Countries with Most Official Languages

We lived in a country with 3 official languages until 1992: in SFRY, these were Serbo-Croatian (two versions), Slovenian and Macedonian. Now, in Vojvodina, we have 6 official languages. But are there countries with more official languages that that? And what are these countries?

With 16 official languages, Zimbabwe won the Guinness World Record in 2013 as the country with the most official languages at a national level!

Of their 16 languages, Shona, Ndebele and English are the most used ones. And although English is not the native lan- guage for most of the population, it is used in government and official communications.

But India is not the country with the most official languages, since only 18 of them are recognized by the Constitution and deemed official at a regional level. Considering the abundance of language and dialects in their territory, this is a small percentage. Hindi and Bengali are the most spoken ones.

With 35 different native languages, South Africa only recognises 11 of them as official. Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, and English are the most spoken languages and most of the citizens in South Africa speak more than one language. Although Zimbabwe is considered the country with the most official languages at a national level, Bolivia has a far higher number. Their Constitution recognises 37 different languages on a regional level! Even though Spanish is the most spoken language, Quechua and Aymara are widely popular.

Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese and Tamil. In Europe, the four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian and Romansh.

Rwanda closes this list with Kinyarwanda, English, French and Swahili as official.

MAY 2023

POLAND National Day (Constitution Day)

ICRC, IFRC International Red Cross Day

EU National Day (Schuman Day)

ISRAEL Independence Day

NORWAY Constitution Day

ARGENTINA Primera Junta Day

Change of His Majesty’s Ambassador to Serbia: Edward Ferguson

Mr Edward Ferguson has been appointed His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia in succession to Ms Sian MacLeod OBE. Mr Ferguson will take up his appointment during July 2023. Mr Ferguson works as Minister Counsellor Defence in the United States, where together with the Defence Attaché led the British Defence Staff. Previously, he served as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2014 to 2018.

New Nestlé manager in Surčin factory

With nearly 30 years of experience in Nestlé, Jamadagni Kandige will lead the team of 530 employees. Effectively July 1, Mr. Jamadagni Kandige will take over the responsibility of Nestlé Surčin factory manager. During almost 30 years in Nestlé, Kandige held numerous managerial positions in Nestlé production worldwide: India, Philippines, Malaysia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Great Britain. Currently, he holds the position of the director of the Purina pet food plant in Wisbech, England, where he has conducted significant improvement in working methods and brilliant results based on a reduction in safety incidents and a visible reduction in consumer complaints, even during the particularly challenging times of the pandemic.

MPC Properties Appoints Pınar Yalçınkaya as the New CEO

MPC Properties, one of the most experienced real estate companies in the SEE region with its business grounded in investment, development, and management of assets, appoints Pınar Yalçınkaya as the new Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Yalçınkaya brings over 20 years of real estate business experience with extensive know-how in acquisition, disposal, (re) development, leasing, asset, and property management. During her career in multinational companies, she was responsible for numerous investment projects and operations of real estate assets. Prior to joining MPC, she served as the CEO and Board Member for both the Multi Corporation and ECE Group’s subsidiaries in Türkiye and provided oversight and guidance to the largest retail real estate platforms in the country. “I am excited to join MPC Properties and uphold the company’s vision to build communities and enable prosperity for all, in addition to MPC’s commitment to bring the best innovative real estate project solutions on the market “, said Yalçınkaya.

Serbia – Italy Business and Science Forum held in Belgrade

On the occasion of the opening of the Serbia – Italy Business and Science Forum, a cocktail party for representatives of the Serbian and Italian political and cultural elite was held at the Residence of the Ambassador of Italy. Luca Gori, the ambassador of Italy in Serbia, hosted numerous distinguished guests in his residence. The networking cocktail was an opportunity for the participants to meet and exchange ideas in an informal environment, which contributed to additional networking and the creation of new business contacts. This event showed that business cooperation between Italy and Serbia is developing positively and that there is great potential for further growth and development.

Serbia – Italy Business and Science Forum was successfully held in Belgrade on March 21 and 22, 2023. The forum was organized by all actors of the Italia system, including the Embassy of Italy, ITA, Confindustria Serbia, the Chamber of Italian-Serbian Businessmen, and in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Antonio Tajani, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, emphasized the importance of the relationship between the two countries, especially in supporting the further development of economic relations. Marko Čadež, President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni, President of the Italian Trade Agency, Matteo Zopas, and many other distinguished guests spoke at the forum. After the welcoming remarks, three round tables were held on the topic of infrastructure, agriculture, and energy. In the afternoon, the Forum took shape through several hundred bilateral meetings between Italian and Serbian companies. Over 150 Italian and about 250 Serbian companies participated. The participation of a large number of companies at this event indicates the importance and potential of cooperation between Italy and Serbia, and the organized B2B meetings are certainly an added value of the Forum, which will contribute to the further development of business cooperation and the creation of new business opportunities. Serbia – Italy Business and Science Forum represents an opportunity to establish new contacts, create business connections between Italian and Serbian companies, and exchange knowledge and experiences between government representatives, the academic community, and the business sector. The organizers expressed their gratitude to everyone who participated in the organization of the Forum and contributed to its success and is convinced that this initiative will contribute to the improvement of private cooperation between Italy and Serbia, as well as enable the development of new business opportunities and projects.

Greek Independence Day celebrated in Belgrade

On the occasion of the Independence Day of Greece, a celebration was held at the embassy of this country in Belgrade. On this occasion, H.E. Maria Levanti, the ambassador of Greece in Serbia, hosted numerous representatives of the Serbian political and cultural elite, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps. Greece’s Independence Day is celebrated on March 25, and it is the day when Greeks mark the anniversary of the beginning of the revolution for liberation from the Ottoman Empire – March 25, 1821.

Challenges of International Security: The Case of Mexico

Lecture by the Ambassador of Mexico in Serbia, H. E. Carlos Issaur Félix Corona, on the topic “Challenges of international security: the case of Mexico” was held at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade. The opening speech was given by the head of the Center for Latin American Studies, prof. Dr. Zoran Krstić. He emphasized the importance of the position that Mexico has in the Latin American region and underlined the fact that such lectures by diplomats are extremely important for political science students in order to better understand global relations. H.E. Carlos Isauro Félix Corona explained the current political, economic, and social situation in Mexico and the factors affecting regional and global security. The ambassador stated that one of Mexico’s biggest problems is the migration of people and that this problem represents a great task and challenge for the country. “When it comes to migration, we are talking about people who are in illegal situations. / Source and photo: Faculty of Political Sciences

28 MARCH 2023

Direct flights from Belgrade to Tel Aviv again from April 6

The Embassy of Israel and Air Serbia organised a reception on the occasion of establishing a new direct air link between Belgrade and Tel Aviv. The direct Air Serbia flight that connects Belgrade and Tel Aviv will be re-established on April 6, on the great Jewish holiday, said Israel’s Ambassador to Serbia Yahel Vilan. „I am overjoyed that direct flights between our two countries will start again, in less than three hours, passengers will be able to get from Belgrade to Tel Aviv and vice versa“, said the ambassador and added that the first Air Serbia plane would take off on one of the most important Jewish holidays Pesach, that is celebrated as a spring holiday and is a sign of a new beginning, new achievements and connections between Serbs and Jews, Serbia and Israel.

We Care – We Are Better Together

“We care about Europe, we care about Serbia and its citizens – We are better together”, is the main message of the campaign in which the ambassador of the European Union in Serbia and the ambassadors of the member states participate. On the launch of the campaign, Ambassador Giaufret and his colleagues hosted media representatives at the residence of the European Union in Belgrade. With this campaign, the ambassadors say, they want to emphasize that they care about the citizens of Serbia and about the same things as them – about successful agriculture, empowering companies, the environment, ensuring better air quality, road infrastructure, and connectivity, energy efficiency and support in overcoming the energy crisis, cultural heritage, the rule of law, education and many other topics. Ambassador Giaufret explained the motivation for launching the campaign. “Why do we have this campaign? You often see us in the media talking about political issues – such as the Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina or alignment with foreign policy. These are important topics, but sometimes we don’t explain why we invest so much energy and resources. The answer is in the slogan of the campaign – We care about Serbia and its citizens – we are better together”, said Ambassador Giaufret. Minister for European Integration Tanja Miščević considers the campaign a great and important promotion of the partnership between Serbia and the EU. “A partnership in which Serbia receives not only financial, economic, and development aid but also adopts European values and European standards. This campaign is an indicator of how everything looks positive in the end, through realized projects, which are the result of such a partnership.”, said Minister Miščević. At the event, the chargé d’affaires of the embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden, the country that currently holds the presidency of the European Union, Alexandre Peyre Dutrey, said that during the current presidency of the EU, that country’s priorities are – Green transition, circular economy and an attempt to correct the mistakes of the past. This campaign is based on the idea of partnership, commitment, and solidarity between the European Union and Serbia. Through a series of spots, billboards, and digital formats, the ambassadors present successful projects through people throughout Serbia that the European Union and its citizens have financially supported. That we are better together is presented through numerous examples of support filmed in authentic locations. The mission of the EU Delegation in Serbia is to ensure adequate representation of the EU in Serbia, to promote and protect the values and interests of the EU and its member states, as well as to monitor and support the process of Serbia’s accession to the EU, among other things, by successfully implementing EU aid programs. The European Union is recognized as a political and economic union, but what we often forget is that the European Union is one big family of citizens of 27 member states. The European Union cares about its citizens, but also about the citizens of Serbia, which this campaign conveys. Because we all belong to the same European family, the European Union will continue to support the citizens of Serbia because – WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER!

Ethno Network organised an Easter bazaar in the Canadian residence

The Ethno Network organized a special Easter sale at the Canadian Residence. Ethno Mreža is a non-profit organization that supports women who create authentic Serbian handicrafts using traditional techniques. Visitors to the residence had the opportunity to meet some of these talented artisans and see their work.