Please be informed that due to the national holiday of the Republic of Serbia, the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Doha will be closed November 11, 2024.

Due to today's tragic event at the railway station in Novi Sad, which caused the death of 14 people and more than 30 injuries, the Government of the Republic of Serbia declared Saturday, November 2, 2024, as the Day of Mourning in the Republic of Serbia.

We inform citizens that a Book of mourning will be opened at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Doha on Sunday, November 3, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

IMPORTANT.

The Embassy recommends to apply for any kind of e -visa minimum 6 weeks before the planned trip to Serbia.

The Embassy informs that the new e portal has been activated to apply for C and D visas. In person application will be possible only for speciphic cases, such as courtesy call visas and visas for the foreign citizens married to the Serbian citizens, as well as for minor children.

Link to apply:

https://welcometoserbia.gov.rs/

Or scan the code for C and D visa.

The Embassy will be closed on Tuesday, February 13, 2024 on the occasion of the National Sports Day of the State of Qatar, as well as on Thursday, February 15, on the occasion of the Statehood day of the Republic of Serbia

Mr. Radeka gave an interview to the Radio-television of Serbia, whose crew was filming a documentary film about Qatar.

Radeka spoke about the overall relations between Serbia and Qatar with an assessment of the obvious upward trend.

In particular, he spoke about the Embassy's activities in the sphere of cultural and public diplomacy, about the implemented Flag Plaza project during the World Cup, about cooperation with the artist Mubarak Al Thani, as well as about the planned exhibition of the Nikola Tesla Museum in Doha in September of this year.

The interview will be broadcast in the RTS Cultural Diary.

In the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Doha, on Thursday, Sunday and Monday, May 4, 7 and 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., a Book of Condolences is opened on the occasion of the unprecedented tragedy and the loss of nine innocent lives at the "Vladislav Ribnikar" Elementary School in Belgrade.

An e mail can also be sent to embsrbqat@gmail.com or srb.emb.qatar@mfa.rs

We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

Editor in the Radio-Television of Serbia Mrs. Valentina Delic and her colleagues from television, who are filming in Doha about Energoprojekt and the activities and projects of that Serbian company, as well as about the development of Qatar, visited the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Doha.

On that occasion, Chargé d'Affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka and colegues form the Embassy wished them a welcome, a pleasant stay in Qatar and success in filming the film, which is estimated to lead to additional strengthening of ties between Serbia and Qatar.

Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka visited the studio of a young Qatari artist, Sheikh Mubarak Al Thani, from "Education Above All", who on that occasion revealed an art painting dedicated to Serbia and his visits to our country.

Mubarak Al Thani pointed out that he is delighted with the beauty of Serbia and that he likes to visit it. He expressed interest in cooperation with cultural institutions, artists and studios in Serbia.

From our side, it was emphasised that the Embassy supports the initiative and every kind of cooperation between the two countries and their entities in the field of culture and art, and public presence.

Charge d Affairs Mr. Slobodan Radeka attended iftar dinner hosted for the chiefs of foreign diplomatic missions in Doha by H.H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar.

Mr. Radeka conveyed the greetings of H. E. Mr. Aleksandar Vučić, the President of the Republic of Serbia and pointed out that Sebria is dedicated to further develop relations with Qatar in all areas of the mutual interest.

Chargé d'Affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited the Qatar Chamber and spoke with Mr. Ahmed Abunahia, the Director of Public Relations.
The importance of holding the session of the Business Council between Serbia and Qatar was jointly highlighted.
Mr. Radeka pointed out that Serbia is interested in the development of relations with Qatar in the fields of economy, trade, investment, and invited businessmen from Qatar to invest in the Serbian economy.
Mr. Abunahia pointed out the great possibilities for intensifying cooperation and offered the help of the Qatar Chamber in that regard.

Chargé d'affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited the cultural village-foundation "Katara" and met with the General Manager of that organization, H. E. dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti.

Mr. Radeka pointed out that the Embassy of Serbia in Qatar pays great attention to activities in the fields of cultural and public diplomacy, as well as that strengthening the presence of Serbia in the public and cultural life of Qatar is one of the priorities in work, especially in the context of modern digital means of communication. He asked for the support of "Katara" for the next projects that will be organized by us, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Culture, museums and other cultural institutions in Serbia.

Dr. Al Sulaiti stated that Qatar will be happy to support any initiative to strengthen relations between Qatar and Serbia in the field of culture and public diplomacy and promised assistance in providing space for exhibitions, events and other events, with adequate coordination and prior preparation of activities. the mutual benefit. He emphasized that Qatar recognizes Serbia as a partner in many areas, including culture.

Амбасада ће бити затворена 16, 17. априла (Вакрс), 22, и 23. априла (Рамазан Бајрам), као и 1. и 2. маја (Међунароидни празник рада). За најхитнија питања може се упутити мејл.

Ambasada će biti zatvorena 16. i 17. aprila (Vaskrs), 22. i 23. aprila (Ramazan Bajram), kao i 1. i 2. maja (Međunarodni praznik rada). Za najhitnija pitanja može se uputiti mejl.

The Embassy will be closed on April 16, 17 (Easter), April 22 and 23 (Eid Al Fitr), as well as on May 1 and 2 (International Labor Day). For most urgent issues an e mail can be sent.

Charge d'affaires a. i. Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited the monumental building of the Amiri Diwan, the seat of the Amir of the State of Qatar, H. H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The two-hour visit for the heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited in Doha was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar. The Amir's Palace combines traditional Arab and Qatari values with modern architectural trends and, according to the general assessment, is a masterpiece of architecture.

It is interesting that the old Divan building was designed by an architect from the former Yugoslavia, but there is no information about his name and surname in the Qatari archives.

Chargé d'affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka spoke with the Director General of the Directorate for Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, H. E. Ambassador Saoud Al Mahmoud.
It was jointly stated that the bilateral relations between Serbia and Qatar are very good, as well as that there is an obvious momentum and an upward trend.
The importance of President H. E. Aleksadnar Vučić's recent visit to Qatar, as well as the announcement of the first session of the Business Council, was particularly highlighted.

Ambassador Al Mahmoud emphasized that Qatar recognizes the strategic importance of Serbia in the Balkans and is ready to develop relations with our country in all areas; in economy, energy, trade, agriculture, investments, food supply security, IT sector.

Charge d'Affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka attended the opening of the World Security Forum, which is being held in Doha, organized by the American Soufan Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.
He gave an interview to the Qatari TV stations Al Araby and Doha News, in which he emphasized the importance of holding the Forum, as a platform for exchanging opinions on current world political and security challenges.

Mr. Radeka also spoke about the bilateral relations between Serbia and Qatar, which are on an obvious upward trajectory, particularly emphasizing the importance of the recent visit to Doha by the President of the Republic of Serbia, H. E. Aleksandar Vučić, and the meeting with the Amir of Qatar, H. H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He alsto stressed importance of the preparations for the fist ever Business Council Meeting beteween Serbia and Qatar.

The President of the Republic of Serbia, H. E. Aleksandar Vučić, participated in the UN conference dedicated to the least developed countries, LDC5, which took place from 5-9. March, in Doha. The participation of the President of Serbia at this conference is another indicator of the head of state's strong multilateral activity and our country's commitment to cooperation with all countries in the world, including the least developed ones, many of which represent Serbia's traditional friends.

On the margins of the conference, the President of the Republic Serbia had several very significant bilateral meetings, which speak of the high reputation of the Republic of Serbia in contemporary world political and economic relations.H. E.  President Vučić met with the President of Palestine, H. E. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of Maldives, H. E. Ibrahim Solih, as well as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, H. E. Sheikha Hasina Wazed.

The President of Serbia, H. E. Aleksandar Vučić, met for the first time with the Amir of the State of Qatar, H. H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The two statesmen mutually noted that there are great potentials and willingness to develop cooperation between Serbia and Qatar in various areas, such as investments, energy, trade, agriculture, food supply security and others. H. E. President Aleksandar Vučić invited H. H. Amir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to visit Serbia, which His Higness accepted, promising to visit our country soon. Such a visit would have a historical character, as it would represent the first visit to Serbia by a Qatari Amir.

Representatives of the company "Pro-ing" from Novi Sad, led by the company's director Mr. Goran Vukobratović, were on a study visit to Qatar, 10-13. February, 2023. As part of their technical-study stay in Qatar, and based on the mediation of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, they had a several-hour visit to the magnificent "Al Janub" stadium in Al Wakra. The company "Pro-ing" presented a successful business in the performance of works at several stadiums in R. Serbia, in Loznica, Kragujevac, Leskovac, and they also participated in the renovation of the "Karađorđe" stadium in Novi Sad. They are also engaged in designing the construction of hospitals, schools, water purification plants, etc.
A meeting was held with Hamad Nasser Al Khalifa, Director of Development Management of the Qatari Medical Corporation "Hamad", followed by a study-professional visit and a tour of the wastewater treatment plant, located within the Qatar Public Works Authority, "Ashgal". A meeting was also held with Mohammed Ibrahim Al Mulla, investment relations specialist at the Qatar Investment Promotion Agency.
The representatives of the company "Pro-ing" also had a joint working meeting with the management of the renowned Serbian company "Energoprojekt-Entel", who conveyed the results of decades of successful work in Qatar and the experience of performing on the Qatari market.

Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in the State of Qatar Mr. Slobodan Radeka took an active part in all the meetings, supported the development of investment, trade and business cooperation between economic entities of the two countries, with special emphasis on the importance of holding the constituent session of the Business Council between Serbia and Qatar, which, organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and the Chamber of Commerce of Qatar , expected at the beginning of May, in Doha.

It was absolute pleasure and honour for me to be able to be a part of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in the State of Qatar and to be a spectator at the FIFA World CUP Qatar 2022.

It is generally considered that Qatar has delivered the best ever World Cup, and therefore I would like to congratulate the State of Qatar and its authorities. I believe that it will not be easy for any future organizer of the FIFA World Cup to repeat such a successful event.

I would like to point out that eight new stadiums represent the masterpieces of architecture, for they combine and connect the traditional Arab and Qatari values and trends with contemporary tendencies. As such, they are unique and they can be regarded as the part of the legacy of the whole mankind.

It would be, no doubtly, important to stress that the Serbian fans have shown exceptional behaviour during the tournament. They have obeyed and respected all the procedures and rules of the State of Qatar, as well as the recommendations of the Embassy, making us feeling proud on them.

Doha, January 29, 2023
 

Chargé d'affaires of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited today the Secretariat of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries - GECF. He spoke with Mr. Ali Amirani, Head of the Office of the General Secretary of the GECF. Mr. Amirani introduced the main goals and planned meetings of the GECF during 2023, highlighting the growth of the strategic importance of gas as an energy source in the contemporary world economic, energy and political constellations.

Mr. Radeka thanked for the kind reception and was interested in the modalities of possible cooperation between Serbia and this organization, whose headquarters are in Doha.

The meeting was also attended by Minister Counselor to the Embassy Mr. Zdravko Pavićević, as well as Mr. Aleksandar Ermakov,  energy econometrician at the GECF.

Chargé d'affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited the Qatar Investment Authority and spoke with Mr. Mubarak Abdelaziz Al Khulaifi, Director for Europe, Turkey and Russia. QIA is a state agency specializing in Qatari investments abroad. Radeka pointed out that Serbia is interested in the development of all kinds of relations with Qatar, especially those in the sphere of economy, trade and investments, which are far from their potential. In the conversation, he pointed out the comparative advantages and presented the impressive macroeconomic indicators of R. Serbia. Al Khulaifi said that Qatar is interested in strengthening economic relations with Serbia and examining investment opportunities, primarily in the agriculture and food production sector, as well as sports medicine and the IT sector.

Chargé d'affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka received Marco Antonio, director of the renowned Qatari agency Arabian Adventures Qatar. Antoni presented the concept of Real Estate Investment Tourism, pointing out that the Qatari partners are interested in investing in tourism capacities in Serbia, especially when it comes to mountain tourism and spas.

Radeka promised that all competent authorities and institutions in Serbia will be informed about the initiative and that the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Qatar will provide all the necessary support towards the realization of this important initiative.

https://covid19.moph.gov.qa/EN/travel-and-return-policy/Pages/default.aspx

Charge d'affaires ad interim. Mr. Slobodan Radeka made a statement for QNA and congratulated Qatar and its citizens and residents on the National Day, which is celebrated on December 18, pointing out that he believes that the fact that the National Day is celebrated this year on the same day as the Finals of the World Cup in football actually reflects the depth of Qatar's strategic planning. He spoke particularly  of the slogan "Our unity is the source of our strength", which is the motto of this year's National Day celebration, noting that the motto can also be used by other peoples and countries. He emphasized that Qatar is a state of overall progress, which is obvious. Regarding the World Cup, perhaps the biggest global event at the moment, he congratulated Qatar on its exceptional organization, adding that it is considered one of the best organized World Cups in the history of these competitions.
In terms of bilateral relations, he stated that Serbia and Qatar are partners in many areas of cooperation, as well as in international forums, and that there is certainly and always room for further progress and development of relations in various fields. On this plan, the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in the State of Qatar is always ready to give the maximum contribution.

We would like to inform that Embassy of Republic of Serbia will be closed on Sunday, 18.12.2022. due to the Qatar National Day.

Charge d' Affairs of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbian on the State of Qatar Mr. Slobodan Radeka met today with Mr. Vojin Djordjević,founder and owner of Serbian company "Voda Voda" and Mr. Abdulla Sultan Al Qatan, owner of the company "Al Shams Trading". The meeting was atteneded also by Mr. Ahmad Jassim.

Mr. Radeka expressed the support of the Embassy for cooperation of the two mentioned companies, as well as any other Serbian and Qatari company. He pointed out that the Embassy is ready to maximally contribute to enhancing of the overall cooperation in the filed of economy, trade and investment between the Republic of Serbia and the State of Qatar.

Mr. Djordjevic and Mr. Al Qatan expressed their satisfaction with the level of their cooperation and announced possibility of even greater placement of the famous Serbian poduct Voda Voda to the Qatari market.

Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka made a statement to the popular Qatari radio station QBS.
He said that the Serbian football team, which is participating in the World Cup, is expected to arrive in Doha soon. He emphasized that the performance of the popular "Eagles" is eagerly awaited in Serbia.

Radeka congratulated the Qatari authorities on the successfully completed preparations and all work completed on time in the context of the World Cup. He also said that the World Cup is an excellent opportunity for the state representatives of Serbia and Qatar to meet at various levels, primarily in the field of sports and youth, which will contribute to the further development of bilateral relations and ties.

He especially emphasized that the arrival of around three thousand fans from Serbia is expected, as well as that the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in the State of Qatar is ready to provide maximum consular protection at all times.

Citizens of the Republic of Serbia, with or without a residence permit in Qatar, can travel to Qatar from November 1 without the obligation to undergo a PCR or antigen test, before or after arrival. A permit is required to enter the country, which is obtained through the Haja application, which acts as a visa. The need to register via the website www.ehteraz.gov.qa has also been abolished. There is no quarantine for vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens of the Republic of Serbia (residents and non-residents), but this obligation exists only for those who have been tested positive for covid 19. The Ehteraz application is installed and activated only in case of the need to visit health institutions, in which it is necessary to carry masks. A PCR test is not required for transit through Hamad Airport in Doha, unless the destination country of travel requires such a test. It is recommended, especially before the planned trip, to check the current information on the conditions of entry through the website of the Ministry of Health of Qatar www.moph.gov.qa, due to frequent changes.
Private health insurance is recommended for all travelers entering the country, and the Qatar Ministry of Health also recommends a covid-19 vaccination before traveling to Qatar.

Entry regime during the World Cup in football
Starting from November 1, 2022 until December 23, 2022, it will be possible to enter Qatar only with the "Haja" application, which will have the function of a visa and a permit to enter stadiums. Holders of the "Haya" application will be able to stay in Qatar until January 23, 2023. It will also be possible to use public transport for free with this application.
Registration via the website www.ehteraz.gov.qa is not required, and the Ehteraz application needs to be installed and activated only when visiting health institutions. There is an obligation to wear masks in healthcare institutions.
Issuance of regular tourist and other visas will resume on December 23, 2022. The obligation to test for the corona virus (antigen or PCR test) before or after arrival in Qatar has been abolished.
During the World Cup, the Embassy's on-call mobile phones will be +97433686114, as well as the e-mail addresses embsrbqat@gmail.com and srb.emb.qatar@mfa.rs, and the Embassy will also have an outpost consular department-information point in the DECC convention center. Since it is only an information desk, consular services will not be provided to citizens of Serbia in this center, but they will be provided regularly in the premises of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia, which is located 5 km from the center.
It is necessary to respect the Qatari laws on public order and peace and it is recommended to take into account the traditional and cultural values ​​of the State of Qatar, and to wear clothes that cover the knees and shoulders. Alcohol consumption is allowed only in hotels or designated places. Consumption of alcohol in public areas, parks and streets is strictly prohibited.
Private health insurance is recommended, but the most urgent medical assistance will be available in the public hospitals of the "Hamad" system, at no extra cost. Due to the large number of visitors and the burden on the healthcare system, it is in the interest of all visitors to have international travel health insurance.
Land entry from the direction of Saudi Arabia is not recommended, due to special permits through the Haya application, a non-refundable deposit of 5 thousand riyals and other procedures. Only vehicles with Qatari license plates will be able to enter Qatar freely, while travelers coming to Qatar for one day, as well as buses, will have to park in special places at the border, from where bus and taxi transportation to Doha will be organized. All passengers who entered Qatar before November 1 and have a Haya card will be able to re-register their visa in the police as a "fan visa".

Starting from December 2, travelers will be able to obtain travel permits through the Haja application even if they do not have pre-purchased tickets for matches.
The passport must be valid at least until March 22, 2023,
All details regarding the World Cup and changes to travel conditions should be followed on the website www.qatar2022.qa
It is not allowed to bring alcohol in the luggage, for psychiatric and painkillers it is necessary to have a doctor's prescription and a doctor's report-findings, not older than 6 months, with a diagnosis and a doctor's signature, with an English translation, which contains the generic name and composition of the prescribed drug and this is recommended for other types of drugs as well.

In addition to the Hamad airport, "Doha International Airport" will also be active.

Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of Serbia in Doha Slobodan Radeka affirmed the importance of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, not only for Qatar but for the whole Middle East and the Arab World.

In an exclusive statement to QNA, H E Slobodan Radeka said: that this World Cup will be special in many ways. "I would like to pay a tribute to the State of Qatar, its authorities and people for all the unprecedented efforts that have been invested in the successful organisation of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022., he added.

“We are very proud to have our National Football Team participating in the tournament and the expectations about its results are not small. Experts say that this is one of the best national football teams in many years, led by the experienced coach, former world class player and the legend of the Serbian and Yugoslavian football, Dragan Stojkovic Piksi,” he added.

“The World Cup would also provide the opportunity for the high officials of our two countries to meet. Overall relations between Serbia and Qatar are very good, but there is for sure a room for further improvement in a number of areas and fields. We do have quite good basis and foundation in terms of agreements and memoranda between our two countries, in the fields of economy, investment, culture and sports,” he continued.

“With trade exchange of about $15m a year, there is definitely a huge potential to enhance cooperation, particularly in the field of economy, trade, investment as well as energy,” he stressed, adding that this is one of their priorities in the coming months and weeks.

Speaking about Qatar’s World Cup preparations, Slobodan Radeka said: “The World Cup and preparations for it enable the Embassy to participate in a number of activities to promote our country, nation and its culture. In the field of culture, the Republic of Serbia and State of Qatar concluded an agreement on cooperation in this field, as the framework. Drafts have been exchanged between the National Libraries of the two countries. We do recognise the importance of the cultural cooperation as a bridge between the countries and its peoples.”

“The Embassy with the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, are participating in two major cultural projects. We believe our country will be properly represented to Qatar and to the World, which will, so to speak, gather itself in Doha,” he added.

Regarding the Serbian Fans, Charge d’Affaires of the Serbian Embassy noted that the basic role of the Embassy will be to greet them and to provide all kinds of the consular protection, and there could be a need for such services, as it is usual for the events of this magnitude. 

Chargé d'affaires Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited the Secretariat of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries-GECF and spoke with Mr. Ali Amirani, head of the office of the Secretary General of this organization, which has 11 members, gas exporting countries and 7 observers.

During the meeting, Mr. Amirani introduced  the objectives of the Forum and the postulates of the work of the Secretariat, and opinions were also exchanged on global energy security and opportunities.

Mr. Ali Amirani pointed out that the Forum is also open to applications for membership from other countries, assessing that the contemporary geopolitical situation determines the growth of the importance of natural gas, as an irreplaceable energy source for the needs of industry and households.

In a written interview for Inside Qatar, Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka acknowledged the authorities, citizens and residents of the State of Qatar for the efforts made in preparing FIFA 2022 Qorld Cup in Qatar, which will be the first in the history of the Arab world and the Middle East. He assessed that the stadiums represent a masterpiece of architecture, which connect modern trends and rich Arab tradition and culture.

He emphasized that expectations from the performance of the Serbian national football team are never low and that this is one of the most compact teams that Serbia has ever had. Radeka informed that about 2 thousand visitors from Serbia are expected and that the Embassy is preparing to provide them with all the necessary consular protection. He also stated that a special reception will be organized at the Embassy on October 25, at which the Serbian diaspora in Qatar will be invited to support the performance and cheer heartily for our national team at the stadiums.

It was especially emphasized that the arrival of the President of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Mr. Aleksandar Vučić, is expected to attend the opening ceremony of the World Cup, at the invitation of the Emir, His Highness sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, which is another confirmation that Serbia recognized Qatar's efforts to organize such an event, but and the importance that the Republic of Serbia attaches to bilateral relations with the State of Qatar.

Mr. President,
Madam Special Representative,
Ladies and gentleman,
It gives me honor to address this distinguished body once again and to discuss the latest report of the Secretary-General on the work of the UNMIK.
I would like to thank the Secretary-General and the Special Representative for submitting the report. We take note of the efforts that Ms. Ziadeh makes in performing this very responsible duty, especially bearing in mind the necessity of a comprehensive overview and the complexity of the situation on the ground.
I also take this opportunity to underline that the Republic of Serbia highly values the activities of UNMIK in Kosovo and Metohija, established under UN Security Council Resolution 1244. We advocate for its continued operation in an unchanged and undiminished scope and capacity, especially bearing in mind that the Mission has not yet achieved the main goal of its mandate - a peaceful and normal life for all citizens of our southern province.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Unfortunately, the last few months have not brought more stability in Kosovo and Metohija and the situation in the Province is not exactly as presented in the report. Unilateral moves of Pristina continue to consciously and systematically deepen ethnic differences, causing discrimination against the non-Albanian population. To our knowledge, 105 ethnically motivated attacks have been recorded since the beginning of this year. In addition, Pristina is actively working on administrative and bureaucratic obstacles, by taking measures that were not agreed upon in the dialogue as the basic mechanism for negotiations and reaching solutions between Belgrade and Pristina. Pristina’s approach is problematic in many ways. This irresponsible conduct of Pristina is consciously sabotaging the efforts not only of Belgrade, but also of the EU and other involved parties of the international community, with the clear intention of achieving two goals - the first being to avoid the implementation of assumed commitments. The second, the ultimate and far more alarming goal is the intimidation, marginalization and persecution of Serbs.
In all previous statements before this this distinguished body, Pristina focused on what happened in the past while failing to mention, which is painful to witness, how non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija live today. Serbs are still intimidated in different ways, forced to leave their homes, villages and cities. Those displaced are discouraged from returning to where they were born and lived their lives.
The provisional institutions work systematically to remove and erase as much as possible of the cultural and national diversity that is left. At the same time, Pristina is consciously fueling inter-ethnic tensions using all available methods.
Attending religious celebrations seems to be a crime in Kosovo and Methohija. It is the case of Nikola Nedeljković who was arrested for allegedly "inciting ethnic hatred and intolerance", but actually his imprisonment was for attending the St. Vitus Day (Vidovdan) celebration.
Nikola was sentenced to eight months in prison without any material evidence. On the other hand, let me remind you that even to this day there is not a single perpetrator held legally accountable for the more than 1,000 Serbs killed since 1999. Due to planned intimidation, almost all towns and villages in Kosovo and Metohija are ethnically cleansed. Representatives of Pristina are ignoring the suffering, insulting the open wounds of the Serbs who had to leave their ancestral homes, and I underline, there are more than 200,000 of them. Such conduct has not change for last 23 years and is in complete opposite to the democratic values and principles that the provisional institutions of self-government often promote in their statements.
Therefore, I consider it necessary to emphasize that the true political will of the involved international actors and Pristina is necessary in order to create the conditions for the beginning of the end of discrimination on a national basis and common life in the Province.
Esteemed members of the Security Council, I would like to draw your attention to the rigid, problematic and extremely irresponsible conduct of the other negotiating party within the dialogue. In achieving the above-mentioned goals, Pristina applies the so-called policy of reciprocity, a well-thought-out, malicious strategy that, unfortunately, was not constructed independently. By continuously insisting on mutual recognition as a central part of the dialogue, the so-called policy of reciprocity demonstrates the essential unwillingness of the current political leadership of Pristina to find any compromise solution. Let me remind you that the talks between Belgrade and Pristina did not start with last elections in Pristina, but have been in progress for 11 years since the technical dialogue started (8 March 2011). Therefore, we assess as inadmissible attempts to disregard the current format of the dialogue, and annul the agreements only because they are not to the liking of the current political factors. It is unacceptable that the current geopolitical circumstances are being used to simply erase what has been painstakingly worked on for years. Belgrade, I underline, was institutionally involved in the dialogue from the very beginning, while the commitment of the other side has varied and continues to vary depending on the political option that is in power.
The harsher political rhetoric and narrative of the current leadership of the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina are accompanied by concrete destabilizing steps. In the reporting period, measures on license plates were imposed, disguised as attempts at alleged integration into society.
Let me remind you again, there was no agreement on such measures in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that even today we will hear from the representative of Pristina that their side has fulfilled all obligations, but the decision on re-registration of license plates shows that Pristina is not only failing to fulfill what has been agreed upon, but it nullifies the results of the dialogue, creating a new crisis all over again. The effect of such forcibly imposed measures is best illustrated by the fact that since the decision was made a single-digit number of re-registered vehicles with Serbian license plates has been recorded, of which only two are Serbs from the north of Kosovo and Metohija. This is another indicator that Pristina does not enjoy full support, but that, on the other hand, it continuously provokes the natural reaction of the Serbian population, which cannot endlessly be subject to the arbitrariness of temporary institutions.
I believe that even today we will hear already known narrative of representatives from Pristina who try to present every reaction of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija as an activity organized by Belgrade in alleged attempts at destabilization. Such claims are simply not true. Serbia, for its part, cannot in any way contain the revolt present among the non-Albanian population of Kosovo and Metohija. It is an undeniable fact that citizens' protests represent a voice against many years of institutional violence and the deprivation of rights of the non-Albanian population, which, in this case, is denied the right to peaceful enjoyment of private property acquired in a legal manner.
Pristina does not cease in its attempts to confiscate property, and, as is well-known, one of the targets is the Serbian Orthodox Church. By calling into question the return of property to the Dečani Monaster Pristina paradoxically does not execute the decisions of its own so-called Constitutional Court.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I thought for a long time how to best illustrate the true picture of everyday life of the non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija. I will mention only some of the facts. Numerous ethnically motivated incidents, hate speech, intimidation, violations of the right to a fair trial, threats to the right to freedom of movement and religious rights, desecration of churches and graves were recorded in the last reporting period as well. The frequent attacks on the sites of the Serbian Orthodox Church are also unacceptable, and especially the humiliating attitude towards the Serbian cultural and spiritual heritage, including the 4 monuments that have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Numerous administrative and technical barriers are imposed on priests and monastic communities, making it difficult and even impossible for them to survive on church properties.
When it comes to civil rights, try to imagine that the basic political and civil right to vote has been taken away from you.
This is precisely what the Serbs in the Province have experienced along with frequent intimidation and violent incursions of the ROSU special forces, which are an instrument for the implementation of Pristina's goals under the pretext of allegedly fighting crime.
In December last year Bratislav Nikolić the president of municipality of Štrpce has been detained, as suspected of the organized crime and corruption - still not charged, kept in detention unit in Podujevo, only for the reason to make additional and final pressure on the Serbian community living in the enclave of Štrpce. How can this be justified as the fight against crime when special forces are used to raid village festivals, schools and kidnap drivers of ambulance transporting infusion containers and medicines? What are the motives behind and how can one rationalize these actions? Just try to imagine and put yourself in the shoes of Ms. Dragica Gašić, the only Serbian returnee in Djakovica. Imagine that you are still not allowed to buy bread because of your origin and nationality, because you live in a municipality that the local Albanians proudly consider forbidden to non-Albanians. Imagine that as many as eleven Albanian civil society organizations demand your expulsion, as well as a ban on any non-Albanian ever returning to that town. Then you will realize the level of intimidation that Serb returnees are facing. It will be clear to you why the percentage of returnees is below 2% and why it is still one of the lowest in the world. Let me pose a question - are these the characteristics of a society that presents itself to the world as a fully fledged democracy and a factor of stability in the region?
We are aware that the dialogue has a wider dimension and that it can affect the situation in the entire region.
This is reflected in every statement given by Serbian officials, including the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. "It is better to negotiate for a hundred years than to fight for a day" are the words of our President that best describe the policy of peace, reconciliation, and regional cooperation pursued by the Serbian leadership, which is guided by the vision of building a common and prosperous future of the Balkans.
I believe that it is a duty of today's leaders to create a clear common vision for the future generations. Such a vision was shown by the leaders of Belgrade, Skoplje and Tirana by creating Open Balkan, an initiative from the region for the region, which is already producing concrete results. Serbia has on several occasions reached out to Pristina inviting it to join this initiative. We counted on an awareness of the importance of economic connectivity and progress for the benefit of the citizens of the entire Balkans. However, our invitation was not met with understating from the other side.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We categorically reject Pristina's argumentation regarding the alleged unconstitutionality of the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities. It is clear that Pristina's attitude towards this obligation reflects its attitude towards the Serbian people in the Province. It also indicates that Pristina is against Serbian people being organized as an ethnic community and thus exercising their collective rights.
The aim of their approach, as a preferred model, is a community without Serbs, such as those in Pristina, Djakovica or Pec, or some similar localities in the Province. For our side, it is unacceptable that Pristina has refused to fulfil its obligations and discuss the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities for as much as 3,470 days but I assure you that, regardless of this fact, Serbia will not give up on its efforts to find a compromise solution for the current situation.
I will remind you that the representatives of Pristina, although they often repeat in their statements that the case of the so-called Kosovo is a fait accompli, continue not to be recognized by the majority of UN member states for 14 years now. If the so-called Kosovo's independence is a reality, how come that we have the dialogue? And how come that Belgrade is faced with increasing pressures as regards the need for mutual recognition? What the current political leadership of Pristina refuses to accept is that Belgrade cannot be left out in the search for a final solution. The same also applies to the case of the increasingly frequent indications about Pristina's upcoming membership in international organizations. Will these moves help to create the necessary atmosphere for dialogue? Are we, in this way, rewarding Pristina's destructive behaviour and refusal of dialogue? Our view is that the attempts of the so-called Kosovo to join international organizations are an unacceptable act and Serbia will work decisively against such steps.
During the last session in April this year, we could hear the calls of some members of the UN Security Council to reduce and even terminate UNMIK, with the explanation that Pristina has its own functional institutions. However, the circumstances I have presented to you and the situation on the ground remind us again that international presence in our southern province is still necessary. In this regard, we support the efforts made by UNMIK, KFOR, EULEX and OMIK within their mandates. The Serbian and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija has the highest confidence in the international presence and considers it a guarantor of security, which additionally confirms that international missions need to remain engaged in an undiminished scope and capacity in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
In conclusion,
I would like to point out that lately in all international forums we keep hearing calls for respect of the principles of the UN. We support the territorial integrity of all UN member states. But, what about Serbia? I would like to ask the esteemed members of this distinguished body whether the need to implement the principles of the UN Charter applies only to some or all of its members? As a country that consistently respects international law and still suffers the consequences of it being violated, we believe that the UN Charter and international law, including the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, should be respected by all and apply indiscriminately to all UN member states.
Ladies and gentleman,
It was this body that more than two decades ago adopted Resolution 1244, which confirmed the territorial integrity of Serbia. This fact did not prevent certain countries from recognizing the so-called “Kosovo” and thus violating the UN principles, but also the resolution that they adopted, by adjusting international law to their interests and goals. Precisely because of this, the more and more frequent mentioning of the case of "Kosovo" is an indication that the precedent made opened a Pandora's box, because the strength of each principle rests on its full and universal application and unconditional adherence.
You will notice that I posed a lot of questions in my statement and I express hope that today we will hear answers to at least some of them from you, esteemed members of the UN Security Council and representatives of Pristina, because the inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija, of any nationality, whether they are Serbs or Albanians deserve it.
All the inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija have every right to expect an improvement in the atmosphere and the reduction of tensions on the ethnic level, which are a prerequisite for a normal life. For such a step to be made, we need constructiveness, which is not lacking on the Serbian side, genuine support of international actors. I emphasize that Serbia has always been and remains deeply committed to finding a sustainable solution by peaceful means, for the sake of peace, stability and a common future.
Thank you.

Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka attended the solemn liturgy and celebration of the feast of Saint Isaac the Syriac, in the Orthodox Church of Saint Isaac and George in Doha, upon the invitation of the Archbishop of Qatar, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios. The ceremony was attended by a  number of Serbian citizens in Qatar.
The Church of Saint Isaac and George gathers a significant number of members of the Serbian diaspora in Katar, who participate in various Church activities.

The Embassy maintains a close and active relationship with the Church, which is especially the case with the archbishop of Qatar, Mr. Makarios, who is very sympathetic to Serbia and the Serbian community in Doha, and studied at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Belgrade.

Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka officially visited the renowned Rixos Hotel in Doha, which will be the base of the Serbian National Football Team during the FIFA World Cup.

He expressed the expectation that the highest level and standards of service will be provided, in accordance with the high reputation of the Serbian National Football Team.

The representatives of the hotel expressed their satisfaction and pointed out that it is a great honor for them to host the Serbian National Football Team.

In the presence of a large number of dignitaries from the diplomatic corps and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, as well as the director of the Museum of Islamic Arts, Salem Al Aswad, a large Serbian national flag was ceremoniously raised in the "Mia" park, as well as the flags of the countries whose representatives participate in the World Cup in football. Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka took part in the solemn ceremony in front of the Embassy. On this occasion, a billboard was placed in the park, which contains information about the Republic of Serbia. A five-minute promotional film about the Republic of Serbia was also shown.
The flag and billboard will remain in the "Mia" park until the end of the FIFA World Cup on December 18, and promotional films about countries participating in the FIFA World Cup will be shown, including a promotional film about Serbia. For this purpose, large video beams have been installed in several places in the "Mia" park.
It is expected that during the World Cup "Mia" park will be visited by tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world, as well as from Qatar itself, who will be able to get acquainted with the beauties and peculiarities of the Republic of Serbia through the aforementioned settings.

Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka gave an interview to the Qatari state television "Qatar TV". He spoke about the bilateral relations between Serbia and Qatar, which he assessed as very good, with opportunities for further development in many areas.He gave recognition to the State of Qatar for its enormous efforts and invested funds and energy, so that all preparations for the World Cup in football would be completed in a timely manner. He assessed that all eight new stadiums that will be used during the World Cup represent a masterpiece of architecture, combining modern trends and traditional Arab culture.

Mr. Radeka pointed out that we are looking forward to the appearance of the Serbian national football team at the World Cup, as well as that the expectations of the public in Serbia are always high regarding the results of national selections in all sports, since it is not an exaggeration to say that Serbia is a sports nation.
He wished the fans from Serbia a warm welcome and emphasized that the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in the State of Qatar is always ready to respond to all their requests.

Chargé d'Affaires Slobodan Radeka gave an interview to the largest Qatari sports television, "BEIN", on the topic of sports and cultural ties between Serbia and Qatar, economic relations, and the participation of the Serbian national team in the World Cup in football, which begins in Doha on November 20.
In the convesation with Mrs. Leila Smati, Mr. Radeka pointed out that overall relations between Serbia and Qatar are very good and partnership-like, as well as that there is room for further development in adifferent areas, including economic, energy, sports and cultural cooperation.
In the context of promoting Serbia's cultural and media presence in Qatar and especially during the World Cup in Doha, he spoke about two cultural projects in which the Embassy is directly involved, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia and the Tourist Organization of Serbia.

It was pointed out that the World Cup in football, as an event of planetary importance, as well as the participation of the Serbian national team, is a priority in the work of the Embassy in the upcoming period, as well as all accompanying activities, such as providing consular protection to our citizens.

Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka signed the Condolences Book, in the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Doha, on the occasion of the demise of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Chargé d'affaires Slobodan Radeka visited the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha today and spoke with the director of development and outreach of the museum, Salem Abdullah Al Aswad.
To our great satisfaction, it has been agreed that the large national flag of the Republic of Serbia will be displayed in front of the main entrance to the museum and the magnificent "Mia Park", all within the framework of preparations and beautification of the city in the context of the World Cup in football. The flags of all countries participating in the World Cup will be displayed, including the flag of the Republic of Serbia, and it will be possible to organize the cultural promotion of our country.

In the context of an event of global importance, the World Cup in football in Qatar, for which preparations are well underway in various fields, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy Slobodan Radeka participated in an online tripartite meeting with representatives of the Qatari organizer - the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and the WHO Department for Communications, Geneva.
The topic of the meeting was projects on the preservation of mental and physical health /Healthy World Cup/ and its importance in the context of the World Cup and beyond. In this regard, billboards, painting of benches in various colors and promotion of material that talks about mental health, as well as abstinence from smoking, promotion of physical activities and healthy diet are planned. Special focus will be on promoting this information to fans. The whole activity starts on October 10, on World Mental Health Day.
From our side, it was stated that we will engage in this topic, which is undoubtedly of great importance.

The Embassy wil be closed on Sunday, July 10th, due to Eid Al Adha holidays. Normal activities to resume on Monday, July 11, 2022.

https://www.mfa.gov.rs/en/citizens/travel-serbia/visa-requirements

Organized by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, First Counselor Slobodan Radeka participated today as a representative of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Doha in a regular online meeting on the occasion of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, in November this year.

There are less six months left until the beginning of the World Cup, and it was pointed out that Qatar is rapidly preparing for the completion of all necessary infrastructural and logistical works. It was emphasized that this will be in many ways a specific sporting event and one of the greatest in the history of sport, and for Qatar it represents not only the promotion of its own values, but also the values ​​and identity of the entire Arab world and the Middle East.

General information

https://www.gov.me/en/government-of-montenegro/visas-and-entry-requirements

Please find attached application form that must be completed.

The required documents are:

1. Valid passport - Passport must be valid at least 90 days from the date of exit
2. Letter of invitation for private visit which must be certificated by relevant authority of Montenegro. For Tourist trip- proof of hotel reservation.
3. Two photos (passport size)
4. Plain ticket reservation
5. Travel health insurance
6. Valid QID
7. Job confirmation letter
8. Bank Account-bank statement the last three months.
9. Application form.

Visa fee is 130 euros, and it's paid in euros in cash in the Embassy. In case the visa is rejected the money is not refundable. It might take up to 3 weeks for visa to be granted.

Visa application form:https://www.gov.me/en/documents/2075cff3-a31e-4c12-af01-fd297cc4ab12

If having more questions, please call by phone.

DCM of the Embassy, Mr. Slobodan Radeka, attended the opening of the 14th Conference on Interfaith Dialogue. It is a unique initiative of Qatar whose goal is to promote the dialogue and coexistence of the three great world monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Participants assessed the unacceptability of hate speech and racism and interfaith hatred. It was emphasized that the three great Abrahamic religions must coexist peacefully for the benefit of all.

Distinguished applicants are asked to make an appointment before arriving at the Embassy.

Applicants are accepted every working day / Sunday-Thursday / from 10.00-12.00. hours.

You can make an appointment by e-mail, phone or e appointment /e consulate/.

Thank you.

Today, in Marrakesh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selaković participated in the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Minister Selaković said that Serbia was committed to the multilateral aspect of the fight against terrorism, adding that he firmly believed the United Nations should be the key forum for international cooperation in this field.
Minister Selaković stated that Serbia was fulfilling all international obligations pertaining to the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, especially those related to the introduction of arms embargoes, including bans aimed at non-state actors, terrorist organisations and related individuals. He emphasised that Serbia was a signatory to 15 international conventions against terrorism. “By participating in multinational UN and EU peacekeeping missions, Serbia is making a concrete contribution to preserving regional and global security,” Minister Selaković said, paying tribute to a member of the Serbian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Dejan Stanojević and his colleagues, who tragically lost their lives on March 29 in the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Serbia does not diminish the importance of other international forums, which is why it joined the Global Coalition from the very beginning, and selflessly contributes to international efforts to fight ISIS, primarily through various forms of donations in military equipment, ammunition, and training in Iraqi security forces”, Minister Selaković said. He added that as a candidate country for membership in the European Union, Serbia gave its full contribution through active participation in European policies on the fight against terrorism, and had developed a strategic cooperation with EUROPOL.
Minister Selaković noted that Serbian criminal legislation provided instruments to prevent and punish the encouragement, organisation, and participation of its citizens in wars or conflicts in foreign countries. He explained that the Serbian judicial authorities had completed proceedings against 7 persons engaged in foreign battlefields, and that several investigations against persons connected with terrorist activities were underway.
Minister Selaković said that the fight against terrorism, radicalism and extremism was a priority, and that Serbia was actively involved in combating these challenges and threats at the domestic, regional, and international level.

We would like to inform you that it is possible to schedule visa appointments in the Embassy via the link of the E Administration, which is also available on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Of course, scheduling by phone and e-mail is also possible.

The link is as follows:

https://econsulate.gov.rs/home/visa

The Embassy will be closed on May 1-May 4 (Sunday-Wednesday), due to the State Holiday-the International Labor Day, as well due to Eid Al Fitr.

The First Counselor of the Embassy, ​​Slobodan Radeka, participated today in a regular online preparatory meeting in the context of the World Cup, which is being held in November this year. The Serbian national football team is also participating in the World Cup.

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, as the supreme body of the State of Qatar in charge of coordinating all activities related to FIFA 2022 Qatar, also organized this meeting. The dynamics of regular meetings is once a month, with the provision that they are expected to intensify as the championship approaches.

The topic of today's meeting was the transport of guests and fans during the World Cup. Qatar is expected to be visited by several million fans.

It was emphasized that Qatar has invested large funds and energy and that the subway, city buses and numerous taxi vehicles will be in the function of transport. For the first time, spectators will be able to watch more matches in one day, as all 8 new stadiums where they will play matches are relatively close to each other.

"Doha Port" will aslo be in service for the cruise ships and it is forseen that the "Doha International Airport" will also be operational during the World Cup, in addition to "Hamad" Airport, that has capacity of 53 milion passengers in a year.

We would like to inform you that the Embassy will be closed on April 24 and 25 (Sunday and Monday) due to Easter Holidays.
For the most urgent or unavoidable questions, please send an e-mail to sr.emb.qatar@mfa.rs

The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia will be open on April 3, 2022, Sunday, only for the citizens of the Republic of Serbia who have applied for voting on the elections for the Presidents of the Republic of Serbia and the Members of the National Assembly.

The Embassy will be closed for public on February 8, 2022, due to the National Sport Day of Qatar.

It will also be closed on February 15 and 16, 2022, due to the National Day of the Republic of Serbia.

جوب إحضار "احتراز" من اللون المناسب ، وكذلك ارتداء الأقنعة الواقية. وبالمثل ، تطلب السفارة من الجميع ارتداء أقنعة واقية عند الوصول إلى المبنى.

التعيين المسبق عن طريق الهاتف أمر لا بد منه. يتم استقبال العملاء في الفترة من 10-12.00 ساعة.

شكرا لك.

It is obligatory to present "Ehteraz" of adequate color, as well as to wear protective masks. Likewise, the Embassy kindly asks everbody to wear protective masks when arriving into the building.

Prior appointment by phone is a must. Clients are received in period 10-12.00 hours.

Thank you.

On the occasion of the New Year Holidays, the Embassy will remain closed for public on January 2 and 3, 2022

In case of extreme urgency, an e mail can be send to srb.emb.qatar@mfa.rs

On the occasion of marking the National Day of the State of Qatar, the Embassy will be closed on Sunday, December 19, 2021. 

For the most urgent consular issues, an e mail can be sent to srb.emb.qatar@mfa.rs

On the occasion of the placement of the senior football team of Serbia at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, a large state flag of the Republic of Serbia was projected and displayed at the "Tawar Mall" in Doha yesterday.

Tomorrow, the flag of the Republic of Serbia will be raised on the main city promenade "Corniche", which will be there until the end of the World Cup.

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

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

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

Source/Photo: www.srbija.gov.rs
 

ПОВОДОМ ДАНА ПРИМИРИЈА У ПРВОМ СВЕТСКОМ РАТУ, АМБАСАДА РЕПУБЛИКЕ СРБИЈЕ У ДОХИ БИЋЕ ЗАТВОРЕНА 11. НОВЕМБРA.

POVODOM DANA PRIMIRIJA U PRVOM SVETSKOM RATU, AMBASADA REPUBLIKE SRBIJE U DOHI BIĆE ZATVORENA 11. NOVEMBRA 2021. GODINE.

ON THE OCCASION OF THE ARMISTICE DAY, THE EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA IN DOHA WILL BE CLOSED ON NOVEMBER 11.
 

The First Counselor of the Embassy, Mr. ​​Slobodan Radeka, participated today in the first in a series of meetings on the occasion of the beginning of preparations for the organization of the World Cup in football, which will be held in Doha, in November 2022. The meeting was organized online by Qatar's Supreme Committee for Organization and Heritage, a body specializing in the World Cup. Numerous representatives of foreign embassies in Doha took part.

The countries that will qualify for the World Cup are expected to display their flags in a solemn ceremony on the magnificent "Cornish" promenade in Doha in November, which will be displayed there until the championship is held.

If Serbia defeats Portugal and qualifies for the World Cup, the Embassy will proudly display the state flag of the Republic of Serbia on the "Cornish", it has been confirmed by us.

At our initiative, Ambassador Mr. Jasminko Pozderac and DCM Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited the renowned company "Al Jaber Engineering", which primarily deals with construction and capital infrastructure. It also participated in the construction of the "Al Thumama" stadium and other large infrastructure and important housing projects.The ambassador assessed that the political relations between Serbia and Qatar are very good, but that there is certainly room for further progress and development, primarily in the sphere of economy and energy, in which areas additional efforts should be made from both sides. In that context, our visit to "Al Jaber Enginering" is in order to encourage and give an incentive to this company, which has previously expressed interest in cooperation with Serbia, to achieve that cooperation. We offered all the assistance of the Embassy within the scope of objective possibilities and capacities. We added that there is all the necessary legal and contractual basis between Qatar and Serbia for the development and strengthening of relations, which is extremely important.

Distinguished Mr. Osama Hadid and Mr. Mahmoud Noureldin, CEO and Business Director of the company, listened carefully to our arguments and stated that they would consider it favorably, as much as possible. Director General Mr. Osama Hadid stressed that in order to develop and strengthen relations in the field of economy and infrastructure, as in the case of Serbia and Qatar, as well as any other countries, it is opportune to further develop political dialogue at the highest level. That is the most important step and precondition. They are willing to examine the possibilities for establishing cooperation and possible joint business projects, having in mind the reputation of our construction companies, which will be discussed at the next meetings. It was agreed to continue contacts.
The meeting took place in a warm and very constructive atmosphere.

15th October 2021

Distinguished President of the Security Council,

Esteemed members of the Security Council,

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

Mr. Tanin,

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

Mr. President,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

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

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

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

Dear Mr. President,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

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

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

Thank you.
 

Serbian FM Nikola Selakovic on Sunday hosted a ceremonial dinner for foreign government ministers who will attend the 60th anniversary summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Belgrade.

The dinner was attended by more than 30 foreign guests, heads of delegations in the rank of ministers, as well as by Serbian government ministers.

In his opening speech, Selakovic welcomed the foreign delegations to the birthplace of the NAM.

“Although the world is not the same as six decades ago, we share the same values and want to pay a tribute to the glorious moments of our shared history,” said Selakovic.

The Serbian minister wished the guests and their countries and peoples health, happiness and wisdom in a time when the world is facing growing challenges.

“I hope that, on the basis of friendship, cooperation and the values embodied in the Non-Aligned Movement, we will be able to overcome all the adversities that are ahead of us,” Selakovic stressed.

Besides Selakovic, the dinner was attended by Serbian ministers Maja Gojkovic, Aleksandar Vulin, Jadranka Joksimovic, Tatjana Matic, Tomislav Momirovic, Branko Ruzic, Vanja Udovicic and Branislav Nedimovic.

Before the dinner in the Geozavod building, Selakovic presented to the guests the Belgrade Waterfront project, which he said was the new face of the Serbian capital and the engine of its development.

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, received the credentials of the Ambassador of the State of Qatar, Faris Roumi Al Nuaimi today, wishing him a pleasant stay and successful work in our country.

On this occasion, Ambassador Al Nuaimi conveyed the greetings of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Al Thani. Returning the greetings, President Vučić thanked the Emir of Qatar for the generous donation of medical equipment at the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic.

President Vučić expressed hope that the Qatari representatives would participate in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, which would enable a meeting of officials of the two countries with the aim of strengthening political dialogue and comprehensive cooperation.

It was stated at the meeting that the goal of the two countries is to improve cooperation in all areas, because there are good experiences, but that cooperation is still modest, with many untapped opportunities. The two interlocutors agreed that it is necessary to establish more frequent and closer contacts between business people.

Source/Photo: www.predsednik.rs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://covid19.moph.gov.qa/EN/travel-and-return-policy/Pages/default.aspx

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

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

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

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

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

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

 
Source/Photo: www.predsednik.rs

The DCM of the Embassy, ​​Mr. Slobodan Radeka, talked today with Dr. Ana Paolini, the Director of the UNESCO Doha Office and the Representative of that organization for the Arab countries of the Gulf and Yemen. During the conversation, we emphasized the importance of UNESCO as an organization for the Republic of Serbia, as well as the importance of the preservation of our cultural and historical heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, which is under constant danger from the extremist activities of Kosovo Albanians. We also conveyed our arguments about the inadmissibility of the membership of the so-called "Kosovo" in this UN organization.

Dr. Ana Paolini said that she was familiar with the main views of the Republic of Serbia and with the significance that UNESCO has for us. She also stated that all the Arab states of the Gulf are covered from Doha. Dr. Paolini shared her experiences and of very good cooperation with Qatari state authorities.
In our interest, Madame Paolini also spoke about the "UN House" project in Doha, which should open in January next year and which will house representatives of all organizations from the UN system in Qatar.
It was agreed to continue contacts and cooperation.

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

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

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

Mr. President,

Mr. Secretary General,

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

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

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

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

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

Covid-19 has shaken our foundations to the core.

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

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

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

But, let me start with COVID:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Excellencies,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ladies and gentlemen,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear friends,

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

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

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

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

In conclusion,

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

Source: www.srbija.gov.rs
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serbian citizens can enter Qatar. It is necessary to first register on the site www.ehteraz.gov.qa, and all types of visits can be done only after obtaining permission from the site. At this moment, Serbia is no longer on the "green list", but quarantine measures are not applied to Serbian citizens who have been fully vaccinated. "Pfizer", "Moderna", "Astra Zeneca", "Sinofarm" and "Johnson and Johnson" are recognized. The validity of the vaccine is 12 months, and that period can be extended in accordance with the decisions of the Qatari authorities. Persons who have not been vaccinated are quarantined in hotel conditions for 7 days.
Certificate of Covid-19 is accepted only if the disease is in Qatar. In all cases, a negative PCR test is required before boarding the aircraft for Qatar, which can be repeated on "Hamad" if deemed necessary (antibodies can also be checked). The "Ehterazz" application is mandatory.
It is necessary to continuously monitor the website of the Ministry of Health of Qatar www.moph.gov.qa due to frequent changes.

First Counselor of the Embassy Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited the editorial office of the "Peninsula" newspaper today, in order to establish contact and opportunities for closer cooperation in the future, all within the development of public diplomacy and media relations, as an increasingly important factor in overall diplomatic activity, which correlates with technology development. and means of global communication.
He spoke with the editor on the local political section, journalist Mr. Sayed Muhammad Irfan, and public relations manager, Mr. Ahmed Altegany Idris. During the talks, it was assessed that the relations between Serbia and Qatar are good, but that there is certainly room for further progress and development of cooperation, especially in the field of investments, trade and energy. The expectation was expressed that the relations will further strengthen in the coming period.
It was agreed to continue contacts and cooperation with this daily, in order to see the potential strengthening of overall cooperation and media visiblity of Serbia in Qatari media.

5 August 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The First Counselor of the Embassy, Mr. Slobodan Radeka, met today at the Embassy with Mrs. Aynabat Atayeva, the Director of the United Nations Office for Combating Terrorism in Doha (UNOCT Programme Office in Doha).
During the conversation, Mrs. Ajnabat Atayeva presented the basic principles and goals of the UNOCT office in Doha, informing that Qatar is one of the largest contributors to this UN agency on a global level and that in this way Qatar one more time proves its commitment to the fight against terrorism of all forms.
In the coming period, the Office will organize events and gatherings in Doha and elsewhere, with the aim of promoting a behavioral approach in the fight against terrorism, with a special emphasis on raising awareness of the vulnerability of certain groups.
From our side, it was pointed out that the Republic of Serbia is also committed to the fight against terrorism of all kinds and that it is always ready to make the maximum contribution in this area, within the limits of its possibilities and potentials.
 

On August 4, 1995, at the end of the civil war, the Croatian armed forces carried out aggression on areas in Croatia where the majority of Serbs lived for centuries. The aggression was carried out despite the fact that the area was under United Nations protection and that the International community proposal was accepted, the day before, by the Serbian people in Croatia on a peaceful solution to the conflict.

During the infamous action, as many as 220 thousand Serbs were expelled from their homes, and two thousand lost their lives.

Operation „Storm“ is without a doubt the largest ethnic cleansing in Europe since World War II.
The Republic of Serbia hopes that the international community will fully accept and recognize the scale of this crime against the Serbian people.
The Embassy expresses its deepest condolences to the families of all those killed and wounded, and hopes that such crimes will not happen again anywhere in the World.

https://mfa.gov.rs/en/citizens/travel-serbia/visa-requirements

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, received the Ambassador of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Mubarak bin Fahad Al Thani for a farewell visit, and thanked him for his long-term efforts to improve the relations and cooperation between the two countries.

President Vučić congratulated Ambassador Al Thani and his associates on Eid al-Adha, and wished the people of Qatar peace and prosperity.

Ambassador Al Thani thanked for the support he had from the Serbian authorities during his diplomatic mandate and emphasized that his successor will continue to nurture relations between Serbia and Qatar.

President Vučić thanked the Emir of Qatar for the generous shipment of medical equipment, sent to the people of Serbia last year, at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, which he sent as his expression of friendship.

It was stated at the meeting that there are good experiences in economic cooperation between the two countries, but that it is still modest, with many untapped opportunities, and hope was expressed that the improvement of the epidemiological situation will help more frequent contacts between business people.

President Vučić wished Ambassador Al Thani good health and much success in his private and professional life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Tanjug
 

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, received the Ambassador of Qatar today, Sheikh Mubarak bin Fahad Al Thani, for a farewell visit.

Minister Selaković assessed that bilateral relations are good and friendly and expressed the readiness of our country to improve the political dialogue.

Speaking about economic cooperation, Selaković stated that it is relatively modest in scope and pointed out the significant potential for its improvement. The Minister especially underlined Serbia's interest in the growth of Qatari investments, strengthening trade exchange and planning new business.

Minister Selaković informed his interlocutor about the celebration of the significant jubilee of the Non-Aligned Movement, which will be marked in Belgrade in October – 60 years since the first Conference, sending an invitation and expressing hope that high representatives of Qatar will attend this gathering.

The interlocutors exchanged experiences of the fight of the two countries against the corona virus so far and agreed that the crisis that the whole world is facing can only be overcome by joint forces, solidarity and joint action. Selaković expressed gratitude to Qatar for the friendly help sent to Serbia last year in the form of medical equipment.

The head of Serbian diplomacy thanked Ambassador Al Thani for his personal engagement and contribution to the development of overall bilateral relations and wished him a lot of professional success in the upcoming period.

https://mfa.gov.rs/en/press-service/statements/selakovic-invited-representatives-members-nam-gather-belgrade-october

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic talked today with Ambassador of the State of Qatar Sheikh Mubarak bin Fahad Al Thani, who is ending his term in Serbia, about bilateral relations and further strengthening of cooperation between the two countries.

The Prime Minister expressed the expectation that political bilateral relations, which were slowed down due to the epidemiological crisis, would be intensified, so that we could use all the opportunities for cooperation between our countries.

She thanked for the support and help in the medical equipment that this country sent to Serbia during the epidemiological crisis.

Ambassador Al Thani pointed out that during his mandate, agreements were signed in the field of economy, trade, economic cooperation, and that an agreement is expected to be signed in other areas, primarily education and tourism, which will enable stronger connections between our countries.

Also, Ambassador Al Thani conveyed the greetings of the Prime Minister of Qatar and again sent an invitation to Prime Minister Brnabic to visit this country.

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that she would soon visit this friendly country, in order to continue the positive trend of cooperation, and thanked the Ambassador of Qatar for his personal commitment in building relations between our countries.
 

АМБАСАДА ЋЕ ЗБОГ КУРБАН БАЈРАМА (EID AL ADHA) БИТИ ЗАТВОРЕНА 20-22. ЈУЛА 2021. РЕДОВНЕ АКТИВНОСТИ СЕ ОБНАВЉАЈУ У НЕДЕЉУ 25. ЈУЛА 2021.

AMBASADA ĆE BITI ZATVORENA 20-22. JULA ZBOG KURBAN BAJRAMA (EID AL ADHA). NORMALNE AKTIVNOSTI SE OBNAVLJAJU U NEDELJU 25. JULA 2021. GODINE.

THE EMBASSY WILL BE CLOSED JULY 20-JULY 22, 2021 DUE TO EID AL ADHA HOLIDAYS. NORMAL ACTIVITIES TO RESUME ON SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2021.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. President

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

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

Mr. President,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long Live Serbia!

https://mfa.gov.rs/en/citizens/travel-serbia/covid-19-entry-requirements

TRAVELERS ARE KINDLY ADVISED TO REGULARY FOLLOW THE WEB SITE OF THE MFA OF SERBIA AND OF THIS EMBASSY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://covid19.moph.gov.qa/EN/Pages/Qatar-Travel-Policyy.aspx#:~:text=All%20travelers%20to%20Qatar%20regardless,perform%20COVID%2D19%20PCR%20tests.

https://econsulate.gov.rs/

Visa D for work and employment also available through e consulate portal

https://econsulate.gov.rs/

https://covid19.moph.gov.qa/EN/Pages/Qatar-Travel-Policyy.aspx

Поводом рамазанског Бајрама, Амбасада ће бити затворена само 13. маја у четвртак. Редовне активности се обнављају 16. маја у недељу.

Due to the Ramadan-Eid Al Fitr, the Embassy will be closed only on May 13, 2021. Normal activities to resume on May 16, Sunday.

Bajram šerif mubarek olsun! Eid Mubarek!

Због Васкршњњих и првомајских празника, Амбасада ће бити затворена од 2. до 4. маја 2021. Можете нам се јавити од среде, 5. маја 2021, када се обнављају редовне радне активности.

Zbog Vaskršnjih i prvomajskih praznika, Ambasada će biti zatvorena od 2. do 4.maja 2021. godine. Redovne aktivnosti se obnavljaju 5. maja 2021. godine

Due to the Easter and International Labor Holidays, the Embassy will remain closed on May 2, 3 and 4, 2021. Normal Activities to resume on May 5, 2021
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Distinguished President of the Security Council,

Distinguished Special Representative,

Esteemed members of the Security Council,

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

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

Mr. President,

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

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

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

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

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

Mr. President,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Distinguished members of the Security Council,

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

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

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Distinguished Mr. President,

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

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

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

Thank you for your attention.
 

Types of Visas
Law on Foreigners (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. no. 56/14, 28/15 and 16/16) prescribes the following types of visas:

- Airport transit ( A)

- Transit (B)

- Short stay visa (C)

- Long stay visa (D)

Airport transit visa (A) may be issued to a foreigner for one or several transits through the airport international transit area, between internationals flights, without entry into the territory of Montenegro, with validity period of up to 3 months. As a general rule, a foreigner who shall not leave the international transit area in between flights at a Montenegro airport or on international flights shall not require a visa. The Government of Montenegro may stipulate that nationals of certain countries, for the national security and legal order reasons, shall require an airport-transit visa.

Transit visa (B) may be issued for one, two or exceptionally several transits through the territory of Montenegro, with a validity period of up to 6 months. On the basis of a transit visa, a foreigner may stay in Montenegro for a period of up to 5 days upon each journey. Transit visa may be issued to a foreigner if he/she has secured entry into the state to which he/she is traveling. This visa may be individual and collective.

Short stay visa (C) may be issued for one, two or multiple entries into Montenegro for tourist, business, personal or other purposes. Continuous stay or total duration of consecutive stays may not exceed 90 days in the period of 6 months, counting from the date of first entry. Validity period of Visa C for multiple entries is up to one year. Exceptionally this type of visa may be issued for a longer period of validity, but no longer than five year. Short stay visa may be issued to a group of foreigners (collective visa). The validity period of collective visa cannot exceed 30 days and it may be affixed to a group passport.

Long stay visa (D) may be issued to an foreigner for one, two or multiple entries into Montenegro, intending to stay in the territory of Montenegro over 90 days, but no longer than 6 months in the period of one year, counting from the date of first entry. This type of visa may be granted to a foreigner:

- intending to stay in Montenegro in order to perform business or other activities, provide advisory expert activities as agreed by the Agreement on business and technical cooperation, on a long-term production cooperation, and on transfer technologies and foreign investments;

- coming to serve to Montenegro as a member of foreign diplomatic and consular representative office to Montenegro or an international organizations accredited to Montenegro, member of economic and cultural representative office, as well as to the members of his family, i.e. members of his household holding diplomatic or official passports.

In certain cases, a permission for temporary residence in Montenegro may be considered a long stay visa, which may be, according to Article 35 of the Law on Foreigners, granted to a foreigner intending to stay longer than 90 days in Montenegro, for the purpose of:

1) employment and work, performing economic or business activity;

2) seasonal work;

3) secondary education and studies

4) participation in student exchange programmes or other youth programmes;

5) specialisation or professional training and acquisition of practical skills;

6) scientific-research work;

7) medical treatment;

8) family reunification;

9) humanitarian reasons;

10) other justified reasons specified by law or international agreement

ПОВОДОМ УЧЕСТАЛИХ УПИТА НАШИХ И СТРАНИХ ДРЖАВЉАНА У КАТАРУ О УСЛОВИМА ПУТОВАЊА У РЕПУБЛИКУ СРБИЈУ У ПОГЛЕДУ ОБАВЕЗЕ ПОСЕДОВАЊА НЕГАТИВНОГ ПЦР ТЕСТА НА КОВИД 19, ЗА ПОТПУНО ВАКЦИНИСАНЕ ОСОБЕ, ОБАВЕШТАВАМО ДА ОБАВЕЗА ПОСЕДОВАЊА НЕГАТИВНОГ ПЦР ТЕСТА, НЕ СТАРИЈЕГ ОД 48 САТИ, ОСТАЈЕ НА СНАЗИ ДО ДАЉЕГ, БЕЗ ОБЗИРА НА ВАКЦИНАЦИЈУ. ДРЖАВЉАНИ СРБИЈЕ МОГУ УЛАЗИТИ У РЕПУБЛИКУ СРБИЈУ И БЕЗ ТЕСТА, АЛИ У ТОМ СЛУЧАЈУ МОРАЈУ У КУЋНИ КАРАНТИН. ДОХА, 7. АПРИЛА 2021. ГОДИНЕ

Regarding the recent requests of our citizens and foreign nationals in Qatar on terms of travel to Serbia-about the obligation of their negative PCR test on covid 19, for vaccinated individuals, the Embassy informs that OBLIGATIONS of their negative PCR test, not older than 48 hours, remain in effect until further notice , regardless of vaccination, FOR NOW. CITIZENS OF SERBIA CAN ENTER THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA WITHOUT A TEST, BUT IN THAT CASE THEY MUST BE IN HOME QUARANTINE. DOHA, APRIL 7, 2021

Today, the H. E. the Ambassador met with the Director General of the Directorate for Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, H. E. Ambassador Salem Al Jaber. The meeting was also attended by the First Counselor of the Embassy, ​​Slobodan Radeka.
The high interlocutors exchanged views on the situation in the overall bilateral relations between the Republic of Serbia and the State of Qatar. It was jointly stated that they are very good and that they are on a safe track. There are, of course, opportunities and potentials for strengthening cooperation, primarily in the domain of economy and energy, as well as agriculture, in the context of attracting Qatari investments.
Opinions and views were also exchanged on current regional developments in the Balkans and the Middle East.
From our side, the undoubted results that the Republic of Serbia achieves in the field of the fight against covid-19 and vaccination, as well as when it comes to the level of economic growth, where it is among the first in Europe, despite the effects of the pandemic. In this regard, brochures of the Chamber of Commerce and the Development Agency of Serbia on the possibilities of strengthening cooperation and investment in the Republic of Serbia were handed over. 
Ambassador Pozderac and Al Jaber estimated that the visit of the Emir of Qatar, H. E. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to SerbiA would further strengthen the bilateral relations with the Republic of Serbia and it would be a signal for strengthening the investments of Qatari businessmen.

As part of maintaining and developing contacts with diaspora, H. E. Ambassador Pozderac received today representatives of the Serbian amateur football club from Doha, "Serbia-Team Serbia", Mr. Stefan Stojanovic and Dr. Jovan Zlatkovic. The First Counselor of the the Embassy, ​​Mr. Slobodan Radeka, was also present.

Club "Serbia" competes in the Qatar amateur football league and is composed of representatives of the Serbian diaspora, who are otherwise engaged in various jobs in Qatar.
We offered assistance in finding a place for training and similar activities, through the contacts of the Ambassador with officials in the sports sector of Qatar.
Possibilities of getting in touch with possible sponsors in the Republic of Serbia were also considered. 
It was agreed to continue cooperation and contacts.

The First Counselor and DCM of the Embassy, Mr. Slobodan Radeka, met today at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Doha with Mr. Richard Griffiths, Senior International Counselor at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Heritage, a body dealing with the supervision and coordination of all works and activities in the context of the World Football Championship, FIFA, which will be held in 2022 in Qatar.
Mr. Radeka handed the women's and men's Serbian national hat, "Smiljevac" and "Šubara", which will be exhibited at the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha, where the matches of the FIFA 2022 World Cup will be played. We also prepared an adequate text about the hats. From our side, it was pointed out that it is  honor for us to have National Hats exhibited in Doha, the State of Qatar.

Today, H. E. Ambassador Pozderac received the selector of the Qatari national basketball team, Mr. Miodrag Perišić, at the Embassy. The meeting was also attended by the doctor of sports medicine at the "Aspetar" hospital, Dr. Jovan Zlatković, as well as the First Counselor of the Embassy, ​​Mr. Slobodan Radeka.
Opinions were exchanged on the possibilities of sports cooperation between Serbia and Qatar, and especially on the modalities of promoting cooperation between basketball federations and national teams of the two countries. In that context, the Ambassador presented the idea of ​​organizing visits of Serbian basketball experts to Qatar and lectures for students of basketball schools, as well as workshops, where knowledge would be practically transferred. He stated that meetings and mutual communication of various categories of national selections should be encouraged, as soon as the current epidemiological conditions allow.
It was estimated that Qatar could be an interesting destination for Serbia and our basketball experts in terms of transferring experiences, know-how, etc.

https://twitter.com/SRBinQatar/status/1377079051366637568?s=20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serbia, which calls things by their real names.

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

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

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

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

We are ready, and we are willing to help.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And we are not.

And when all go quiet, we will keep repeating.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

H. E. the Ambassador was received today by H. E. Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Minister of State and Director of the National Library of Qatar. On that occasion, the high-ranking interlocutors discussed various topics in the field of cultural diplomacy and the promotion of cooperation between the two countries in this field, especially in the light of the post-Kovid-19 period. The Qatari side expressed its readiness to work together, as well as to offer hospitality for activities from this important diplomatic dimension.
Ambassador Jasminko Pozderac spoke especially about the candidacy of the Republic of Serbia for the Executive Council of UNESCO, 2023-2027, and in that context he handed over Aide Memoire in English, asking for Qatari support for our aspirations in this organization, which is for Serbia is very important, especially in the context of preserving the cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4

https://www.kultura.gov.rs/vest/6382/srbija-u-mesecu-frankofonije.php

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The First Counselor of the Embassy, Mr. Slobodan Radeka, attended the briefing organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State Qatar, dedicated to the holding of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, in 2022.. The briefing was led by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman H. E. Ambassador Lolwah Al-Khater.It was pointed out that Qatar has great expectations from the World Cup, that a lot of assets and energy were invested in order to best present the country and host national teams, officials and fans. Qatar expects the World Cup to be held normally and within the scheduled time, in the presence of spectators, i.e. that the effects of the Kovid-19 pandemic will hopefully subside by then.

Health and labor officials specifically spoke about the systemic protection measures that Qatar is implementing in the treatment of more than a million workers engaged in various construction and infrastructure projects in the country, many of which are related to facilities that are in the function of the World Cup.

H. E. Ambassador Mr. Jasminko Pozderac met today in the Bishop's Palace with the Bishop of Qatar, Mr. Makarios.
During the conversation, Bishop Makarios who is a representative of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, spoke in our interest about the position of the Orthodox community in Qatar, the organization of the church, the number of believers and other issues.
The Ambassador was also interested in the participation of members of the Serbian community in the work of the church, their presence at liturgies and other details.
It was agreed to continue contacts.
The meeting was also attended by the First Counselor of the Embassy Mr. Slobodan Radeka.

First Counselor of the Embassy Mr. Slobodan Radeka visited today the Acting Director for Public Relations of the Qatar Chamber, Mr. Ahmed Abu Nahia. From our side different brochures and materials about the business and investment potentials of the Republic Serbia were handed over. Mr. Radeka also talked about great possibilities of enhancing the economy, trade and investment cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the State of Qatar. Mr Abu Nahia complied and stated that Qatar is ready to enhance various kinds of coopeation with the Republic Serbia. He also stressed the interest of Qatari side for cooperation with Serbian companies in the filed of woods industry, IT and agricultural sector,and to organize zoom meeting with Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: SPC/Serbian Orthodox Church

The Republic of Serbia is celebrating the Statehood Day! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia has prepared the following video on the occassion of the Statehood Day of the Repubic of Serbia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh6idN_HKsQ&ab_channel=MFAoftheRepublicofSerbia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Belgrade,

7 February 2021

Ambassador Pozderac has met with the CEO of the Football Club Al Sadd, Turky Al Ali. 

They discussed the possibility of enhancing the sport cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the State of Qatar and especially the possibility of bigger presence of the Serbian Athletes in Qatar, as well as about he inclusion of the Sport Science in sport results in general.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Politika

Upon the initiative of the Ministry of Municipalities and Environment of the State of Qatar, named "Plant Milliion Trees", H. E. Ambassador Pozderac has planted one tree, with participation of the High Officilas of the Doha Municipality.

In the short conversation, both sides have expressed the readiness for cooperation in future period too.

http://mfa.gov.rs/sr/index.php/konzularne-vesti/124-2013-12-02-15-07-40/22920--20-pcr-?lang=cyr

Being a Diplomat, what does Public Diplomacy mean to you personally and professionally? How would you describe the concept of Public Diplomacy?

Being a diplomat is of course a great honour for me, because I am representing my country and nation . It goes without saying how big that honour is. In the same time, being  diplomat gets you the opportunity to meet the other states, nations, religions-in my case, I am very much glad to have an opportunity to meet Qatar and the Qatari people.
About the public diplomacy, I believe that the basic concept is how to get you country presented in media and public of the country that you serve in. This is pillar of the diplomacy of the 21. st century. Classic diplomacy will always retain its space and place, but public dimension is becoming ever more important, especially with the modern development of the IT sector, communication technology and social network. Even this interview can be seen as the part of the public diplomacy, right?

In your opinion, how does this concept of Public Diplomacy apply in relation to Qatar?

The public diplomacy contributes to our bilateral relations with the State of Qatar.
More precisely, the public diplomacy contributes to presence of the Republic of Serbia in social media and media in the State of Qatar and the Qatari society, thus enabling the people of Qatar to know more about my country, its people, traditions and habits One of the basic tasks of the diplomat is to make his country visible in the country he or she serves.

How would you describe the current diplomatic relationship between Serbia and Qatar?

They are very stabile and on the safe track. We have good understanding and political dialogue with the State of Qatar. Of course, the covid-19 pandemic has somehow slowed the relations, but we expect them to blossom in the near future. We are pleased with the Al Ula Declarations because we have good relations with all the states in the Gulf, and the relaxation of the regional relations will also contribute to the wellness of Qatar and its nation and residents I regard that the progress can be made in our bilateral relations with the State of Qatar especially in the field of economy and investment.

What would be your recommendations to strengthen this relationship between the two countries, within Public Diplomacy concept?

As I have stated, the Public Diplomacy Concept can contribute to overall relations between our two counries, buy making them more present and visible in the public and media of respected countries and societies. There are various ways how to strengthen the relations in sphere of the Public Diplomacy. I would surely recommend the expers in that field from both states to meet and directly cooperate, for the sake of overall relations and bonds between Serbia and Qatar.

What does global public diplomacy means to you

It is about connecting peoples, states and nations. It is a call for a constant change in the social aspect of the diplomatic cause and it goes along with the advance in high technology and communications. The Public Diplomacy becomes more importance in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of many countries, including Serbian MFA. Of course, culture diplomacy is a part of the public diplomacy concept and its unbreakable part. Media, societies and culture are tightly incorporated in the public diplomacy concept. In global sense, through the public diplomacy the world becomes integrated and more connected.

What is your country’s cultural activities in Qatar?

We are trying to make Serbia more present in Qatar and in the cultural life of Qatar. These activities were more difficult to organize in the current circumstances created by the pandemic, but we will surely increase this field activities when the pandemic is over. I would like to stress that Serbian folklore groups have in last few years successfully participated in Katara, those being “Abrasevic” and “”Dukat Group and it is envisaged to organize the exhibitions and other kind of performances as well.

What do you think of Katara, as a Cultural Village in Qatar?

Katara is a master piece of architecture and a perfect combination of the new technology, urbanism, tradition and nature.  I think it is one of the nicest objects in Qatar and this part of the world and your nation can be proud to have it. As the Cultural Village, it is a centre point for organizing the activities in the field of culture diplomacy, social interaction and connecting different people, nations, their cuisine, traditions, music, dance and culture. For me it was an absolute joy every time when I visited Katara.
 

Belgrade,

12 January 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Nikola Selakovic met today with Ambassador of Qatar to the Republic of Serbia Sheikh Mubarak Fahad Al-Thani and discussed overall cooperation and opportunities for the promotion of bilateral relations. 
Minister Selakovic stated that there was mutual interest in deepening trade cooperation, which, as he assessed, could reach level far above the current.

Serbia and Qatar share an interest to intensify top level political contacts, and the Serbian Foreign Minister noted that a visit by the Emir of Qatar to our country would give a special and necessary impetus to the further promotion of our all-round bilateral relations.

Minister Selakovic expressed special gratitude for the assistance Qatar provided during the corona virus pandemic.

Minister Selakovic said that both the Balkans and the Middle East have been labelled as regions  where periods of conflicts are more frequent than those of peace and cooperation, which is why Serbia strives for a stable Balkans and a stable Middle East.

Noting that Serbia and Qatar, apart from disagreeing on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, have no open issues in bilateral relations, Minister Selakovic requested from the Government of Qatar, in the spirit of friendly relations between our countries, to refrain from active international lobbying in favour of Pristina, in order to give a chance to dialogue and reaching an agreement.

Belgrade,
8 January 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Tanjug
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Tanjug

29 December 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic received today the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus at the Torlak Institute for Virology, Vaccines and Serums.

Brnabic, who is the first European Prime Minister to receive the vaccine, pointed out that this day marks the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic in Serbia, but also in Europe and the world.

As Prime Minister and as someone who leads the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team, I felt obliged to be the first to receive the vaccine, to show that we believe in it, as well as in our institutions, she stated.

Brnabic said that she agreed with President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic that the two of them receive different vaccines, so he will most likely receive the next one that arrives, most probably the one produced by China.

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

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

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

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

Ambassador Mr. Jasminko Pozderac met with the world champion in High Jump Mutaz Essa Barshim. They discussed the World Athletic Championship in Belgrade in 2022 and the participation of Mr. Barshim on it, as well as about his potential assistance in promotion of the Championship.

http://mfa.gov.rs/en/themes/covid173202019

Ambassador H. E. Mr. Jasminko Pozderac met today with H. E. Mr. Ambassador Abdul Aziz Al-Horr, the Director of the Diplomatic Institute of the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.

They discussed the possibilities of enhancing cooperation between the two Diplomatic Academies, as well as signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.

National Day/ Ambassador of Serbia: Qatari-Serbian Relations Significantly Improve

Doha, December 15 (QNA) - HE Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the State Jasminko Pozderac affirmed that the bilateral relations between the Republic of Serbia and State of Qatar have improved significantly and constantly in last few years in many different areas.

In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the occasion of Qatar National Day, HE the Ambassador praised the answer of the Qatari authorities to the challenges that the Covid-19 has put in front all of us this year, pointing out that the results of the measures in Qatar have been very good, as the number of the new cases as well as the number of the deaths in the State of Qatar is much lower compared with the other countries in the world the matter that indicates that Qatar has used a successful protocol to limit the spread of this pandemic.

HE the Ambassador of Serbia praised the regional and international role of Qatar in promoting peace, progress, humanitarian aid and cooperation between the different nations, as it has been shown during the current pandemic of the Covid-19, as Qatar has sent the aid to many countries in the world, including the Republic of Serbia.

HE congratulated the leadership and the people of the State of Qatar on the occasion of the National Day, wishing them further development and welfare. (QNA)

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

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

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

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

H. E. Ambassador Pozderac met today with the newly appointed Ambassador of Indonezia in Doha, H. E. Mr. Ridvan Hassan.

They discussed the bilateral relations between Serbia and Indonezia and agreed that there are lot of opportunities for enhancing the mutual cooperation in different fields.

https://innovations.serbiacreates.rs/

On the following link, the Statement of the Serbian Ambassador to the State of Qatar regarding the Labor Reforms can be found:

https://www.gulf-times.com/story/671916/Serbian-Vietnamese-envoys-laud-Qatar-labour-reform

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Secretary General HE Yury Sentyurin welcomed the Ambassador of Serbia to the State of Qatar, HE Jasminko Pozderac, on a courtesy visit to the Forum’s Secretariat.

They discussed the ways of strenghtening the cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and this Organisation.

The pace of development has been accelerating on a remarkable scale in Qatar over the past three years, turning the challenges of the ongoing unjust blockade into great achievements covering many key fields, the Serbian ambassador to Qatar, Jasminko Pozderac, stated.
On the occasion of the third anniversary of the blockade, the envoy stressed that Qatar has emerged stronger from a difficult situation, with many industries and business opportunities introduced to the country, making the lives of its residents much better.
“We have seen many local products of high quality, available for consumers at reasonable prices. These were introduced to the local market within a considerably short period after the blockade was abruptly thrust upon Qatar,” he recalled.
Pozderac observed that Qatar residents, including both Qataris and expatriates, stood in solidarity behind the wise leadership of the country, expressing their full support for the just cause.
During the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, Qatar has again proven its strong and well-established systems.
“The endurance and advancement of Qatar has won the admiration of people around the world, and with its strong international relations it has managed to enhance world peace and co-operation, as its various efforts in this regard are well known and recognised,” he stressed.
The Serbian envoy pointed out that that relations between his nation and Qatar are growing rapidly and steadily. “I believe that there is potential for our two countries to become strategic partners in the future. I am proud of my modest contribution in this regard,” he said.
Ambassador Pozderac expressed his view that Serbia hopes for the resolution of the blockade while strongly supporting the sovereignty and independence of Qatar. “Serbia want to see relations back to normal among the brotherly nations,” he added.

Serbian ambassador Jasminko Pozderac has, in a statement to the daily "Gulf Times" expressed great appreciation for the initiative of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to send medical assistance to Serbia to help it in its efforts to combat the Covid-19 spread.
Pozderac stressed that the two countries already enjoy excellent and friendly relationships and this new gesture would further enhance such ties as both the government and people of Serbia welcome and appreciate such a decision.
He said good friends always help each other in critical times, and Serbia and Qatar have had good political relations and there is even greater potential for co-operation in various fields, including business and investment, culture, sports and education, for the good of the peoples of the two countries.
The ambassador noted that the Covid-19 situation is stabilising in his country and the assistance of friends would further enhance the efforts of the government to contain the virus. Some 10 days ago, Serbia cancelled the state of emergency and curfew that were in place to combat any potential spread of the virus among the people, and the government is trying to bring life back to normal as much as possible.
However, precautionary and preventive measures would still be adopted to ensure the protection of the people, which requires further efforts by the authorities concerned.
“Qatar and Serbia have been good friends and they will remain so for a better future for both of them. I am really very grateful for the timely initiative of His Highness the Amir for the assistance to my people and country,” he said.

Due to the current situation regarding the measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Republic of Serbia, the Embasy of the Republic of Serbia in Doha has, until further notice, suspended all visa activities, except the specific cases mentioned in the Decission of the Government of the Republic of Serbia dated March 15, 2020.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia mada decision on October 6, 2017 to abolish visas for the citizens of the Republic of Indonesia for the period of 30 days within one year.

For additional information citizens of the republic of Indonesia should contact Embassy of the Republic of Serbia.