only Helsinki and Reykjavik are further up north) had pleasant weather, plus 25 de grees during the day. Through out my whole stay, I only wore T-shirts during the day.

Robert Čoban

Oslo City Hall

other performance stages can ac commodate 200 and 400 specta tors, respectively. The main stage is 16 metres wide and 40 metres deep. The exterior surfaces of the building are clad in marble from Carrara in Italy and white granite so that it appears as if the build ing is emerging out of the water. This is the largest cultural build ing built in Norway since Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim was com pleted around 1300.

I continue my journey. The train station is now behind me and in front of me are two impres sive new buildings - the Opera House and the Munch Museum. This is one of the few buildings which roof you can climb, not by stairs, but by a slightly slop ing white marble wall that simply tempts you to do so

POSTCARD THE NORWEGIAN NATIONAL OPERA, BALLET AND NATIONAL THEATRE HAVE 1,100 ROOMS, SPANNING A TOTAL OF 49,000 SQUARE METRES

Certainly, the most impres sive building created in Oslo in the 20th century is the City Hall. It was built from 1931 to 1950. The architects Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson were in charge of the construction. Every Decem ber 10, on the anniversary of No bel's death, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in the City Hall in the presence of the Norwegian royal

Queen Moud Monument in front of the Royal Palace

Croatia And Venezuela

square metres and features as many as 212 Vigeland sculptures of men, women and children in the most diverse possible poses, some of which are quite provoca tive even by today's standards.

The park is visited by over a million visitors annually and is truly one of the most impressive open-air museums I have had the opportunity to visit. It was a weekday, but the park was full of tourists, and children in school uniforms, and I saw several sports

On the top of the Opera

A huge territory in Antarctica is named after her - Queen Maud Land - claimed by the Norwegian crown.The Royal Palace was built in the 19th century as the Norwe gian residence of King Charles XIV John, who ruled the union of Swe den and Norway. Today's Norway gained complete independence only in 1905 when its citizens vot ed in a plebiscite with 95.50% to break state ties with the neigh bouring Kingdom of Sweden. To day, King Harald V dines in the palace and his son, Crown Prince Haakon lives in the Skaugum resi dence in Asker, west of Oslo.

There is also a Muslim part of the cemetery where the gravestones

In the hope that the Norwe gian weather forecast on the yr.no website, which I consult wherever I go in the world, will not be accu rate to the minute this time - de spite the predicted rain, I headed to Ekenberg hill, which offers the most beautiful view of Oslo.

Eviction

I come to the famous Frogn er Park, which features the sculp tures by Gustav Vigeland, creat ed in the period from 1924 to 1943. Sometimes tourists call it the Vi geland Park. It spans 320,000

The interior of the City Hall and the Central Hall was decorated by Henrik Sorensen and Alf Rolfsen. The hall is 31 metres wide, 39 me tres long and 21 metres high. The floor and parts of the walls are made of marble. There are a sub stantial number of pictures that depict Norway and Oslo in the in terwar period, as well as during the 1940-1945 occupation.

an equestrian, Harald III of Nor way, king from the 11th century, the work of the artist Anna Grim dalen. The sculpture of Saint Hall vard, the work of Nic Schiøll, is located in front of the City Hall. A relief by Dagfin Werenski old adorns the wall overlooking the square and presents multi coloured descriptions from the poetic epics of ancient Norway. Joseph Grimeland designed the bronze relief above the entrance as well as the sculpture "Oslopik en" ("Girl from Oslo") on top of the wall. The six Per Pale Storm sculp tures in front of the Town Hall represent the different types of tradesmen and builders who par ticipated in its construction.

Oslo Cathedral

Three Norwegian Kings

Particularly valuable are works of art - sculptures, paintings and murals in, on and around the City Hall. After several competitions in 1937, as many as eight paint ers and 17 sculptors were hired to do them. Most of the works were completed by 1950 when the Town Hall was officially opened, while the sculpture park was being com pleted until the late 1960s.

family and the prime minister.

Walking down the hill I come across the Gamlebyen ceme tery which has existed since 1874 and is located across the street from the hospital. It is similar to the cemetery on the island of St. Michele in Venice where the pa tients are frequently looking from the windows of their rooms

It was already drizzling when I made it to Ekenberg, which has a park with sculptures made by art ists from around the world col lected by Christian Ringnes (age 68), a wealthy Norwegian collec tor. The park owned by the Oslo authorities today has as many as 80 works of art after additional purchases worth 35 million euros and from the initial 31 sculptures.

IN MUSEUMS, SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS, IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO PAY WITH CASH

The west wall of the building is dominated by a sculpture of

A statue of Princess Maud of Wales stands in front of the Roy al Palace in Oslo. British Princess Maud, daughter of King Edward VII, became Queen of Norway by marrying Haakon VII.

teams in tracksuits with their club's logos. After visiting some other similar places in the city, I got the impression that Norwe gians pay a lot of attention to col lective tours of cultural institu tions, which is a nice custom that almost completely disappeared in our country after the 1980s.

al family and the Government of Norway occasionally use it for public events. The church was closed to the public from 2006 to 2011 for renovations. There are tours every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday mass is at 11 a.m. The cathedral belongs to the Protestant Church of Norway, which membership numbers 68% of the country's population.

In today's Munch Museum, there are three versions of “The Scream" - one lithograph, one crayon on cardboard and one oil on cardboard. Interestingly, you cannot see them at the same time, every few minutes one paint ing is "revealed" while the other two remain in the dark. The rea son for this is the experts' assess ment that the techniques used by Munch require a limited amount of light during the day.

Another version is a part of the private collection of American in vestor Leon Black. In the Munch Museum, in addition to his works, there are also paintings by artists who were inspired by the works of the famous Norwegian, among them the most famous ones by AndyTravellingWarhol.to the airport in the Scandinavian twilight that never gets truly dark, I think about how Munch, a painter from a small country, far from the main artistic trends of Europe and the world, became such a powerful inspira tion to other authors and also to art robbers who seem to be unable to get rid of the obsession called: "To have a Munch!"

way, half of them in Oslo.

At the very entrance, there are portraits of the three kings of this country who returned from exile on June 7, 1945, after Hitler's Ger many capitulated, welcomed by a cheering crowd of 400,000 peo ple. The current king Harald V was an eight-year-old boy at the time, his father Olav V was the crown prince and his grandfather Haakon VII was the beloved king. I stopped at the audio record ing of a speech by Vidkun Quis ling, a Norwegian version of Nedić, in which he called for an end to resistance to Hitler. A man whose last name became a by word for traitors and collabora tors throughout the world was captured at the end of the war and sentenced to death by firing squad.Atthe exit of the museum, there is a statue "Glory, Glory with Churches" depicting a woman re turning home after the war.

first theft of Munch's "Scream", the oldest version of the paint ing from 1893. It was stolen from the National Gallery on Febru ary 12, 1994, on the opening day of the Olympic Games in Lilleham mer in Norway. The robbers even left the message "Thanks for the bad security!" After the gallery re fused to pay the ransom of 1 mil lion dollars, the Norwegian police embarked on an extensive oper ation in collaboration with their British colleagues and the Getty Museum. In May of the same year, "The Scream" was found. In 1996, six robbers were arrested, among them the famous Paul Enger, a former basketball player known for numerous robberies of works of art and jewels. Before that, in 1988, he stole Munch's painting "Love and Pain".

After lunch in a restaurant with a view of the Munch Museum, in

By the way, the Serbian (Cro atian, Bosnian...) language can be heard on almost every corner. While I'm waiting for company in a pizzeria, I chat with two Bosnian women - the waiter in the cafe is Macedonian and I was stopped on the street by a woman from Bela Crkva who recognized me from TV. According to official data, 10,000 Serbs currently live in Nor

Gustav Vigeland sculptures

The ticket guy routinely asks me what country I'm from be cause he needs to put that in their records. When he heard the an swer, he suddenly showed inter est, said that he had studied Serbi an and that he knew what kind of deep ties between Norway and Yu goslavia were forged precisely in the historical period this museum covers. Namely, anyone who has ever been to Kikinda knows that the hotel in the city centre (cur rently unfortunately devastated) is named after the Norwegian city of Narvik, where the Øvre Jern vann camp was located, with 588 prisoners from Yugoslavia who were brought here in 1942 and 242 of whom died or were killed. Near this camp, there was another one - Beisfjord camp, where about

from 1940 to 1945 when the coun try was under the occupation of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1966, and in 1970, on the 25th an niversary of liberation, it was cer emonially opened by the then Crown Prince Harald (today's king).

Munch Museum

By the way, this was not the

THE NORWEGIAN RESISTANCE MUSEUM IS LOCATED IN AKERSHUS FORTRESS IN OSLO AND COVERS THE PERIOD FROM 1940 TO 1945 WHEN THE COUNTRY WAS UNDER THE OCCUPATION OF NAZI GERMANY

Muslim Cemetary

The Norwegian Resistance Mu seum is located in Akershus For tress in Oslo and covers the period

CLICK TO GO 

As I approached the city centre, where the rest of the team was ex pecting me for lunch, the rain in tensified and turned into a down pour, so I decided to spend the afternoon "under the roof", i.e. in the National Museum, the popu lar TheNaM.Museum’s collection in cludes as many as 400,000 exhi bitions, including the first copy of Munch's "The Scream" from 1893. The National Museum was cre ated in 2003 by the merger of the Museum of Architecture, the Mu seum of Industrial Art, the Muse um of Applied Art and Design, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Gallery of Norway. In June of this year, the muse um moved into a completely new building on the fjord’s shore.

are built in line with the Islamic faith, but they are decorated and arranged like the graves of their fellow Protestants. This is a nice example of adaptation and coex istence, even in death.

the Bjørvika quarter, which we af fectionately called "Oslo Water front", there was still enough time to visit the museum dedicated to the greatest Norwegian painter before leaving for the airport.

Among the hundreds of works I looked at, I was particularly im pressed by the canvases of Bendik Rhys, an artist who spent most of his life being treated for men tal illness. "Bendik and Arolil ja" (Norwegian Romeo and Juli et) were two lovers who die in the ballad because of their forbidden relationship. Rhys’ work "Evic tion", which shows giant police men evicting tiny women and children from their houses, is also impressive.ReidarAulie's painting "April 9, 1940" depicts a truck carry ing a coffin covered with a Nor wegian flag, was my introduction to tomorrow's visit to the Norwe gian Resistance Museum. Name ly, April 9 is the date when Hitler invaded Norway and Denmark in 1940, and it is deeply embedded in the local national consciousness, like April 6 in ours.

The Munch Museum moved into a new building a year ago. Be fore that, it was in the old build ing when, on August 22, 2004, armed robbers stole two of the artist's most famous paintings"The Scream" and "Madonna". The paintings were found two years later and returned to the museum.

www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs54

900 prisoners from Yugoslavia were brought in 1942, with most of them (about 80%) soon dying there and some were taken to the Øvre Jernvann camp.

Hungary DIPLOMACY & COMMERCE PRESENTS

THERMAL WATER

The Hungarian capital, Budapest, is a unique city in the World. It lies on numerous thermal springs where 70 million liters of thermal water come up to the surface daily.

NO CLINKING

Paprika (pepper) was adopted in Hungary in the late XVI century. Still, it remained unpopular until the end of the XIX century when mills around the Tisza started to ground it, making it the most characteristic Hungarian spice today.

THE OLDEST METRO

GOLD MEDALS

GROUND PEPPER

Budapest’s iconic metro line M1 was constructed in 1896 and, since then, has constantly connected the center with Varosliget under the posh Andrassy street. It is the oldest metro in continental Europe.

Hungarians don’t like to clink with their glasses while drinking with friends. Clinking reminded them of the 1848 revolution when Austrians celebrated the killing of 13 Hungarian generals by clinking with beer.

Considering the population size, Hungary is ranked second in the World, just behind Finland, in the number of Olympic gold medals won.

FOCUS ON

In these complicated times, we need to send clear messages and reinforce already existing partner ships – such as the one between Ser bia and the EU. At the same time, we need Serbia to implement all the reforms set in the EU acces sion process. I like to summarize it this way: delivered results speak for themselves.

— Yes, I agree with the statement. I am certain that this field plays a crucial role in our relations and there could be no development un less minority rights are guaranteed. We look at minorities as a bridge be tween Serbia and Hungary. They help to connect us and we show re spect and support to them so that they can preserve their culture and identity. Of course, this also needs

— The international political envi ronment has become hard to navi gate recently and we need the cour age to stand up for ourselves. Every action is followed by a reaction, so it is not a surprise that some acts of foreign policy are not welcome by everyone. Yet this is not necessar ily a problem. Careful balance and good judgement are needed to find the right way to express our nation al interests and to understand dif ferent motivations and interests. We seek like-minded countries and I think Serbia is one of them in this matter.

HUNGARY 56 SPECIAL EDITION

Despite certain great conflicts in byyearshundredshistory,Europeanwespentoflivingsideside

by Dragan Nikolić

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A nation that strives to be true to itself in this era of unanimous glo balization usually has to deal with a lot of outside judgment. How important it is to stick to your na tional interest despite pressures from abroad?

It is not idealistic to think that there is more to politics than just interest - there is also empathy, understanding, and solidarity

H.E.PINTÉRATTILA

— I think we can learn one thing: we can overcome our differences with genuine willingness and un derstanding. This was demonstrat ed in the political reconciliation process. There were times when our nations’ relations were at their low est point, but I think both of us rec ognised that there are more things that connect us than separate. De spite certain great conflicts in Euro pean history, we spent hundreds of years living side by side. We learned each other’s customs and traditions and even borrowed some words into the language. This experience may not be as visible to us as some great events, but this is what tru ly defines Serbian-Hungarian re lations. We are trying to make this more and more visible so it will be come a dominant perspective – a perspective of understanding and respect. There is now a historic alli ance, even friendship, between the two countries.

The position of the Hungarian mi nority in Serbia is one of the very few positive examples in Europe of respecting minority rights. Do you agree with that statement and how important is that for both nations?

Many think that ties between our two countries have never been as close as today, but what could our mutual history teach us about re lations between Hungary and Serbia?

Hungary strongly supports Serbia in its long-lasting process of join ing the European Union. Do you think that the accession process could be faster? What does Serbi an membership in the EU mean to Hungary?

— I believe that the EU needs to rec ognize Serbian efforts and we need to speed up to process as soon as possible! Hungary wants Serbia in the EU and we are spreading the word in every possible forum. Hun gary is connected to Serbia in many ways and we want to work on these political, economic and social ties. There are a lot more opportunities to do so if we are both in the EU.

true friend of Serbia, H.E. Mr Attila Pintér, the Hungarian Ambassador to Serbia, spoke with Di plomacy&Commerce magazine about many intriguing topics relat ed to our mutual history, deep friendship, and significant econom ic cooperation.

to be secured by the law, so strong minority rights are a must. I see that both Budapest and Belgrade recog nized this need and the increasing support and opportunities for the respective minorities prove that words are followed by deeds.

Ambassador of Hungary to Serbia INTERVIEW

A Perspective UnderstandingofandRespect

Our economic cooperation has been flourishing for many years. What are recent investment trends like?

— The Hungarian experiences dur ing the transition to a market econ omy are mixed from a historical perspective. Even during the re gime change of 1989-1990, Hunga ry clearly marked the political and economic direction that eventually led to joining the European Union in 2004. Hungary began its trans formation along 3 main principles: 1. a disciplined budget policy; 2. the level of state redistribution should be as small as possible; 3. the goods, money and capital markets must be liberalized and privatized so that manufacturing exports become the engine of economic growth.

initiative of promoting Hungarian investments abroad with a new pro gramme called the Foreign Market Growth Incentive that has a global scope. These new investments will have visible results in the coming years.

Some would argue that different nations cannot be true friends but cooperate just out of interest. From your perspective as a dip lomat, is it possible to develop a genuine friendship between two nations irrespective of individual interests and historical context?

Serbia has followed a similar path in the last ten years, and the economic successes clearly illus trate that it is on the right path. These efforts are also recognized by international financial institutions. In my opinion, this path is correct and the good results so far should be preserved. The point is that the state must remain a strategic player in the market economy and take ap propriate measures quickly in case of crisis. Fortunately, this kind of approach has already been adopted by international financial organiza tions in recent years.

reinvestments.Intermsofcapital

— Doing business and fostering eco nomic cooperation has had a long standing tradition between Hungar ian and Serbian companies. As one would expect from neighbouring countries, we cover a wide range of fields of cooperation that includes bilateral trade, joint efforts in in frastructure development as well as cooperation on energy security. Re cently, we have seen a growing in terest of Hungarian companies in

investment opportunities in Ser bia. It is evident that in the last few years Serbia has gone through an impressive economic recovery that paves the way for growing stabili ty and competitiveness. These eco nomic conditions are paired with a talented and hard-working work force and state incentives provided by the Serbian Government, mak ing Serbia an extremely attractive investment destination. These fac tors all contributed to the increased interest in the country’s investment opportunities; a fact clearly indicat ed by the growing FDI influx. Big in vestors, such as the internationally renowned petrochemical company MOL and the Hungarian OTP Bank Group have a long-standing pres ence in the country, continuous ly expanding their activity through

57SPECIAL EDITION

Learning from the experiences of the initial years, the goal of the par adigm shift in economic policy af ter 2010 was to cut back on the phe nomena typical of wild capitalism and to bring strategic infrastruc ture companies back into state or at least national ownership. The bank ing system also came under major ity Hungarian ownership. We man aged to achieve all of these changes, with record foreign direct capital flow into the country year after year.

— There are no unresolved is sues in our relations. We want Ser bia to become an EU member as soon as possible. The EU is still in complete without the Western Bal kans and there is huge potential for the economic and social develop ment of the region within the EU. I dare say that EU funds would bene fit all walks of life and could change the everyday life of citizens for the better.

— There is a growing interest in Hungary for Serbia. I believe that a more thematic approach and a strong media campaign would at tract more tourists. For instance, it would be great to present the dif ferent regions of Serbia, also hik ing and skiing opportunities as well as the gastronomy and local tradi tions. The offer of hotels and tour agencies is of high quality in Ser bia, but Hungarian travellers need to be informed of the amazing of fers waiting for them.

allocation, to day Serbia is a priority target coun try for Hungarian enterprises. On this note, in November 2019 the Min istry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary launched a specialized fi nancial instrument, the Western Balkans Investment Scheme with the specific aim to foster the eco nomic development of the Balkan region – including Serbia – through strengthening the presence and role of Hungarian companies. The pro gram was considered highly suc cessful, thus the Hungarian govern ment continued implementing the

What is the prospect of the West ern Balkans region in the context of EU integration? Does Hungary have unresolved issues with Ser bia which resolution is a prerequi site for our country to join the EU?

Hungary is a very popular tour ist destination for people from Serbia. What should we do to make Serbia more attractive to Hungarians?

The EU is thethedevelopmentandthepotentialandWesternwithoutincompletestilltheBalkans,thereishugeforeconomicsocialofregionwithinEU

From the Hungarian experience during the transition to the for mation of the free market, what is your advice for the Serbian econo my? Should some bottom lines be drawn?

— I believe so. Yes, there are genu ine friendships. It is not idealistic to think that there is more to politics than just interest - there is also em pathy, understanding, and solidar ity. If we are willing to learn from each other, we might realize that we have a lot in common and we can overcome historical differences. Hostility always thrives on the fear of the unknown. I have made true friends in Serbia during my years here and I hope this can happen be tween our nations too.

sults which show that despite all the challenges, we have recorded strong performance. Upstream and Downstream segments were able to mitigate the impact of fuel price reg ulation in some of the countries we have operations. Consumption and sales volumes in most of the mar kets are rising, including Serbian markets, but the price cap has a neg ative impact on our retail results. Having in mind market conditions and Strategy 2030+ goals in Ser bia, we are focused on the transfor mation of our service stations into places that are more than petrol sta tions. Also, we go more deeply into food and convenience offers. At this moment, our main duty is to main tain the security of supply despite all challenges and obstacles.

What are MOL’s financial results according to the latest financial statement published in June? How do you comment on them?

— In the period behind us, we opened service stations in Užice and Zlatibor region – Bela Zeml ja and Prijepolje. I am proud of our team that manages to open new sta tions and bring MOL closer to cus tomers even in these challenging times. For MOL Serbia, those two locations are very important since we want to increase our presence in that part of Serbia and introduce our products and services. We are focused on main roads where there is a need for service stations. One of the goals in Serbia, in accord ance with MOL Group Strategy 2030 + “Shape Tomorrow”, is to continu ously expand our retail network and to work on the transformation of the existing stations in order to provide excellent service and high-quality products.

r Milenko Janković, CEO of MOL Serbia, reveals in this interview how they cope with the actual en ergy crisis and how they plan to be come the first choice of the custom ers in fuel and convenience retailing in Serbia and the region.

— Following the pandemic that af fected many segments which also forced us to adjust our business ac tivities, this year, our industry, un der the geopolitical influence, is facing a completely unpredicta ble, very volatile, and uncertain business environment. Regulatory measures in local markets, includ ing Serbia, make our business ac tivities even more difficult. We in MOL are trying to preserve the sta bility of the oil derivatives market, especially when it comes to sup plies. Along the way, we encounter many challenges: an overhaul of re fineries in the region and low water levels on the Danube that have re duced barge loads and transport of fuel. We are constantly in touch with representatives of the Serbian Gov ernment, as well as the Association of Petroleum Companies of Serbia, and we have been given significant support by the Hungarian Embas environmentbusinessandveryunpredictable,completelyisinfluence,geopoliticalunderindustry,thefacingavolatile,uncertain JANKOVIĆ

Our

— MOL Group published H1 re

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sy in Serbia in order to find sustain able and flexible solutions for stable supplies during the upcoming pe riod. Thanks to our storage capaci ties in Serbia, as well as the commit ment of our employees, our service stations in Serbia, have sufficient quantities of MOL EVO and EVO Plus fuel. In terms of fuel prices in Serbia, they will depend on the pric es on the global market and regula tory measures. I don't think anyone can predict the trend for the follow ing months at this moment.

What do service station transfor mations mean?

MILENKO

Having in mind market conditions and Strategy 2030+ goals in Serbia, we are focused on the transformation of our service stations into places that are more than petrol stations

— Our desire is to offer customers more than just a place to fill up with fuel - a place where they can finish basic shopping, drink good Fresh Corner coffee, and take a break from a long journey at one of MOL Serbia Fresh Corner restaurants taste deli cious hot-dog, sandwiches and pas tries. We are expanding our prod ucts portfolio range, and recently we have introduced in Serbia MOL brand products - JIM energy drink and Crunch&Go chips, developed to meet the needs of our custom ers, keeping up with market trends. Also, following comments and cus tomers’ suggestions, we improve the MOL GO application and offer ad ditional benefits to MOL Plus Klub loyalty program members. Our goal is to become the first choice of the customers in fuel and convenience retailing in Serbia and the region.

Which are the new stations of MOL in Serbia? What is the coverage of Serbia, and where can we expect new stations in the near future?

We are facing a major energy cri sis. What are your predictions when it comes to winter? Is MOL ready, and what trends in terms of fuel prices in Serbia in the period to come do you expect?

HUNGARY 58 SPECIAL EDITION

CEO MOL Serbia CORPORATE

More Than Just a Place to Fill Up

Hungary and the Energy Crisis in Europe

“We want to work together in the energy transition process. We be lieve Hungary can help us be even more efficient in that process. Re gardless of everything that is hap pening and the energy crisis in Eu rope and the world, there is no avoiding the energy transition be cause it is a step towards greater en ergy security,” said Serbian deputy prime minister and minister of min ing and energy Zorana Mihajlovic.

ECONOMY

by Dragan Nikolić

Serbia agreed with Hungary to store 500 million cubic meters of gas in its storage facilities for use during the winter season. For Serbia, it is also essential to have the possibility to import electricity because domes tic production won’t be able to cover consumption.Whilethese measures triggered

Most likely, there won’t be enough natural gas for the heating season, which worries many coun tries, including Germany, the larg est one. Hungarian administration stated that gas in storage could cov er consumption for three months only. That’s why Hungary will in crease domestic gas production from 1.5 billion to two billion cubic meters per year.

The project of building a ofenergyessentialandbetweeninterconnectiongasSerbiaBulgariaisforthesecuritytheregion

During the major energy crisis in Europe, Hungary and Serbia tied their relations and even planned more investments in innovative technologies

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HUNGARY 60 SPECIAL EDITION

ing to the first assessment of Hun gary’s crisis package, the export of gas rented storage slots to Serbia would be exempted from the ban.

At the end of July, Hungary de clared a state of emergency in the energy sector, including a ban on the export of energy, which worried the European Union administration and other member states. Accord

erbia and Hungary have excellent political and bilateral relations. Hun gary is an important trade partner of Serbia, the third in terms of exchange among the EU countries and the sixth overall.

a dispute with the European Un ion which insists on solidarity dur ing energetic crises, Serbia, howev er, will cherish good relations with Hungary. The neighbour from the North showed high solidarity with Serbia by inking many deals in the energy sector that could establish a reliable natural gas supply.

Minister Szijjarto especially em phasised the importance of a sta ble supply of natural gas to Hungary through the territory of Serbia and expressed the readiness of the Hun garian side to improve relations in the field of energy further.

Earlier this year, Zorana Miha jlović held a meeting with Gyorgy Kobor, president of the Hungarian company MVM Group, and repre sentatives of the Hungarian Embas sy in Serbia. Gyorgy Kobor stated that this company plans to operate in Serbia and Belgrade as the centre

61SPECIAL EDITION of the entire region.

Deputy Prime Minister and Min ister of Mining and Energy, Zora na Mihajlovic said in talks with her Hungarian colleague Mr Szijjarto that along with the existing Balkan Stream gas pipeline, the project of building a gas interconnection be tween Serbia and Bulgaria is essen tial for the energy security of the region, which will enable the diver sification of routes and natural gas suppliers.According to the 15-year con tract with Gazprom signed last year, Hungary receives 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually through the Turkish Stream pipeline via Bulgar ia and Serbia, and another one bil lion via Austria. Gas secures 85% of Hungary’s heating needs, while the country imports 65% of its oil and 85% of gas from Russia.

JOINT STRATEGY FOR HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGIES

GovernmentThe of Hungary intends to increase powerthetheandsoonpowerMatraactivatingpossible,asproductioncoalmuchasthethermalplantasasitcanextendinglifespanofPaksnuclearplant

Hungary’s storage facilities, with a total capacity of 6.33 billion cubic meters, are 44% full, with 2.74 bil lion cubic meters. It is the lowest amount on a seasonal basis in the last four years, well below the 4.5 billion measured a year ago and 5.4 billion cubic meters a year before.

"The future is in the exchange and distribution of energy. We are interested in working together to improve the distribution network as part of the European network. Also, Serbia and Hungary are involved in constructing the gas pipeline and the topic of the inflow of Russian gas. There are many investment op portunities. We want to invest in Serbia; that’s why we are here, to ex plore all opportunities and possibil ities," said MihajlovicKobor.confirmed that Serbia is in the process of preparing a new national plan for climate and ener gy and working on a new strategy in energy. The first step is to adopt a new law regulation on renewable energy sources said minister Miha jlovic, simultaneously revealing the plan to run a new investment plan in mining and energy worth 15 bil lionSpeakingeuros. of renewable ener gy, the two countries confirmed a joint strategy. Earlier this year, Ser bian deputy prime minister Zora na Mihajlovic and Hungarian min ister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto agreed that Serbia and Hungary are partners in the energy field and will work togeth er on the development of hydrogen technologies.MinisterMihajlovic and the Min ister of Technology and Industry of Hungary, László Palkovics, signed

"The hydrogen strategy will be integral to the new energy devel opment strategy, which is being drafted. Given that Hungary has al ready adopted a hydrogen strate gy, it would be essential for Serbia to exchange experiences and work on a common approach in the field of green hydrogen. Also, Serbia has prepared a new investment plan, in which the focus is on the con struction of new hydroelectric pow er plants and new capacities from renewable energy sources, where there is also room for cooperation between the two countries, "said Mihajlovic.Palkovics said that the issues of availability, access, and price of en ergy are critical today and that the issue of energy independence has also been added to them. He said that the area for which the memo randum was signed today includes important topics such as the pro duction, storage, and transport of hydrogen and that Hungary, which already has some experience, is ready to share with Serbia its strat egies and regulations as well as in vestment plans and projects.

the Memorandum of Understand ing on renewable hydrogen between the two ministries. The signing of the memorandum was preceded by a meeting of the delegations of the two ministries, which was also at tended by the Hungarian ambassa dor to Serbia, H.E. Attila Pinter.

The Government of Hungary in tends to increase coal production as much as possible, activating the Matra thermal power plant as soon as it can and extending the lifespan of the Paks nuclear power plant. Hungarian minister Gergely Gulyás said that limiting electricity and gas prices for all households simply isn't possible amid a war-induced energy crisis. Subsidised prices will therefore be maintained only up to the average consumption, set at 210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of elec tricity and 1,700 cubic meters of gas per month. He added that house holds with higher consumption would have to pay market prices for everything spent above the limit.

In viamobilesecurelyeasilytoitshasOTPandwithcooperationGoogleMastercard,bankaenabledcustomerspayquickly,andbyphoneGooglePay World-renowned magazine Euromoney declares OTP banka the best bank in Serbia

Best Bank in Serbia

fore tax in the amount of 66 mil lion euros, with a return on capital of over 16%. The bank's profitability increased in one year by 95%, i.e. 32 million euros. In June of this year, net assets amounted to EUR 5.96 billion, which is a 628,8 million euro increase compared to the first half of 2021, i.e. 11.8%.

In terms of loans, in the first six months of this year, OTP banka granted loans in the total amount of almost 4.7 billion euros, which is a 16.2% increase or 660.2 million eu ros compared to the same period of the previous year. With this, the bank continues to occupy first place on the Serbian market with a mar ket share of 17.6%. In the first half of the year, granted housing loans amounted to over 1 billion euros, which is a 22% market share. A big jump was also recorded in approved cash loans, which amounted to 1.1 billion euros – a 7.9% growth and 20.2% market share.

HUNGARY 62 SPECIAL EDITION

fter the successful com pletion of the most com plex integration in the region in May 2021, OTP banka has managed to maintain and boost its position as the largest cor porate and retail creditor in 2021 and 2022, as well as the market leader in factoring, leasing and e-commerce services. This was also recognized by the world-renowned magazine Euro money, which at this year's Euro money Award for Excellence 2022 ceremony declared OTP banka as the "Best Bank in Serbia". This is one of the most significant and prestigious recognitions in the financial sector, which has been awarded for the last three decades to financial institu tions that provide clients with the highest level of service, innovation and expertise. This achievement is the result of successfully imple mented banking integration, excel lent business results with growing profitability, operational efficiency and healthy loan portfolio growth, which set OTP banka apart as a lead er in our country's banking market.

PROFITABILITY GREW BY A RECORD 95 PERCENT

OTP Leasing Srbija, Serbia's leas ing market leader, as well as OTP Osiguranje, which provides life in surance services through OTP ban ka, both operate under OTP Group in Serbia.

THE LEADER OF THE GREEN TRANSITION IN SERBIA

In the first six months of this year, OTP banka made a profit be

In cooperation with Google and Mastercard, OTP banka has enabled its customers to pay quickly, easi ly and securely by mobile phone via Google Pay. This service is availa ble to users of Mastercard cards, is sued by OTP banka, and is available on mobile phones and smartwatch es that support NFC technology. Back in 2019, the Bank introduced the opportunity of using Android mobile phones in the form of the mCard service, while in 2020, it en abled the Apple pay service to users of the iOS operating system. A com pletely new and technologically im proved m-bank application was also recently launched, which ensures a high level of performance and se curity, improved and new function ality, and a modern, intuitive and streamlined design that provides users with a unique level of user experience.

The Bank's leadership position is based on a corporate culture that enables employees to constant ly develop while instigating chang es and innovative solutions. This is confirmed by two important rec ognitions from 2022 – the Employ er Partner certificate, a prestigious HR recognition that guarantees the excellence of HR processes in com panies and validates a continuous investment, modernization and improvement of employee experi ence, as well as the Human Driv en Reshape Award for the most in novative HR practice for the BFF programme.

A significant increase was also achieved in the corporate lend ing segment, where 2.5 billion eu ros worth of loans was approved, a 21.9% growth compared to the same period of the previous year. Hence, OTP banka firmly occupies first place with a 16.8% market share in corporate lending.

its own carbon neutrality, this year, OTP banka adopted the Sustaina ble Business Strategy, i.e. the ESG Strategy, and as a recognized mar ket leader, positioned itself as first in green transition in Serbia and the implementation of ESG principles of action. The Bank uses electricity generated exclusively from renewa ble sources (100% ZelEPS), while its central office building in Belgrade has its own solar panels on the roof. In previous years, several initiatives and projects were launched follow ing the green transition as one of the key strategic directions, with the multiple award-winning Gener ator Zero project, which focuses on sustainable development, and envi ronmental projects that aim to con tribute to the reduction of carbon footprint, standing out.

INNOVATION IN ACTION

CORPORATE READ THIS ON WEB

Bearing in mind that the Bank's ambition is to be the market lead er in green financing with a contin uous transition towards achieving

AWARDS FOR HR PROCESSES AND EXCELLENCEPROGRAMME

ported the following to Hungaryignition lead sets, other sets for ve hicles; multi-component electronic integrated circuits; maize, except for maize seed; pipes and hoses (rig id, made of plastic); calcium phos phates; external pneumatic tires andInothers.thesame period, Serbia most ly imported the following products from Hungary - unclassified goods by the Customs Tariff - goods in storage; gas oils; medicines for re tail sale; electricity; conductors and others.Inits report on economic coop eration between Serbia and Hunga ry, the Chamber of Commerce and

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Economic Cooperation is Constantly on the Rise

HUNGARY 64 SPECIAL EDITION

Economic cooperation between the two countries is constantly on the rise. In the first quarter of this

conomic and trade rela tions with Hungary, which was and remains Serbia's strategic part ner, both in the political and eco nomic sense, have significant pros pects for growth and mutual benefit. According to data collated by the National Bank of Serbia, in the peri od from 2010 to 2021, investments by Hungarian residents in the Re public of Serbia amounted to one billion euros, which made Hungary the ninth biggest foreign investor in Serbia in the observed period.

In the period from January to December 2021, Serbia mostly ex

year alone, Hungarian investments in our country totalled 7.9 million euros. Trade between the two coun tries is growing year on year too. Last year, it amounted to 2,291.9 million euros, which is an 18% increase com pared to 2020. Total Serbian exports to Hungary in that period amounted to 1,088.9 million euros, while Hun garian exports to Serbia amounted to 1,203 million euros. The external trade deficit in 2021 was 114.1 mil lion euros, and the import-to-export ratio was 90.5 per cent, which is an increase of 19.8 percentage points compared to 2020.

The fairsimportantinbythings,amongexportaeconomySerbianneedsmoreactivestrategy,otherhelpedparticipationthemosttradeinHungary COOPERATION Excerpt from the report compiled by the CCIS’ Sector for Strategic Analysis, Services and Internationalization

In February 2004, the Cham ber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia signed a cooperation agree ment with the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which envisages performing joint activ ities to develop bilateral econom ic relations through the organisa

tion of business meetings between companies from the two countries, the exchange of economic informa tion, and cooperation regarding the participation of the two chambers’ members at trade fairs and exhibi tions, as well as holding seminars in Serbia and Hungary.

The Hungarian-Serbian Business Council was founded in 2006, and it gathers the largest Hungarian com panies, some of which are already operating in Serbia (OTP Bank, MOL,TheMegaplast).Hungarian side informed their Serbian counterparts that the Hungarian government has a very important goal of increasing its eco nomic presence in the surrounding countries, including the Republic of Serbia, not only in the segment of trade but also in investments. The Hungarian government is also keen to improve the Serbian- Hungarian trade. To that end, on October 28, 2015, the Hungarian National Trad ing House A.D. (MNTK) opened its first representative office in Serbia in Belgrade, which covers the entire Serbian market.

SERBIA-HUNGARY BUSINESS FORUM

According to the data collated by the Agency for Business Regis ters of the Republic of Serbia, 655 active business entities, which are majority-owned by Hungarian citi zens and legal entities registered in Hungary, are active in the Republic of Serbia.

On the occasion of the 11th Ses sion of the Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation of the Re public of Serbia with Hungary, the Serbia-Hungary Business Forum was held on June 4, 2021. In coop eration with the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ser bia organised a Business Forum and bilateral meetings of Serbian and Hungarian business people on the Chamber’s premises.

RECENT HISTORY OF THE COOPERATIVE ECONOMY

65SPECIAL EDITION

The participants of the Busi ness Forum were addressed by the co-chairman of the Joint Commis sion, Andjelka Atanasković, Serbi an Economy Minister, on behalf of the Republic of Serbia, and Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Af fairs and Trade of the Republic of Hungary.Thebusiness delegation from Hungary consisted of companies from various sectors, including the agricultural and food industry, tour ism, metal-processing industry, as well as the IT and health sectors .

Industry of Serbia states that in order to increase Serbian exports to Hungary, the trade between the two countries should be more balanced.Toachieve these goals, it is vital to develop infrastructure, more pre cisely, continue with the project of overhauling the Budapest-Belgrade railroad, which is financed by the Chinese fund CIEZ.

The story about Tokaji wine would never be completed if Balkan wasn’t mentioned and involved. Al though this Hungarian wine is rec ognized as the oldest sweet (des sert) wine in the World, this is just because there is no evidence of the same wine-producing technolo

TRADITION

olcanic soil at the foot hills of the Carpathian Mountains stretches in far northeastern Hunga ry and keeps the secret of the first world’s official wine region. Hun garian king Karoly, known as Charles I of Hungary, declared the medieval town of Tokaj and its sur roundings a wine region, 120 years before the famous Bordeaux in France.Hungary, more a beer-drinking country, suddenly become famous for sweet and controversial wine named Tokaji Aszú, after the town

In 2022, the region with 28 villag es and more than 11 thousand hec tares of vineyards has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. A smaller part of the historical wine region now belongs to Slovakia.

of Tokaj and the Hungarian word “aszu”, which means “dry”.

In a beer-drinking country, a wine from Tokaj took all the fame

The Story of Tokaji Wine

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gy adopted from the Balkan penin sula, where this method was prac tised first and then spread to the north at the Tokaji region. Howev er, this is only one of many different legends about the beginning of To kaji Aszu wine. The most acceptable story came from the XVII century when Hungarian nobleman George I Rakoczi, Prince of Transylvania, was forced to fight against the Otto man invasion from the Balkan. His wife ordered their vineyard manag er to postpone the harvest due to in vasion, only to find grapes in a state of extreme dryness.

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The fame of Tokaji wine comes from a very strange plague that usu ally kills the grapes, but in this case, it triggers the most interesting grape maturation that gives unique sweet ness and taste. Noble rot (Botryt is Cinerea) is a grey fungus that af fects grapes but if it is picked at the right time of infection, especially during dry weather conditions, the results turn out to be the finest des sert

fungus which could null the year’s production in normal circumstanc es. But, here in Tokaj, wine-mak ers, pick the grapes, and berries by berries, when it is matured and de hydrated enough to keep their sug ar level. Years and years after, it lay down in dark and wet underground cellars, where became a myrrh-like juice which then used for making wine.Tokaji wine is the world’s old est botrytised wine, which brought fame to Hungary despite it hav ing never been considered a wine country.Sommeliers would praise the fla

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Tokaji wine is the abeenitHungarybroughtwine,oldestworld’sbotrytisedwhichfametodespitehavingneverconsideredwinecountry

Traditional wine cellars in Hercegkut near Sarospatak Tokaj region Hungary

Old bottles of white wine with famous black mold in a wine cellar in Hungary

Higherwine. latitude and cold and wet climate are not ideal for wine-pro ducing, but what once was the grape plague here in Tokaj became an ad vantage. Moist in the air favours the

vours of “Noble rot” wine, like To kaj. Botrytis adds many different flavours and sometimes it is like honey, beeswax, or ginger, but al ways it is sweeter than regular wine. Also, it contains phenylacetalde hyde, which gives a special aroma to it and commonly is found in milk chocolate.Tokajiwine could be made from many grape varieties, but the most popular in modern days is Furmint, which is believed to be the flagship of Hungary. Furmint could be found all over Hungary, but it is consid ered one of the authentically Toka ji varieties which brings extra dry wine, less sweet, but still good as Aszu.The history of Tokaji wine has a huge black spot during the Sovi et era, despite its former fame. The wine was a symbol of aristocracy and as such was ignored, while pro duction was in hands of state-owned companies. The quality of produced wine was not the focus of the Sovi et henchmen who manage it. While production was exported exclusive ly to the Soviet Union and countries behind the Iron curtain, Western World has never got a chance to try Tokaji. Only after the fall of the com munist regime, and vineyards have been privatized did Tokaji wine get a well-deserved place.

he Magic Cube is a three-dimensional col our-matching puzzle that’s a great mental challenge at home or on the move. Turn and twist the sides of the cube so that each of the six faces only has oneThecolour.Magic Cube is incredibly ad dictive and has fascinated fans since

The Rubik’s Cube, or Magic cube as it was named at the beginning, became one of the world’s most famous puzzles of all time CubeMagic

By the 80s, the Rubik’s Cube was a worldwide craze selling millions of Cubes every year and cementing its legacy into pop culture. Featured in The Simpsons, The Big Bang The ory, a Spice Girls music video, and

Little did he know his Mag ic Cube, as he originally named it, would become one of the world’s most famous puzzles of all time! It was not mentioned to become even a toy.With Ernő Rubik's permission, businessman Tibor Laczi took a Cube to Germany's Nuremberg Toy Fair in February 1979 to popularise it. It was noticed by Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer, and soon the deal was signed to release the Magic Cube worldwide.

major Hollywood movies, the popu larity of Rubik’s Cube continued to grow worldwide. The Rubik’s Cube is revered as one of the most belov ed toys of all time. Each year mil lions of Cubes are sold, solved, and shared among friends, families, and puzzle seekers. Annual sales of Ru bik branded cubes were said to have reached 15 million worldwide in 2008.This unusual puzzle has 43 quintillions of possible permu tations (Something like oflyfrompiredalsosistscentimetresstandardbuttionstoyou43.252.003.274.489.856.000),this:andneedtousecertainalgorithmssolveit.TherearemanyvariaoftheRubik’scubenowadays,themostbasiconeis3x3x3.Acubemeasuresclosetosixoneachsideandconof26uniqueminiaturecubes,knownas“cubies”or“cubelets.”TheMagicRevivalAftertheMagiccubepatentexin2000,manycompaniesallovertheWorld,especialfromChina,placedtheirversionsit,triggeringnewlifetothemost

The

Today, Rubik’stheCube is revered as one of the belovedmosttoys of all time CULTURE

it arrived in 1980. Actually, the first Magic Cube was released in Buda pest toy shops in 1977 under the Hungarian name “Buvös Kocka.” It was a new logical toy invented three years earlier by Hungarian archi tecture professor Ernõ Rubik, who tried to explain three-dimensional spaces to his students.

HUNGARY 68 SPECIAL EDITION

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The Cube has inspired an entire category of similar puzzles, com monly referred to as twisty puzzles, which include cubes of different sizes and various other geomet ric shapes. Some such shapes in clude the tetrahedron (Pyraminx), the octahedron (Skewb Diamond), the dodecahedron (Megaminx), and the icosahedron (Dogic). Sompuz zlee, such as Rubik's Snake and the Square One, change shapes.

that when you were young. It’s also normal!Theworld record time for solv ing a classic 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube is 3.47 seconds, held by Du Yusheng from China, on 24 November 2018 at Wuhu Open 2018.

By the 80s, the Rubik’s Cube was a worldwide craze

Some puzzles have also been cre ated in the shape of Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra, such as Alexander's Star (a great dodecahedron). Grégoire Pfennig has also created at least one puzzle in the shape of a small stel latedThedodecahedron.Rubik’sCubespread the glory

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famous puzzle. The new wave of Cube’s popularity fleshed the Globe, which brought again The World Ru bik’s Games Championship held in Toronto with 83 participants. It was the first such tournament after 1982, when the Magic Cube first con quered the World.

Social networks and Youtube channels helped spread the new fame of the old puzzle toy. If you are not such a wunderkind and could solve the Cube for 10 seconds only, then you will need a good strategy. It’s not only that you need to dis cover the right algorithm, but you need to understand it and see how it could be applied. Many fans pub lish their own strategies and advise those who want to try them. How ever, you should not be demotivat ed by multiple failures. It is normal, and only rare talented individuals can solve it by themselves without any instructions. Also, you should not be surprised if you cannot solve the puzzle now, and you could do

culturelegacycementingyearCubesmillionssellingofeveryanditsintopop

of ‘80s Hungary till the nowadays. It was not that usual for a country be hind the Iron curtain to set its pop ularity in the West. Hungary did it thanks to Ernő Rubik and his inven tion. Today, everyone in the World heard about his magical cube and knew its origins in Hungary.

Besides its presence in the pop-culture, the Magical cube is a star by itself. In 2018, a special ex hibition in Syracuse, New York, was dedicated to the Magic Cube. Ernő Rubik’s life and work were present ed to the visitors, who could even try building a giant mosaic wall to gether from Rubik’s cubes. There were robots available to be pro grammed by visitors to find their way out of a maze. One of the big gest attractions was a car-sized Ru bik’s Cube that showed how this in vention works from the inside. One of the most interesting exhibits was a spectacular golden cube made of 18 karat gold worth about two mil lion euros.

RÁCKEVE

Serbs Hungaryin

The Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery in Ráckeve is the oldest monastery in Hungary and one of only two monasteries in the Buda Eparchy of the Serbian Or thodox Church. It is located 40 km south of Budapest, on the Danube river island of Csepel, in the center of the Ráckeve village.

The number of the Serbian com munity in Hungary is not that signif icant today, as there are slightly more

The oldest evidence of Serbians in Hungary is placed just south of Budapest in the village of Ráckeve (Srpski Kovin).

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Serbians have been recognized as one of the most important national minorities of modern Hungary thanks to their historical influence and friendship with the Hungarian majority

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than 10.000 members. However, they have been recognized as one of the most important national minorities of modern Hungary thanks to their historical influence and friendship with the Hungarian majority. Lórév (Serbian: Lovra), a small village on Csepel Island south of Budapest is the only settlement with a Serbian majority today with only 200 Serbs.

During the long-lasting Ottoman occupation of Serbian lands, many scholars found their peace for work in Hungary. They were influenced by Hungarian, and Central Europe an culture and helped Serbia to keep its culture despite the Ottoman’s oc cupation. While living in Hungary, Serbs contributed to local commu nities having a strong influence and culture in general.

TOURISM

he presence of Serbs in Hungary dates from the Middle Ages, not too long after Arpad came with Magyar tribes and settled the Pannonian basin. During that time, Hungarians and Serbs developed strong relations by blood and friend ships thanks to a mutual struggle to cultivate the empty land and defend themselves from the invaders.

Grabovac Monastery (Hungarian: Grábóc) is one of the two existing monasteries of the Serbian Ortho dox Church in present-day Hunga ry. The monastery is located in Tol na County, south of Budapest, near Szekszárd in Central Hungary. The Grabovac Monastery was once one of the religious and cultural centers of the Serbs in Pannonia, and today it is one of the main gathering places of the Serbian community. On the site of the Grabovac mon astery, there used to be a Benedic

When Ottomans started to in trude from the South, Hungarians relied on Serbians to defend their land. Some historical evidence testi fies that land between Belgrade and Kragujevac, today Šumadija, was completely vacant due to Serbs run ning away from the Ottoman inva sion to neighboring Hungary.

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After the Turks besieged and con quered the fortified Smederevo for the first time in 1439, they crossed the Danube twice, devastated and looted Kovin and all the surrounding settlements. Those who escaped in time headed deep into Hungary and reached the island of Csepel on the Danube. On October 10, 1440, King Vladislav of Hungary ceded the Late Gothic church with chapels and bell tower to the settlers of Kovin, and with it, in all probability, a corresponding part of the royal land holdings.

tine Catholic monastery from the 14th century, the remains of which can still be seen near the existing monastery cemetery. The current Grabovac monastery was founded in 1587 by the monks of the Dragović monastery in Dalmatia.

Grábóc

Belvaros, a very central, and the most beautiful Budapest quarter was popular amongst the Serbs dur ing the XVIII and XIX centuries. The street where St. George’s church is named Szerb utca (Serbian street)

Saint George

GRÁBÓC

BELVAROS IN BUDAPEST

According to preserved tradition, often neglected, this monastery is a medieval legacy and was created in the first half of the XII century. The

The Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery in Ráckeve is the ChurchOrthodoxtheEparchyinmonasteriesoneHungarymonasteryoldestinandofonlytwotheBudaofSerbian

founder of the monastery is men tioned as Queen Jelena, the daugh ter of Uroš I, Grand Prince of Serbia, and the wife of the Hungarian king Bela II. At the time when the mon astery was founded, Jelena ruled Hungary on behalf of her minor son Geza II (1141–1161).

Most Serbians today live in Bu dapest where they have their own church of Saint George (Crkva Sve tog Georgija) which is part of Buda’s Eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church. This church is very central ly located only a few steps from the main pedestrian Vaci street.

pire. Because of this invitation, there was a mass emigration of Serbs in 1690 to the Szentendre region. These Serbs left enduring traces on the townscape and its culture.

The Serbian Orthodox church art collection in Szentendre occupies a special place among Hungary’s mu seums and art collections due to the layered content and wealth of funds. It was founded in 1964 as a museum of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Buda, whose basis was the bishop's treasury in Szentendre. Expanding that foundation, it developed by col lecting significant artistic treasures created over centuries and found in the temples of the Diocese.

village Hercegszántó (Santovo), just next to the Serbian border.

SZENTENDRE

of Kosovo, many Serbs emigrated to Szeged where this city became the seat of the Eparchy of Bačka then. The fifth church was built in Szeged at Dom Square after four churches at the same place were destroyed. St. Nich olas church is designed in rococo style with many icons. Serbian ba roque painter Jovan Popović made the part of the iconostasis, with the Temptation of Christ as the most beautiful icon there.

PÉCS AND SZEGED

and many beautiful houses around were inhabited by Serbian poets, writers, artists, and noblemen.

Serbian presence in Hungary could be traced out of Budapest as well. All major cities, especially in the South, like Szeged and Pécs.

One of the key figures of the Hun garian Revolution of 1848, poet Sán dor Petőfi, was born Aleksandar Petrović, in a Serbian and Slovak family. He is considered Hungary’s national poet and was the author of National Song (Nemzeti Dal) which is said to have inspired the revolu tion in the Kingdom of Hungary.

During the Great Turkish War, Serbs were invited to emigrate to Hungary to evade the Ottoman Em

The Cathedral Church of Dormi tion of the Mother of God, known as Belgrade’s Church, originally was a stone church built in 1690. There was a Serbian school as well. The crypt keeps the remains of seven bishops and archbishops. More than four hundred graveyards, mainly from the XIX century, are in the ca thedral’s yard.

While living in Hungary, generalcultureinfluencehavingcommunitiestocontributedSerbslocalastrongandin

Szentendre region

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The oldest part of the town where the Cathedral was erected in 1521 was named Belgrade quarter af ter the Serbian immigrants. There were seven Serbian churches and a school in Szentendre, but today only four are still part of Buda’s Eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Church of St. Paul and St. Pe ter, known earlier as Ćirpovačka Church, today is the Greco-catho lic church, while Zbeg’s Church is now catholic. Reformists took over the Hopovo’s Church, but iconosta sis from it had been removed in the

By collecting, various liturgical objects, the Collection in Szenten dre gradually grew into a valued, and in terms of variety and number of objects, an immense treasury of Orthodox church art antiquities in Hungary. The primary fund of the Collection, which mainly includes artistic creations from the 18th cen tury, provides a broader insight into the complex processes of transfor mation and flourishing of Serbian art in this most significant period of the Buda’s AcquaintanceEparchy.with that period in Szentendre is facilitated by the indispensable holdings of the Dio cese Library and Archives, which form together with the Church Art Collection and expand our knowl edge about the presence of Serbian art and culture in Hungary for sev eral centuries.

Due to its historic architecture and easy rail and river access, it has become a popular destination for tourists in Budapest. Travel agen cies from Serbia always include vis its to Szentendre for tourists when coming to Budapest.

One of the most popular ther mal baths in Budapest, Rác fürdő, is named after an old medieval name for Serbs from their country Rascia (Raška) or Rácország in Hungarian.

Famous Serbian painter Petar Dobrović was born in Pecs. He went to High school there, and later was a student at the Budapest Art school and University. Unfortunately, there is no any evidence of Dobrović’s life in Pecs Aftertoday.theBattle

Szeged

It was followed by Ahmed

Mounib’s concert, a violinist from the Cairo Philharmonic Or chestra. Mounib is a world-re nowned violinist who stands out in the classical music and jazz genres tonight's concert. “We played the Egyptian instrument rabab and traditional Egyptian music, among others. My almost daily escort is pianist Mohamed Fouad. All we played tonight was

“Egypt in Luštica Bay" was the theme of the first edition of the World & Art International Festival

CORPORATE

The fashion show aftermath was inspired by Cleopatra's char acter. Montenegrin fashion de signer Ivana Miranović, found er of the Itsa Couture brand, and Katarina Zlajić, designer of jewel lery stylised models inspired by actress Elizabeth Taylor, starring

Cleopatra in a 1963 film hit by the same name. The organisers had earlier announced that they were taking the idea to make the festi val traditional. The Luštica Bay In ternational World & Art Festival of Art and Culture should be held on the same date year after year – the second Saturday in August, rep resenting artists and fashion de signers worldwide.

our original music, a combination of classical notes with traditional Egyptian music,” he said.

The First International World & Art Festival at Luštica Bay

he World & Art International Festival was opened on 13th August 2022 at Luštica Bay. The festival was organised as a partnership project between Luštica Bay and the Fabrika agency. The festival was opened by the honorary pres ident and ambassador of the Festival, a famous and talented actress from Egypt of Montenegrin origin, Tara Emad, who noted that the event enjoys her absolute respect and the synergy of two beautiful cultures that are differ ent and based on the same values."Iam an Egyptian of Monte negrin origin, and I am pleased with this gathering. The people of Egypt talk a lot about the beauty of Montenegro,” she said.

n this occasion, the Mar keting Network (Market ing mreža) announced a competition for the 8th annual national awards - KAKTUS.

"Despite the very difficult and challenging previous period, nu merous interesting and innova

in the creative industry, but also to point out to the professional public their potential, talents and creativity. In addition, this com petition has a humanitarian char acter, and the works and ideas cre ated within the competition will be donated to a social association.

strength and potential of local cre ativity," said Ivana Parčetić Mitić, Founder and CEO of the Market ing Network.

Festival KAKTUS by 1664 Blanc at the Beginning of November in Belgrade!

Awards are given in 25 categories, and they are given to companies, institutions and agencies for the highest quality and most profes sional single-channel and mul ty-channel campaigns in the past year. The contest is open until September 20th.

AWARDS FOR YOUNG TALENTS – KAKTUS TALENTS

The 8th Festival of integrated communications KAKTUS by 1664 Blanc will be held on November 1st and 2nd at the Mona Plaza Hotel in Belgrade, under the headline "Self-reflection"

tive campaigns were realized that we believe are worthy of atten tion, both by professionals and the general public. The compe tition for KAKTUS awards is an opportunity to measure wheth er these are really different ideas and those that survive, but also to evaluate the progress of the pro fession. We expect a lot of good campaigns that will point to de velopment trends, but also to challenges that determine the fu ture of the creative industry in Serbia. The KAKTUS festival is an ideal opportunity to see the

www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs74 CULTURE

You can find more information about the competitions and the festival at www.kaktus.rs

As part of the KAKTUS festival, the Marketing Network, with the support of the SBB company, an nounced the 4th competition for young talents from agencies in Serbia - KAKTUS Talents. The goal of this competition is to encour age and motivate young people

Young professionals from agencies in Serbia, up to the age of 32, can apply for the competition. Team registration is open until September 23.

ProgrammeKOLARAC Sunday, 11th at 11.00 Concert Hall BELGRADE PROM'S Koročkin Piano Duo Tamara Koročkin Schoenhage & Andreas Programme:SchoenhageW.A.Mozart, Svetislav Božić, Nataša Bogojević, Paul Walter Furst, Hans Jurgen von Bose Wednesday, 14th at 20.00 Concert Hall RTS ORCHESTRASYMPHONY Conductor: Bojan Sudjić Programme: Mahler/ Symphny no. 5 Sunday, 18th at 11.00 Concert Hall BELGRADE PROM`S Belgrade Trio Dušan Panajotović, violin Ivan Jarić, cello Igor Dražević, piano Friday, 23rd at 18.00 Music Gallery 140 TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN SERBIA AND JAPAN Rakugo Saturday,AdmissonPerformancefree24that11.00 Concert Hall SMALL SCHOOL OF BONTON/ How to Listen to The Concert Mini SAXperience/ GIFTED YOUNG Saturday,HostSAXOPHONISTSMilošMilovanović24that18.00 Concert Hall INTERNATIONAL CHORAL FESTIVAL Production: We are singing Admission free CLICK TO GO 