CorD Magazine No.89 by CorD Magazine

a hiGhlY dePendent eConoMY

alekSandaR vlahović,

Good Banks Grow in Good eConoMY

SloBodan PetRović,

Director General of Danube Foods Group, Salford Investment Fund in Serbia and Imlek Dairy

MiodRag koStić, Chairman of AIK Bank’s Managing Board

interviews opinions news comments events

www.cordmagazine.com

JAN ‘12 / ISSUE NO. 89

President of the Economics Institute

leavinG serBian Market

PRICE 250 RSD THE SERBIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY

Cultural Project of the Year Serbian National Library is among the most contemporary and best equipped national libraries in Europe

Fast Money FORMULA 1

Sport is big business, and it doesn’t come much bigger than the most glamorous of them all, Formula 1 EACH OF US HAS SPENT 2011 IN OUR OWN WAY, SO THE EVENTS WE HAVE LISTED ARE SUBJECT TO PERSONAL OPINION

2011 The Year as it Was CorD magazine traditionally gives an overview of the most important events in the sphere of politics, culture, society, and sports - as seen from our prospective FASHION

Wardrobe Update

2012 is upon us, as are some fabulous new pieces in the world of fashion

jelena BrajkoVić PHD CANDIDATE IN ARCHITECTURE

Superior Goals Would

Change Society

PRIVATNA MEDICINSKA PRAKSA U SRBIJI 2012.

Privatna

MEDICINSKA PRAKSA u srbiji

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 1

A Daimler Brand

4MATIC. Turn the track into your partner. C 250 CDI 4MATIC and E 250 CDI 4MATIC with special conditions for CD\DIPLOMATIC customers.

Mercedes-Benz Srbija i Crna Gora d.o.o, Sales to Diplomatic Corps\VIP Sales, Mrs. Biljana Dinic, Omladinskih brigada 33, 11000 Beograd 2 +381 | 2012 www.cordmagazine.com Phone> 1189 30January 19 107, Fax>| +381 11 30 19 026, Mob> +381 63 27 52 67

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 3

COVER JELEnA BRAJKoVIĆ (26), PhD candidate in architecture

Superior Goals Would Change Society

CONTENTS

PAGE 8

I think that, above all, we need to set higher goals ﬁrst for ourselves and then for society. A group of individuals with high and commendable goals results in a society that is good, healthy and progressive.

CURRENT DEBATE AND NEXT STEPS

MILICA DELEVIĆ, EU Integration Ofﬁce Director, Government of the Republic of Serbia

SUPERIOR GOALS WOULD CHANGE SOCIETY

GLOBAL DIARY A HIGHLY DEPENDENT ECONOMY ALEKSANDAR VLAHOVIĆ, President of the Economics Institute

FACES & PLACES

CULTURE CALENDAR & NEWS

CULTURAL PROJECT OF THE YEAR

THE LAW ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LEAVING SERBIAN MARKET SLOBODAN PETROVIĆ, Director General of Danube Foods Group, Salford Investment Fund in Serbia and Imlek Dairy

CHILL OUT

GOOD BANKS GROW IN GOOD ECONOMY culture PAGE 58

profile PAGE 82

FAST MONEY Feature

Business Dialogue

SUPPLY RAISES QUALITY MEDIA QUESTIONS UNANSWERED OVERCOMING THE CRISIS BRATISLAV STIŠOVIĆ, M.SC., Director of Energoprojekt Hidroinženjering Company

WAITING ON EXCELLENCE Restaurant PUBLIC DINE & WINE

WARDROBE UPDATE Fashion

RICH McCLEAR, Former Irex Chief of Party

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Max Williams, m.williams@aim.rs CONTRIBUTORS: Jovana Gligorijević, Rob Dugdale, Mirjana Zec, Radmila Stanković, Boško Jakšić,Steve MacKenzie Zorica Todorović Mirković,Sonja Ćirić, Vera Didanović PHOTOS: Zoran Petrović, Marijana Šaponjić

EXECUTIVE SALES MANAGER Nataša Popović n.popovic@aim.rs PROJECT MANAGERS: Biljana Dević b.devic@aim.rs Vanja Jokanović v.jokanovic@aim.rs Svetlana Okanović s.okanovic@aim.rs EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Ruža Ristanović r.ristanovic@aim.rs

MIHAILO STANIŠIĆ, Director General of Strauss Adriatic

ART DIRECTOR: Ilija Petrović, i.petrovic@aim.rs

GENERAL MANAGER: Ivan Novčić i.novcic@cma.rs

MIODRAG KOSTIĆ, Chairman of Aik Bank’s Managing Board

EDITOR: Sasa Marić s.maric@aim.rs

TRANSLATION: Snežana Bjelotomić

SRETEN UGRIČIĆ, Director of the Serbian National Library

Focus

MINI CAMBRIDGE IN BELGRADE MS. ALEKSANDRA KESEROVIC, Principal of the British International School

2011 THE YEAR AS IT WAS Calendar

TO BE LOCKED IN AUSTERITY WITH GERMANY - NO WAY! PHILLIP INMAN

JELENA BRAJKOVIĆ, PhD candidate in architecture

January 2012

FINANCIAL DIRECTOR: Ana Besedić a.besedic@cma.rs OFFICE MANAGER: Tanja Banković t.bankovic@aim.rs PRINTING: Rotografika d.o.o., Segedinski put 72, Subotica CorD is published by: alliance international media Makenzijeva 67, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Phone: +(381 11) 2450 508 Fax: +(381 11) 2450 122 E-mail: cordeditorial@cma.rs www.cordmagazine.com www.allianceinternationalmedia.com ISSN no: 1451-7833 All rights reserved alliance international media 2011

TEAMWORK IS CRUCIAL MANUELA STAMATOVIĆ, Marketing Director at Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad

This issue is audited by ABC Serbia

Subscribe NOW and save 10% 11 ISSUES FOR ONLY €26 Call our subscription line +381 11 2450-508, 2450-122 4 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

comment

Current Debate and Next Steps While awaiting December 9th and the meeting of the European Council that was to decide on whether Serbia merited EU candidate status, a very lively debate regarding Serbia’s European future and the conditions that needed satisfying to make it happen was taking place in the country

Milica deleVić, EU Integration Office Director, Government of the Republic of Serbia

he eventual decision, which was to revisit the fulfilment ical and cultural sites, then it can be pursued simultaneousof conditions in February 2012 and have the matter rely with the European integration of Serbia. It does not mean ferred to the March European Council, made the disthat Serbia would always have to see eye-to-eye with all of cussion even more heated. its European partners on the best modalities to achieve this, A number of voices were heard saying a failure in reform but being engaged in continuous dialogue and progress toprocesses initiated in the previous 3 years were to be blame. wards the EU is the best way of succeeding in these difficult The Commission’s opinion on Serbia’s application, pubcircumstances. lished on October 12th, however, clearly stated that achieveFinally, many emotions were stirred by the interpretaments in reforms, even though they are far from completed, tion that Serbia was, in fact, expected to implicitly recognize were sufficient for a positive recommendation on candidate Kosovo. Kosovo’s statehood polarizes EU members, as 22 recstatus and even a beginning of accession talks. What the ognize it and 5 don’t. However, all of them agree that the whole Commission wanted to see before the 9th December was a region needs to participate in cooperation and progress toresumption of the Belgrade – Priština dialogue and the imwards the European Union. All of them also support EULEX, plementation of previously concluded agreements. For the which was sent to Kosovo on the basis of a joint decision. This beginning of accession talks, significant progress in the normeans Serbia is expected to engage in a way that does not malization of relations between Belgrade and Priština was preclude the goals supported by all 27 members of the EU. expected, including an agreement on inclusive participation And that is not the same as implicit recognition. in regional issues such as telecommunications and Those who were blaming the government for electricity, as well as support for EULEX and KFOR to exercise their mandates in the whole of Kosovo. Those failure of reforms were mostly silent on Kosovo who were blaming the government for the failure of rerelated problems forms were mostly silent on Kosovo related problems. When there were contributions to the debate, they were preI would have been happier if the decision of the European dominantly saying that the government went too far with Council on 9th December had been to grant candidate staboth dialogue and normalization, and therefore contrary to tus to Serbia. Such a decision would have been the best form what the Council concluded and what is expected for a posof support for many of the significant steps that have been itive decision in March. made, and the best investment in the continuation of reforms Another group of critics claimed that policy, aimed at and political processes that made those steps happen. I simachieving results on the issues of both Kosovo and Europe, ilarly thought the Djindjić government deserved a positive failed, and that if a European future is to be pursued Kosovo Feasibility Study and the Interim Agreement implementation needs to be dropped. Therefore, a lot depends on how the exshould have started earlier. Nevertheless, one must keep in pected results of the Kosovo policy are defined. If one expects mind that the continuation of reforms and political processes, 22 countries, which recognize Kosovo’s statehood, to change aimed at solving complex problems, is something that Serbia their minds and look for a solution to open issues from a neuneeds to do anyway. A European future was chosen precisetral point of view, then it is likely to make progress towards ly because it guaranteed reforms and problem solving would the EU difficult. If however, the Kosovo policy is to deliver on be a priority. This is why more reforms and dialogue need to matters like the rights of Serbian people in Kosovo - individutake place following the 9th December. It will not be easy, but ally and as a group, and the protection of property and historit needs to be done irrespective of the outcome in March. ■

6 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 7

interview jelena BrajkoVić (26), PhD canDiDate in architecture

Superior Goals Would

Change SOCIETY ■ By Radmila stankoVić

Photo Zoran PetroVić

I think that, above all, we need to set higher goals first for ourselves and then for society. A group of individuals with high and commendable goals results in a society that is good, healthy and progressive

n any country, people like Jelena Brajković should be held in high regard, they are the nation’s hope for the future. Jelena was a mathematical genius in the small town of Kraljevo, central Serbia, 180 km south of Belgrade, with a population of just under 60,000. She has won many awards in a country that used to be called Yugoslavia, and then Serbia and Montenegro. At 14, Jelena moved to Belgrade and lived in a dormitory whilst attending the Mathematical Gymnasium. From the first grade of elementary school until the end of her gymnasium education, she was an exceptional and talented pupil. Thanks to her achievements and awards, Jelena received a scholarship from

I am especially intrigued by certain novelties that digital technology has brought to the human understanding of architectural space

8 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

the Scholarship Foundation for the Scientific and Artistic Youth of Serbia while still in high school. It would have been a logical choice for her to attend the Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Science or the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, like most of her peers, but she chose architecture. Jelena graduated from the Faculty of Architecture with an average grade of slightly under 10 and continued further education. Currently, she is in her third year of PhD studies at the Faculty with an average grade of 10. The cost for one year of PhD study at the Faculty of Architecture is 300,000 dinars. Jelena’s older sister, by 2 years, Mirjana, is also a prize-winning mathematician and Jelena is very appreciative of the important role that her sister played in her life. Her parents – Zorica, who, until recently, worked at a local court and is now retired, and Adam, a computer programmer in the state administration – have done

hARD TiMES

I remember the 1999 bombings all too well, my parents’ conversations and the electricity shortages that lasted up to 9 hours all petriﬁed me.

YOUTh

I believe in the potential that young people in Serbia have and I do hope that we, as a society, are going to support, develop and use this potential to the fullest.

everything possible for their two daughters to choose their own paths in life. Whenever they have a bit of free time, they return to Kraljevo to visit their parents.

■ In Serbia, it is rather unusual for two daughters to leave their

family home at the age of 14. Does that mean that your parents were mindful of both your interests?

- Our parents gave us a lot of love and that is the most important thing. They taught us to aspire to be caring, understanding and independent i.e. to make our own decisions and to be responsible. We had unlimited freedom, but also the precious comfort in knowing that they will always be there for us. They nurtured our research spirit, and taught us how to conquer our own freedom. Dad always told us to follow what we love and that only if we loved the job we did could we enjoy it and be successful. Life is too short to waste on bad moments and doing things that we don’t enjoy – that is, in a nutshell, his motto. Even today, I consider time the most valuable resource and I feel that I owe it to myself to spend my time in a good way.

■ You were only 15 years old when, on the 5th October 2000, the democratic opposition came to power in Serbia. Prior to that, did you have any knowledge of what had been happening in Serbia in the 1990s?

SUPPORT

I don’t see a clear strategy for young people and I think the support given to youth who are focused on knowledge and progress should be stronger.

- I cannot give you a precise definition of the expectations. I was just a child. Today, I am much more realistic, although, I fear that in the not too distant future, my present expectations might seem unrealistic. In the meantime, I only have the biggest expectations for myself. Above all, we need to set high goals first for ourselves and then for society. A group of individuals with high and commendable goals results in a society that is good, healthy and progressive. There will be no problems in the relations between society and the individual, especially if that individual always strives to do their best and later expects society to follow suit. Of course, a person needs to harmonize their interests with that of society’s and must feel compelled to improve society as much as they want to improve themselves.

■ What are you particu-

larly interested in about architecture?

- Today, I am intrigued - At that time I was still a child and protected by my parents, I agree with writer Dušan Kovačević I wasn’t aware of how bad the who said that people with excess situation in the country was. emotions should not go into Today, I do understand that I was lucky to have been just a politics, being a politician is a very girl during that time and had stressful, responsible and hard job no knowledge of the horrific events that took place. My parents did everything they could for the by the questions: What two of us to live as normal a life as possible and far from the probmakes the true modernity lems associated with that period. Unfortunately, I remember the 1999 of the moment in which bombings all too well, my parents’ conversations and the electricity architecture is currently in? Does the biggest problem with conshortages that lasted up to 9 hours all petrified me. We sat in the dark, temporary times lie in the growing dependency of architectural killing time and waiting for everything to pass by. It was only later, concepts on technological concepts? More than ever, technology when I watched several documentaries, that I came to fully underin architecture dictates and constantly changes the approach and stand how awful that time was. I am truly sorry for all the people who possibilities of creation in form and function, as well as aesthetic had to live through it and of the humiliation in the 1990s. I can only impressions in architecture. I am interested in many different asimage the horror that came with deteriorating relations in the region pects of this issue – philosophical, historical, artistic, sociological.... that suddenly changed everybody’s lives, disrupted a healthy line of I am especially intrigued by certain novelties that digital technolothought, made people live anything but their usual life, not have norgy has brought to the human understanding of architectural space. mal understanding of things or values, as well as living lives filled with How to think creatively in contemporary architecture is another devastation and humiliation. question that I am interested in and which I hope to find an answer to in one of the segments of my PhD thesis.

■ Ten years later, what do you think of the expectations that we had back then?

■ Where is Serbia’s place in the technological race and mocordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 9

ment that you’ve mentioned?

- Unfortunately, we are significantly lagging behind. Althought, in terms of ideas, young people in Serbia are not lagging at all despite having a difficult time in trying to keep up with their foreign counterparts. Technology equals money, and there isn’t much of it in Serbia. Thank God that an idea is an individual treasure that any person can have, regardless of their location. Unfortunately, since developing ideas and technology are co-dependent, it is quite possible that a long period of technological backwardness also reduces the idea pool. I believe in the potential that young people in Serbia have and I do hope that we, as a society, are going to support, develop and use this potential to the fullest.

Several years after it was built (in the 1960s), an architectural critic from The Washington Post called the Museum of Modern Art in Ušće “The most beautiful building in the entire Communist world,” while the Memorial Museum in Kragujevac was branded as “A suggestive structure of sympathy with the war victims.” With those buildings Antić had done what Daniel Libeskind did, many years later, in a part of the building that houses the Holocaust Museum in Berlin.

■ When somebody i.e. you, completes

master studies in architecture with an average grade of 9.94 and doctoral studies with an average grade of 10, what is behind it?

- Primarily the love for what I do, but also a great energy and persistence in studying. I believe that it is terribly hard to do what you don’t like. For me, what I do is ■ Which architectural structures are a challenge and pleasure all in one. In my you especially fond of? case, the key to success was regularly at- First and foremost, I like to talk about tending classes while paying full attention structures that I had the chance to see both in lectures and practice. I took notes and experience. I would like to single out during classes and went for consultations the architecture of Antoni Gaudi as leavuntil certain areas became perfectly clear. ing the strongest impression on me and If you work regularly, you actually use a in being the perfect match to my sensilot less time, but achieve greater success bility. He is an architect that managed to and obtain permanent knowledge. On top elevate design to a whole new level by of that, it is very important to have teamcreating timeless and unique pieces that work in architecture and I have always add a new layer to reality which appear tried to find my place within any team I to be almost surreal. His expression is am involved with. Good communication very strong and the scenes that he creates skills and developed social skills are of are mystical and very suggestive. Gaudi’s the utmost importance in any dedication to detail is moving. Young people in Serbia are not profession. I also remember the feeling of lagging behind at all despite having space that I had when I walked down the ramps inside the rea difficult time in trying to keep up ■ Are you going to do someconstructed dome of the Gerthing else, besides doctoral with their foreign counterparts man Parliament in Berlin, done studies? by architect Norman Foster. That space, unlike Gaudi’s timeless - I like being engaged in various aspects of architecture, so I do architecture, belongs to a contemporary moment and, for me, it is various things and try to keep busy with diverse activities. I am a an expression of technologized poetry. demonstrator of the subject called Digital Animation at the Faculty of Architecture, with Professor Nataša Teofilović, who is a very talented and inspirational educator. I have also been given ■ What do you like in Serbia? Who do you value the most and a scholarship from the Ministry of Science and Education and I why? was hired as a PhD candidate and as a researcher on a research - Talking about architecture in Serbia, we should start with the topic project implemented by the Institute of Architecture and Urban & and problem of anonymity in our architecture. Back in the 1970s, Spatial Planning of Serbia. I do occasional work for the Belgrade Mihajlo Mitrović talked about this problem saying that buildings in City Museum, where I design exhibits, and, together with my colSerbia were often mentioned, but their authors were not. Nothing league Divna Vojinović, work on creating visual formats of the much has changed since the 1970s. In developed countries, such Museum’s print editions. This year, I spent my practice at the Unitreatment of architectural authors is inconceivable. versity of Belgrade’s Rectorate, Department for International and I would like to single out the architect Ivan Antić, who is one Inter-University Cooperation, this experience was very valuable of the greatest Serbian architects from the second half of the 20th to me. Cooperating with foreign scientific and academic institucentury. I would especially like to mention two of his buildings – tions is the key thing in the development of science in Serbia and the Museum of Modern Art in Ušće and the Memorial Museum in the country’s positioning in the latest scientific trends. Speaking Kragujevac, which was erected in remembrance of WWII victims. 10 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

about the potential that young people in Serbia have, I would like to mention my colleagues from the Rectorate, Pavle Ivetić and Miloš Spasić, from the Museum of Archeologists, as especially inspirational co-workers. I was fortunate enough to have them as my superiors. I am also a member of various teams that participate in architectural competitions. I have already staged several of my own exhibitions and I am currently preparing several papers to be released.

■ How does the state treat the most talented and upstanding young people?

technological underdevelopment. The attitude that people in Belgrade have towards high quality structures and in performing high quality work is really upsetting. Often good ideas are ruined by bad execution. If you look at the buildings and public spaces of the city in detail, you will see just how far are they from being perfectly built and the quality of these buildings, in certain cases, is intolerable. It seems to me that architecture in Serbia is born and dies at the same time, with low quality materials often to blame. I am also sad to see how our people treat their living spaces, which certainly does not reflect joie de vivre. I came back from The Netherlands recently where people have a fascinating attitude toward space, their buildings are perfectly maintained with many creative details, which present a rather endearing approach to space. Nevertheless, I am still confident that quality can and must surface in any environment, including ours. We just need patience.

- Ever since I was in a high school, I have had a scholarship from the Scholarship Foundation for Scientific and Artistic Youth of Serbia, and now I also have one from the Ministry of Science and Technological Development. The state does recognize talent, i.e. it acknowledges it through financial assistance given to the most successful individuals. It also recognizes the importance and potential of young scientists and, in princiLife is too short to waste ple, agrees that they are needed. Still, it on bad moments and in is not determined and defined enough in implementing its strategy for young peodoing things that we don’t ple and stopping the “brain drain”. I don’t enjoy. I feel that I owe it to see a clear strategy for young people and myself to spend my time I think the support given to youth who are focused on knowledge and progress in a good way should be stronger. The state needs to stimulate young people to get involved in science by securing high quality scientific and research programmes and, of course, decent salaries for scientists.

■ What are your future plans?

- In the following few years, I am going to work on my doctoral dissertation. In accordance with that dissertation, I am also going to write scientific papers and try to figure out how to cooperate with globally relevant academic and scientific institutions. I want to become an internationally recognized scientist, and I am well aware that it won’t be easy at all, especially not with the starting position that I have in Serbia. Also, and this is something that has nothing to do with academia, I am going to try to build my own brand together with my colleagues and, of course, enjoy my free time.

■ Are you thinking of leaving the country in the not too distant future?

- When I think of leaving Belgrade, the main reason would be the fact that the city doesn’t function properly in various aspects. As an architect, I have to mention inadequate infrastructure and

■ What is your political orientation? Are

you even interested in politics at all?

- My interest in politics to extends to how much it determines my life. I want, and try to always be politically aware and well informed of what is happening in the country and further afield so I can react properly if needed. I am not interested in getting deeply involved in politics. I agree with the writer Dušan Kovačević who said that people with excess emotions should not go into politics. I think that being a politician is a very stressful, responsible and hard job. In architecture, it is very difficult to execute an idea, so I can imagine just how difficult is to realize political ideas that are supposed to represent the interests of a whole nation.

■ What does Kraljevo look like today?

- Unfortunately, I share the opinion of many who often say that Serbia, south of Belgrade, looks very sad, and that it seems Serbia is drawing its last breath. Well, I don’t know whether I agree with the latter statement, but when I walk down the streets I see that life, compared to that in Belgrade, is much more austere. And I don’t even want to go into what the culture is like. You feel the shortage of money everywhere you go. When I see the areas I grew up in and how they are becoming more stark, I think about their past and future. I would like to see Serbia’s revival and for the places that I loved when I was a child to flourish. ■ 89 January 2012 | 11

calendar

2011 The Year as it Was

The year 2011 is now behind us and, according to some, has passed much quicker than other more peaceful years - of which there have not been many in the recent decades in Serbia. CorD magazine traditionally gives an overview of the most important events in the sphere of politics, culture, society, and sports - as seen from our prospective. Of course, each of us has spent 2011 in our own way, so the events we have listed are subject to personal opinion. However, now that we know what is behind us, there are plenty of reasons to wish each other a better, prosperous and Happy 2012.

JANUARY

POLITICS 13th. Serbian Government prepares answers to the EU candidacy questionnaire. 15th. Serbian Progressive Party hands over the petition for changing the Serbian Constitution. 25th. Council of Europe discusses Dick Marty’s report on human organ trafficking in Kosovo. 27th. Health Minister Tomica Milosavljević resigns. ECONOMY 12th. 2010 economic data released – inflation 10.3%, corporate debt toward banks 10 billion euros, foreign trade exchange 24 billion euros, exchange rate 105.7 dinars for 1 euro. 14th. Government adopts the economic assistance programme worth 7 billion dinars. SOCIETY 15th. Serbian tourists return early from Tunisia due to political upheaval in the country. 19th. The Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU ratified. 28th. The Commission for Protection of Competition fines Imlek 306 million dinars for monopolistic behaviour. CULTURE 17th. Writer Gordana Ćirjanić is the recipient of the NIN literary award for her book “What I’ve Always Wanted.” 25th. Ballerina Ashen Ataljanc performs in the ballet “Songs” at the National Theatre after a 12year hiatus. SPORT 10th. Newly appointed coach of FC Red Star Robert Prosinečki 12 |

89 January 2012

conducts his first training session with the club’s players. 12th. Tennis player Bojana Jovanovski reaches the semi-finals at the Medibank International Sydney tournament in Australia. 27th. Slobodan Živojinović reelected Chairman of the Serbian Tennis Association. 30th. Tennis player Novak Đoković wins the Australian Open for the second time.

fEBRUARY

POLITICS 1st. Serbian Government officially hands over answers to the EU candidacy questionnaire to the European Commission. 5th. At a political rally, SNS demands for early elections to be scheduled. 7th. The former Defence Minister Zoran Stanković nominated for the position of Health Minister. 15th. Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković replaces the Economy and Regional Development Minister Mlađan Dinkić. ECONOMY 2nd. Germans and Austrians hold talks with the Serbian Government about the sale of Telekom Serbia. 9th. The first ever sale of state bonds nominated in euros. 13th. Talks with the IMF apropos the seventh and last revision of the credit arrangement. 23rd. Proprietor of Delta Holding, Miroslav Mišković sells the MAXI supermarket chain to Belgian Delhaize. SOCIETY 2nd. Serbian citizens return early from Cairo because of political riots in Egypt. 4th. Café bars, located in residential buildings, not permitted to be

www.cordmagazine.com

open after midnight. CULTURE 2nd. Formal celebration called “Between Reality and Dreams” for the 170th anniversary of the poet Laza Kostić’s birth held at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. 4th. After 40 years, theatre replays “The Glembaj Family” at Atelje 212, directed by Jagos Marković, in Belgrade. SPORT 23rd. Celebration of 101 years of the Serbian Olympic Committee. 24th. UEFA Chairman, Michel Platini meets with President Boris Tadić to inform him of UEFA’s sanctions in case of hooligan rioting at football stadiums. 26th. Tennis player Novak Đoković wins the Dubai tournament.

MARCh

POLITICS 5th. EULEX launches investigation into human organ trafficking in Kosovo following Dick Marty’s report. 14th. New and reshuffled Serbian Government appointed. 23rd. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives for an official visit to Serbia. SOCIETY 9th. 29th anniversary of the street demonstrations, held on 9th March 1991 in Belgrade, marked. 11th. Catastrophic earthquake in Japan - 8.9 on the Richter scale. 20th. Citizens of Belgrade rally to support earthquake stricken Japanese people. ECONOMY 5th. The Kopaonik Business Forum begins at which government officials declare Serbia has beaten the recession.

16th. Galenika’s bank account frozen.

22nd. Serbian Government

decides against selling Telekom Serbia. SPORT 5th. Football Champions League begins. 23rs. President Putin visits Marakana, FC Red Star’s stadium. 31st. New Sport Law enacted. CULTURE 7th. Actress Mirjana Karanović is the recipient of the Zanka Stokić Award. 8th. The premiere of “Montevideo Bog te Video” film in Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina cancelled for security and moral reasons. 20th. Promotion of the book “Kapor – The Legend” dedicated to the late writer Moma Kapor.

APRiL

POLITICS 1st. Trilateral meeting between Serbian President Boris Tadić, Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor and Slovenian PM Borut Pahor at the Zlatni Breg Villa in Smederevo. 17th. Tomislav Nikolić, president of SNS, goes on a hunger strike. 26th. Meeting between Serbian President Boris Tadić with Turkish President Abdullah Gül and members of Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Bakir Izetbegović, Zeljko Komsić and Nebojsa Radmanović in Karađorđevo. 30th. “There will be no early elections,” Serbian President Boris Tadić says. ECONOMY 2nd. “Serbia will either conduct required reforms this year or 200,000 people will become unemployed,” the participants of the

Mokra Gora Manager Forum said. 14th. The Social Council agrees for the lowest wage to be between 98 and 100 dinars per hour for the least demanding jobs. 20th. Companies’ debt in 2010 went up by 198 billion dinars – The Serbian Employers Union says. SOCIETY 4th. The state offers General Vlada Trifunović 6 million dinars in compensation for spending 547 days in prison on unfounded charges. 12th. Folk singer Svetlana Raznatović settles with the Prosecution Office to spend her one year sentence under house arrest and pay 1.5 million euros in indemnity to the state. 20th. 700,000 people in Serbia live under the poverty rate – the First Social Map of Serbia shows, publicly presented by Labour Minister Rasim Ljajić at a forum in Vrnjačka Banja. CULTURE 3rd. The 10th International Harp Festival opens in Belgrade with a performance by French harpist, Isabelle Moretti. 26th. Artistic director of the Kosovo National Theatre, Jeton Neziraj confirms that he was invited by Atelje 212 to come to Belgrade and stage a play in the Albanian language. SPORT 26th. Members of the Serbian volleyball team, Vladimir Grbić to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Holyoke, U.S. The official reception was held in late October. 29th. Tennis player Novak Đoković receives the First Degree St. Sava Award for his dedication to charity and faith. The Award was presented to him by Serbian Patriarch Irinej.

MAY

POLITICS 4th. The anniversary of the death of former Yugoslav President, Josip Broz Tito was marked this year as normal with many admirers of his work arriving at the

‘The House of Flowers’ (his burial place) and waited for hours in line to pay their respects. 19th. President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso meets with Serbian President Boris Tadić, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and other Serbian officials in Belgrade to talk about implementation of reforms and arresting Ratko Mladić. 21st. Historian Predrag Marković says that the relations between Serbia and Montenegro have never been so bad, following the Serbian representatives failing to show at the convention organized by the leading Montenegrin political party. 27th. Ratko Mladić arrested in the village of Lazarevo, near Zrenjanin. ECONOMY 5th. Tender for the sale of Telekom Serbia fails. The Austrians offered 1.1 billion euros for a 51% stake in the company instead of the expected 1.4 billion euros. 9th. The reason behind the inflation rate of 9.9% is high food prices – NBS Governor Dejan Šoškić says. 19th. IMT delivers the first 30 tractors to Ethiopia which marks the beginning of the implementation of a contract worth 170 million euros concluded by IMT and Ethiopian company METEC. 21st. Serbia’s public debt reaches 12.95 billion euros and has grown 792 million euros since the beginning of the year – the Ministry of Finance says. In order to settle interest rates in 2011, the state needed 46 billion dinars or 14 billion dinars more than in 2010. SOCIETY 7th. The visa-free arrangement between Serbia and other countries signatories of the Schengen Agreement in jeopardy because of a growing number of fake asylum seekers heading for the EU from Serbia – Brussels warns. 9th. The EU expects Serbia to hold any institution or person criminally liable that encourages immigration of fake asylum seek-

ers – Brussels says. 16th. The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church in session. The topic of the meeting was an invitation to the Pope to come to a celebration of the 17 century of the Edict of Milan that will take place in Niš in 2013. 25th. The day of birth of the former Yugoslav President, Josip Broz Tito, celebrated as Youth Day all over Serbia. Broz’s grandson – Joška Broz – greets people carrying wreaths in front of the 25th May Museum. 30th. Despite being sentenced to one year house arrest, together with her sister Lidija Ocokoljić, on charges of tax embezzlement from player transfer, folk singer Svetlana Raznatović releases a new album. CULTURE 11th. Serbian’s representative at Eurovision held in Düsseldorf, Nina Radulović made it to the competition’s finals with her song ‘Magical’. 21st. Russian authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church will provide funding for a mosaic that will be created at the St. Sava Temple in Belgrade – the Russian Federation authorities say in a letter to the Serbian Foreign Ministry. 23rd. The Days of Turkish Culture in Serbia began with exhibitions and other cultural events held at Dom Sindikata. 28th. The play ‘Born in YU’ opens the 56th Sterija Theatre Festival at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. SPORT 9th. Tennis player Novak Djoković beats the ATP no. 1 Spaniard Rafael Nadal in Madrid and wins the cup. 26th. For the 23rd consecutive time, FC Partizan won the state football championship. In addition to this the club also won the Serbian Football Cup.

JUNE

POLITICS 10th. EU will appoint a special committee that will investigate al-

legations made by Dick Marty in his report on human organ trafficking in Kosovo. 14th. A two day strategic conference of NATO and partner countries begins in Belgrade. The opposition and anti-NATO activists protest. 16th. There are a total of 14,000 political officials at all levels of power in Serbia - the AntiCorruption Agency reveals. 23rd. Serbia needs to recognize Kosovo’s independence in order to join the EU – German Bundestag says. 30th. The former assistant to the U.S. State Secretary, Christopher Hill admitted that the U.S. administration’s goal was to use the 1999 bombing of Serbia to enter Kosovo and Metohija. ECONOMY 2nd. Despite E-coli bacteria found in cucumbers sold at German green markets, which resulted in the deaths of several people, there is no panic amongst shoppers in Serbia. 5th. EPS plans to build 18 microhydro power plants that will produce between 10 and 12 billion watts of ‘clean electricity’. Also, the company will spend 89 million euros on reconstructing existing power plants. 12th. In four months, Serbia exported 800 tons of dried plums and earned $2 million. In comparison, in 1897, Serbia exported 30,000 tons of dried plums to the U.S. and earned $30 million. 21st. Construction of 35,000 sqm production facilities for Fiat’s subcontractors began. 1,000 new jobs to be created and, in spring of 2012, Fiat will start producing its new model in Kragujevac. 24th. Serbia looses 4 billion euros because of corruption that is mostly present in public procurements. Nobody knows where this money ends up – experts say. SOCIETY 2nd. 10.6 million boxes of sedatives consumed in Serbia in 2010, and, during the first three months of 2011, 2.3 million prescriptions for sedatives

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 13

calendar

were written – the State Health Insurance Institute says. 5th. Ratko Mladić reimbursed with back pensions in the amount of 5 million dinars. 12th. Instead of paying traffic penalties, drivers would rather spend a few days in prison since one day in prison accounts for 1,100 dinars. 8,511 drivers in Belgrade decided to go to prison rather than paying penalties for their traffic violations in 2010. 16th. The Milošević family had their house in Dedinje seized. Slobodan Milošević bought the house in July 1999 for 40,000 German marks. CULTURE 4th. Painter Rasa Todosijević wins the first prize at the Contemporary Art Biennale in Venice with his exhibit ‘Light and Dar’. He was given 150,000 euros as an award at the ceremony in the Grassi Palace. 6th. The famous British singer Sting held a concert in the Belgrade Arena, accompanied by the 45 piece ensamble Camerata Serbica. 13th. Archaeologists at the Medijana archaeological site find a marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Artemis. 25th. 100,000 people came to Ušće in Belgrade to see Zdravko Čolić sing. 28th. The Lepenski Vir museum opened. SPORT 5th. Water polo club Partizan wins the European championship for the seventh time by beating Italian club Pro Recco 11:7. 10th. President of FC Red Star, Vladan Lukić wants the Chairman of the Serbian Football Association, Tomislav Karadzić to resign.

JULY

POLITICS 7th. Serbian President Boris Tadić goes on his first official visit to Sarajevo. He said, in the Bosnian capital, that all war criminals and war crimes should be punished. 14 |

89 January 2012

8th. Brussels warns Priština not to change names, nationality or other data in personal documents of Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo. 9th. Serbs take command over KPS in northern Kosovo. 10th. OSCE’s parliamentary assembly session begins in Belgrade. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić asks for the human organ trafficking probe in Kosovo to be carried out under the supervision of the UN in order to prevent criminals responsible from getting away. 21st. Goran Hadžić arrested, will be extradited to the Hague Tribunal once legal procedures are carried out. 27th. Gunfire on the Brnjak and Jarinje administrative crossings. Priština tries to regain control over the crossings. ECONOMY 1st. In just one year, unemployment in Serbia grows by 3% to 22.2% - says the State Statistical Office. 2nd. NGOs in Serbia get close to 150 million euros in funding each year, with 93 million euros coming from the state budget alone. There are 13,343 national and 54 foreign NGOs in Serbia. All political parties also have their own NGOs, with DS, G17+ and LDP topping the list. 5th. Around 1,100 asylum seekers living in Serbia - the asylum centre in Banja Koviljača receives 200,000 dinars a day to take care of them. 20th. Priština bans the import of Serbian goods. 22nd. Serbia sues Kosovo because of the ban on imports. SOCIETY 10th. With temperatures at 37°C in the shade, Belgrade is the hottest city in Europe. 16th. According to the Serbian penal code, solicitation is a criminal act, while prostitution is not since it is defined as performing and enjoying sexual encounters. 30th. The Draft Law on Restitution stipulates that, wher-

www.cordmagazine.com

ever possible, assets seized after 1945 to be returned in kind. CULTURE 1st. It is completely inexcusable that nothing has been done to celebrate a great jubilee – 50 years since the great Serbian writer Ivo Andrić received the Nobel Prize for literature – writer Matija Becković says. 3rd. Great Serbian actress, Olivera Marković dies. 8th. EXIT festival begins at the Novi Sad Fortress. SPORT 2nd. Serbian tennis player Novak Đoković wins Wimbledon and officially becomes the world no. 1. 5th. A spectacular reception for Novak Đoković held in front of the National Parliament in Belgrade. Over 100,000 people came out to greet the world tennis champion. 9th. UEFA against supporters of FC Skendija coming to Belgrade. 14th. FC Partizan beats FC Skendija 4:0.

AUGUST

POLITICS 3rd. Thaci wants a war, Serbia doesn’t - Kosovo and Metohija Minister Goran Bogdanović says. 6th. Anniversary of the Croatian military operation ‘The Storm’ during which 250,000 Serbs were expelled from Croatia with 100,000 of them still living in Serbia. 12th. Following the extradition of the Hague Tribunal defendants Mladić and Hadžić, Brussels now want Belgrade to establish good neighbourly relations with Priština – Serbian Labour Minister Rasim Ljajić says. 23rd. German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Serbia and openly demands official Belgrade to establish close and friendly collaboration with Priština, abolish parallel Serbian institutions in north Kosovo and stop supporting Serbs living in the region. 26th. “We might not be granted EU candidate status,” Serbian President Boris Tadić says.

SOCIETY

9th. Guca Trumpet Festival be-

gins, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Konuzin officially opens the festival. 9th. Jovanka Broz was a Russian spy – journalist Pero Simić claims based on revealed documents that were stored in Slovenian Archives. 16th. The remaining members of the Slobodan Milošević’s family and his successors want 100,000 euros to sell Bambilend, a recreational centre in Požarevac. Municipal authorities want to reach an agreement with the owners. 29th. In the 45 years since its establishment, 5,000 pupils graduated from Belgrade’s Mathematics Gymnasium and won over 350 medals at various competitions. ECONOMY 11th. Serbia concludes a precautionary arrangement with the IMF. 9th. Two segments of the Ada Bridge merge. Serbian President Boris Tadić and Belgrade Mayor Dragan Đilas the first people to walk across the bridge. Infrastructure Minister Milutin Mrkonjić crosses the new bridge on the Danube River near Beška and announces its imminent completion. 16th. Jagodina Mayor Dragan Marković Palma donates 210 high quality heifers to farmers of the Jagodina area. 1,210 cattle breeders from 48 villages near Jagodina participated in a cattle competition. CULTURE 13th. Stolen paintings worth 10 million euros found. Željko Eremija from Zemun arrested. 22nd. Matica Srpska in Novi Sad celebrates its 185th anniversary. This is not only the oldest, but also the most influential institution in Serbian culture, science and literature. 23rd. At the Niš Film Festival, actor Petar Bozović presented with the Pavle Vuisić Award for his exceptional contribution to acting. SPORT 4th. FC Partizan fails to quali-

calendar

fy for the Champion League due to a 1:1 draw with FC Gent from Belgium. 12th. Basketball clubs FMP Zeleznik and Red Star merge to become BC Red Star Belgrade. 18th. FC Red Star looses 2:1 to French club Rennais. FC Partizan draws with FC Shamrock in Dublin.

SEPTEMBER

POLITICS 1st. Thirty witnesses to 1999 war crimes and their family members killed. They were supposed to testify at the Hague Tribunal against Ramush Haradinaj, the former KLA commander in Kosovo. 5th. The Non-Aligned Movement Summit begins in Belgrade. Over 100 state delegations participate. 6th. Wikileaks releases cables, which read that Serbia will become an EU member in 2019 and that Angela Merkel informed Boris Tadić of this back in 2009. 15th. “We are not going to succumb to pressure to allow Priština to put its customs officers and police at the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings,” Serbian President Boris Tadić said. 16th. Russian Ambassador Alexander Konuzin storms out of the Belgrade Security Forum because nobody from the Serbian side reacted to the Kosovo customs officers and police being deployed at the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings. Before storming out, he turned to the participants and asked: “Are there any Serbs here?” Later, this incident was reported as a diplomatic scandal. 28th. KFOR soldiers fire live ammunition at people stationed at the roadblocks in Brnjak and Jarinje wounding 30. SOCIETY 1st. The winner of a 2.5 million euro lottery prize is a woman from Belgrade called Irena. She is the 55th lottery millionaire. 6th. People who attacked the US Embassy in Belgrade on 21st 16 |

89 January 2012

February 2008 identified. 7th. A bear kills a woman that has been feeding it. The accident happened close to the Trofej restaurant near Stajićevo. 12th. The Pride Parade is important from a human rights perspective, Brussels considers it one of the conditions for Serbia getting candidate status. 26th. The route to be taken by participants in the Pride Parade in Belgrade set to be the same as last year. ECONOMY 1st. Serbia and the IMF reach an agreement on a 1 billion euro precautionary arrangement. 9th. No companies submit their bids for the acquisition of JAT Airways. 12th. Delta Holding declared the most successful company in Serbia. 21st. The first car shells of a new Fiat model, to be produced in Kragujevac, submitted to a laboratory for analysis. 30th. The Nobel Prize laureate and economy expert Robert Mandell in Belgrade claims that the euro will survive the present crisis. CULTURE 5th. Shooting of the movie ‘Mercenaries’, about the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, begins in Belgrade. The movie is produced by US company 21st Century Film and will have its premiere in January. 10th. The Belgrade Philharmonic opens a new concert season at the Kolarac Foundation. 15th. Libraries in Serbia will have to pay copyright fees to authors whose books they lend to their members – stipulated in the amended Law on Copyright and Related Rights. SPORT 2nd. Serbia’s national football team beats Northern Ireland 1:0 in the first of the three qualifying matches for the European Football Championship that will take place next year. 13th. Tennis player Novak

www.cordmagazine.com

Đoković wins the US Open in New York. His third Grand Slam title. 19th. Serbia’s national volleyball team wins the European Championship, the basketball team takes 8th place at the European Basketball Championships.

OCTOBER

POLITICS 1st. The police ban all public gatherings in Belgrade, including the gay parade. 2nd. Serbian Interior Minister, Ivica Dačić says that by banning all public gatherings in Belgrade, the police have prevented the loss of lives and a ‘North African’ scenario from happening. 5th. Anniversary of the 5th October political upheaval. 11 years ago, the reign of Slobodan Milošević was brought to an end, as were tragic civil wars, economic sanctions and Serbia’s political isolation. 12th. The European Commission gives its recommendation for Serbia to become an EU candidate. Official decision on the candidacy expected on 9th December. 26th. According to a CeSID survey, the Democratic Party and Tomislav Nikolić’s SNS will win around 60% of votes while other parties will struggle to win 5% of votes, let alone 10% - CeSID’s executive director Zoran Lučić says. SOCIETY 2nd. Population census begins in Serbia. The questionnaire contains 71 questions. 3rd. Director of NGO Urban from Novi Pazar, Aida Ćorović is the recipient of the Freedom Conquest Award. 5th. Director of REK Kolubara, Dragan Tomić arrested. His lawyer Zoran Stojković refutes claims that Tomić tried to escape Serbia and adds that Tomić’s intention was to visit the Hilandar Monastery. 12th. Viewers don’t want to see politicians on TV – a survey conducted by the Pozitiv Centre

shows. Two thirds of citizens believe that the Serbian media attempts to manipulate them. 23rd. Student Movement wants the state to allow students, who have 48 points, to be given the right to free schooling. ECONOMY 1st. Head of the IMF delegation, Albert Jaeger says that Serbia is ready to deal with the new wave of the financial crisis, but that it also has to continue with reforms. 11th. Average salary in Serbia is six times lower than in the EU, whilst life expectancy is six years shorter. 12th. More and more small companies being set up, but the number of those that are closing down is increasing – the Serbian Business Registry Agency says. 14th. “EU candidate status will not bring Serbia more money from IPA funds. Currently, Serbia gets around 200 million euros annually from these funds,” the head of the EU Integrations and Economy Department at the Delegation of the EU to Serbia, Freka Jamot says. 17th. Banks are starting to move money from Serbia, especially banks whose head offices are abroad. CULTURE 6th. Film director Emir Kusturića wrapping up the shooting of his film “Nemanja” in Trebinje. The producer has a Mexican production company that normally makes movies about religions. Kusturića is making a film about the Serbian Orthodox faith. 10th. An exhibit dedicated to writer and diplomat Ivo Andrić opens at the Yugoslav Archives to mark 50 years since Andrić was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. 10th. Serbian Interior Ministry says that it doesn’t know the whereabouts of Picasso’s paintings wanted by Swiss authorities. Serbian police launch an investigation. 21st. Writer Svetislav Basara officially opens the International Book Fair.

23rd. The police find Picasso’s

paintings and return them to Switzerland. SPORT 2nd. The women’s volleyball team of Serbia team beat Germany and win the European Championship. Tennis player Janko Tipsarević wins the ATP tournament in Kuala Lumpur. 7th. Serbian footballers miss their first chance to qualify for Euro 2012 because of a 1:1 draw with the Italy. 11th. Serbs are to blame for riots in the Yorgos Karaiskakis stadium in Piraeus, Greece, during a football match between Greece and Croatia – Croatian media claim. 12th. Serbia’s national football team beaten by Slovenia 1:0 in Maribor and fail to qualify for the European Championship. 21st. FIFA rejects a request from the Kosovo Football Association to become its member, explaining that if a country wants to become a member it first needs to be a member of the United Nations.

NOVEMBER

POLITICS 1st. Officials from the Serbian municipality of Lipljan in Kosovo tried to embezzle 7.2 million dinars of state money, to be distributed among their friends and family, but the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija prevented them from doing so. 2nd. British Minister of EU Affairs, David Lidington meets with SNS officials – Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vucić – but “has no time” to meet with Ceda Jovanović. 5th. 250,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have moved out of Kosovo since the deployment of KFOR. 7th. Regional defence ministers signed, in Pec, an agreement which guarantees the establishment of a Kosovo Army from 2013 onwards. 10th. Serbian President, Boris Tadić warns that a new wave of the economic crisis is about to strike

26th. I cannot say for sure that

Serbia will be granted EU candidate status – said Boris Tadić. SOCIETY 5th. Slovenian Pension Fund wants Serbian pensioners to provide proof that they are alive in order to get Slovenian pensions. 10th. SNS says that if it comes to power, it will reinstate the mandatory military service along with the professional army. 14th. Over 20,000 Serbs living in Kosovo applied for Russian citizenship. 19th. Fewer people travelling abroad regardless of the fact that 3.6 million Serbian citizens have biometric passports. 23rd. 1,687,598 people in Serbia are considered extremely poor new census data shows. 27th. Ante Marković, the last president of the Federal Government in the former Yugoslavia, passes away. Marković is remembered as the man who first initiated reforms in the country and was a strong opponent of the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

ECONOMY 1st. Price of gas, public transportation, heating and household cleaners goes up. 3rd. The state agreed to help iron plant US Steel from Smederevo in order to avoid layoffs. 7th. Businesses owe 370 billion dinars to the state in unpaid taxes and contributions. 19th. Serbia and France sign a letter of intention on drafting project documents for a Belgrade subway. 22th. NBS Governor is not our ally – businessmen say following Governor Dejan Šoškić refusing to reduce banks’ mandatory reserve. CULTURE 10th. Serbian icons to be permanently exhibited at the Santa Croce Basilica in Florence, which is the largest Franciscan church in the world. 11th. The great Serbian actor Petar Kralj passes away.

19th. Song writer and singer Zeljko Joksimović will represent Serbia at Eurovision in Azerbaijan. 23th. The Duško Radović Theatre wins an award at Sarajevo MESS Festival for the play ‘The Book of Wandering’. SPORT 8th. President of the Serbian Tennis Association Slobodan Zivojinović resigns due to conflicting obligations with the Davis Cup Committee. 16th. Tipsarević among the top ten tennis players on the ATP list. 29th. FC Red Star’s Sport Director Ivan Adzić resigns.

DECEMBER

POLITICS 1st. Serbs living in northern Kosovo want the Serbian Parliament to give its opinion on the removal of roadblocks and change of official policy towards Kosovo, as announced by Serbian President Boris Tadić. 3rd. Serbia did not deserve to be granted EU candidate status – says German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 6th. The implementation of the agreement on integrated border management in northern Kosovo begins. 9th. Serbia not granted EU candidate status because Germany and Austria opposed to it. 10th. Deputy PM Božidar Đelić resigns following Serbia’s failing to obtain EU candidate status. 12th. A Russian humanitarian convoy, carrying donations to Serbs in northern Kosovo, stopped at Brnjak and Jarinje crossings. SOCIETY 2nd. It is not possible for Serbs in Kosovo to be granted Russian citizenship since the relevant laws do not allow that option – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said. 3rd. Corruption in Serbia higher than last year. In Transparency International’s report, Serbia drops from 78th to 83rd place.

5th. New Labour Legislation in Serbia results in the loss of 270,000 jobs and closure of 7,300 small enterprises. 12th. The burner holding The Enternal Flame in Šumarice memorial park near Kragujevac, stolen. ECONOMY 3rd. Fiat branch in Kragujevac starts negotiations with the Port of Bar on overseas transport of cars. 15 new Fiat models called El Zero made in Kragujevac. 3rd. Tax Administration discovers 551 tax embezzlement cases involving managers, doctors, professors, celebrities and civil servants. 8th. State decides to buy out OTE’s share in Telekom Serbia and thus eliminate foreign ownership of the company. 11th. Bankers, businessmen and top Serbian officials reach an agreement on measures that the state should undertake in order to facilitate economic development. 15th. The Serbian Government adopted the Draft Law on Budget for 2012, which was passed to Parliament for approval. The proposed budget deficit for 2012 is 140 billion dinars. CULTURE 1st. Theatre Director Kokan Mladenović stages a play called ‘Good bye, SFRJ’. 7th. Book written by famous actor Žarko Laušević – ‘A year passes by, but day is forever’ – sold out. 10th. Talented young trumpeter Marko Marković and his orchestra to perform at the Sava Centre. 14th. Prijepolje Museum a close contender for the European Museum of the Year Award. The results to be published in May 2012. SPORT 3rd. The former director and player at FC Red Star Dragan Džajić contemplates returning to the club. 1st. ‘Nezavisne Novine’ daily from Banja Luka chose Novak Đoković as ‘Personality of the Year’. ■

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 17

Crisis

global diary

Women Need More Driving Classes

At this time - we’re in a dramatic crisis - euro bonds are precisely the wrong answer. They lead us into a debt union, not a stability union. Each country has to take its own steps to reduce its debt, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor.

Crisis Sparks Immigrant Exodus

A Spanish driving school in Zaragoza has been forced to withdraw all-in tariffs that discriminated on grounds of sex

Brazilian and Angolan immigrants are returning to their home countries because of the ongoing financial crisis in Portugal

Mobile Device of the Future The 18 schools in Zaragoza offered courses at €665 for men and €850 for women, justifying the difference with the claim that women need more classes; this had gone unnoticed from June until now. The assumption is illegal under equality law according to the acting Secretary of State for Equality, who said it was sexist, discriminatory and illegal. However, the President of the Zaragoza association of driving schools told El País that the difference in price was because women generally needed 50% more classes to pass their test, and noted that the price was only 30% more expensive. “It was statistics, not discrimination,” he said. Spain’s traffic authority, DGT, prefers not to enter into the matter, but notes that they do not usually separate their traffic statistics between the sexes. However, they do note that 79% of traffic fines go to men, whilst men only hold 60% of the total number of driving licences in Spain. Women have fewer accidents and fines at the wheel. Of course, insurance companies (not just in Spain) have known that for some time, and they are not accused of being sexist in their pricing structures. 18 |

89 January 2012

Samsung has released a new video demonstrating the company’s vision of the future for mobile gadgets It is virtually impossible to understand whether the device is a smartphone or a tablet computer. The South Korean company apparently believes that the future of mobile devices is a hybrid of both a phone and the slate computer. Samsung’s concept product looks transparent, flexible and absolutely flat. The device comes complete with voice recognition technology, automatic translation, 3D images and an augmented reality function. For video calling, one can bend the device so that the two callers can see each other. Smartphones such as this can become real, but only in the distant future. Firstly, engineers would have to find numerous technological solutions to make flexible and transparent processors, memory units, batteries and other electronic components. However, despite the challenges, the flexible and transparent tablets and smartphones may make their debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January.

Boom of Evangelical Churches According to a recent study conducted as part of the Swiss National Research Programme, 690,000 people attend religious ceremonies each week. 38% attend Catholic churches, 29% attend Evangelical churches, 14% attend Protestant churches and 11% attend Muslim services Researchers highlighted the fact that Evangelical religious services attracted twice as many people each weekend than Protestant churches. Just 2% of Swiss people are members of an Evangelical church.

www.cordmagazine.com

Leaders of Evangelical organisations indicated that their services attract more worshippers than members, with a participation rate of 111%. The participation rate for Catholics is 4%, while it is 3% for Protestants. There are pronounced differences between Evangelical churches. The so-called “charismatic” organisations are experiencing the strongest growth, whilst organisations that are more conservative are in decline and traditional Evangelical churches are stable.

The rate of unemployment in Brazil and Angola is lower than in Portugal, so it is natural for people to want to return home. It is obvious that Brazil, especially, and Angola are both undergoing great economic development with low unemployment rates, and seeking qualified people looking to work there. On the other hand, Portugal is in an immense recession, with enormous problems, particularly in the job market. Between January and October 2011, 1,790 people signed up for the Voluntary Return Programme.

Most Expensive Number Plate

Bradford entrepreneur Afzal Khan smashed Mike McCoombs previous record earlier this year by buying “F1” for a huge £440,000 (€514,254), making it the most expensive number plate to ever be sold in Britain. The plate is attached to Mr Khan’s Mercedes SLR McLaren, and he says “I think it’s a good price to pay because it’s probably worth 10 times that.”

Milk In 2010, 376 kilos of milk were consumed for every person living in Switzerland. The average person drinks 200ml of milk and eats 60g of cheese per day, plus two portions of yoghurt per week.

Eu Backs Ankara’s Eu Accession Bid

Shopping & Football Visas

Eleven EU foreign ministers praised Turkey and supported its EU application process

Consulate General of Poland in Lviv (western Ukraine) now issues Schengen visas for shopping tours in Poland

German FM Guido Westerwelle (C) speaks with his Dutch, Luxembourg, Italian and British counterparts Dec 1st, prior to a Foreign Affairs Council at EU headquarters

The article, signed by foreign ministers of Lithuania, Sweden, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and the UK said, “Turkey is an important partner as a new economic powerhouse for the single market and a growing regional power that could contribute to our shared foreign policy effort. We believe strongly in the benefits the Turkish accession process has brought both to the EU and Turkey, and in its continued importance for driving progress towards shared goals such as economic competitiveness, energy security and regional stability.” The article praised Turkey’s efforts in Afghanistan, congratulating Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu as “a key interlocutor.” The 11 foreign ministers wrote that “The ‘Arab Spring’ underlines the strong interests the EU and Turkey have in working together to ensure the region changes for the better,” adding that they welcomed Turkey’s increasing participation in EU foreign policy discussions. The article also called on Turkey to open its ports to Greek and “Cyprus as it has committed to do.”

The first ‘shopping visa’ will be issued for a period of seven days, the second for up to a year. This visa, costing 35 euros, is available exclusively to the residents of regions in the west part of the country. In addition, to obtain such a visa, it is not necessary to submit income certificates, officially certified invitations from legal entities or natural persons, or to confirm a hotel reservation.

According to the new rules, to get a second ‘shopping visa’, the petitioner must provide a registered

sale receipt confirming that during their first visit to Poland, they actually bought something. The amount of goods purchased is not limited. In preparations for EURO 2012, there will be intensive modernization of the existing border crossings to increase their capacity. For 11 months in 2011, the Consulate General of Poland issued more than 250,000 visas. Around half of them are Schengen visas, half - national.

6,000 New Year Events In Russia’s Ulyanovsk region, there were more than six thousand New Year events The Ministry of Arts and Cultural Policy of the Ulyanovsk region organized more than six thousand New Year activities, according to Baku Today. The campaign involved all the institutions of culture in the region. The New Year campaigns started on the 23rd of December at Ulyanovsk’s drama theatre. Together with all other Russian

Solar bikini

Ulyanovsk’s regional museum of fine arts is one of the oldest museums of the Volga region - the collection was founded in 1895

cinemas, LUMIERE cinema showed the new animated film “Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf” in every municipality of the Ulyanovsk oblast during the Christmas holidays. The film is “A winter fairy tale journey.” From the 24th December and running to 9th January, Ulyanovsk Museum organized an educational-gaming program called “Christmas Journey”, involving a tour of Gospel subjects in paintings and icons from their collection, a master-class on manufacturing new year toys, another tour about the traditions of Christmas, and Evangelical subjects and images represented in the works of master painters from Russia and Western Europe.

Foreigners nail Norway Jobs Migrant workers are set to be a majority in Oslo’s job market in 2012, statistics say

The Solar Bikini, designed by Andrew Schneider of Brooklyn, uses the sun to charge iPods, iPhones, and any other gadgets with a USB connector, reports the New York Post. The suit uses conductive thread and thin photo-voltaic panels, creating a sort of chain-mail fabric that gives the bikini a medieval armour-meets-21st century look.

The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) predict that construction will be the industry with the highest percentage of growth. Many of those employed are likely to be from foreign shores, and officials forecast two out of three jobs will go to foreign workers in 2012. Oslo Municipality Director for NAV, Tom Daniel E. Sunde, said to Aftenposten, “The good news is that they don’t deprive Norwegians of jobs. In fact, the opposite is true. We would not be experiencing the current level of growth without foreigners.”

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 19

interview aleksandar VlahoVić, PreSiDent of the economicS inStitute

A Highly Dependent ECONOMY “I don’t think that the government has fundamentally important instruments to help companies and influence business activity, since we can no longer obtain loans while other financial sources are uncertain“

he former minister, now a member of parliament, president of the Economics Institute, a businessman, and a person with strong business contacts outside Serbia is rather vocal about his concern with what awaits the Serbian economy next year. When asked to grade the current economic situation in the country from 1 to 10, Vlahović says that it is below 5, adding that, several months ago, it was definitely a strong 6. He underlines that the situation has been exacerbated for several reasons. - The second tide of the crisis will leave behind multiple consequences. It has already gripped our key EU export markets and we are really going to feel it. In addition, capital influx will be substanstimulated through subsidized interest rates and that helped with tially reduced and we are a highly dependent economy whether maintaining some kind of credit activity to benefit domestic busitalking about Greenfield investments or cross-border loans. The nesses. Now, we have a problem. The question is whether the govbiggest foreign capital influx this year was Belgian Delhaize’s inernment has any fundamentally important instruments to support vestment through the acquisition of Delta Maxi for €930m, which economic activity in a similar fashion. I don’t think it has if we condid affect the stability of the sider that providing investment Selling Maxi supermarket chain, that used to incentives, as it has been doing dinar exchange rate quite a lot. On top of that, many com- operate within Delta Holding, and the arrival for the past two years, is now panies are slowly carrying out impossible. We cannot borrow of Belgium-based Delhaize did affect the loan discharge, with the banks stability of the dinar / euro exchange rate any longer since public debt expected to do the same soon. has almost reached the limit of For now, we are talking about a term loan discharge as stipulated 45% of GDP and there is no other way to borrow more, other than in relevant contracts, but many companies still have liquidity probin changing that limit. In the long run, further borrowing would not lems. This is the effect of the crisis, which is also visible in unpaid be good since this 45% limit has not been set arbitrarily, but has loans that currently stand at 20% and are constantly growing. The been adjusted to the structure of the Serbian economy. crisis is spilling over from the real sector into banks. ■ So, where can we find the money that our economy needs? ■ Did the government prepare its response to the second wave - Apart from re-arranging budget spending to benefit the agricultural budget, I see no other options. The agricultural budget needs of crisis? to be significantly higher next year since agriculture, together - Two years ago, the government did have a response, it encourwith energy, is the driving force of our economy’s growth. Agriaged spending. During that period, the level of foreign debt went business can double its contribution to the GDP growth in a very up and that money was used in the implementation of large-scale short amount of time. infrastructural work. On the other hand, commercial banks were 20 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

AGRiCULTURE

The agricultural budget needs to be signiﬁcantly higher next year since agriculture, together with energy, is the driving force of our economy’s growth.

ENERGY

Energy potential cannot be fully utilized without restructuring Electric Power Industry (EPS) and using various publicprivate partnership formats.

■ If exports to crisis-engulfed markets drops, can we at least re-direct food exports to Russia?

BANkS

Banks, which based their activities solely on the capital received from their mother banks, are certainly in a more difﬁcult situation.

cluding the private sector is possible, but that doesn’t necessarily need to happen through privatization and particularly not through privatizing the entire system, but rather parts of that system. This is still an untapped potential that can certainly exert a positive influence on the Serbian economy.

- Our entire food production can be absorbed by Moscow alone, not to mention the rest of Russia. However, there is no joint approach here. We miss the former business associations that were specialized and made it possible for companies to have joint access ■ The banking sector has managed to stay on its feet following to foreign markets. I believe that the government is able to allocate financial stimuli for that the first impact of the criNext year, the banks will have to face the ‘moment sis. What do you expect and the Economics Instiof truth’ and realize that mortgages and other tute can certainly provide to happen now, with the expert help. second crisis wave? loan collaterals cannot be marketed, while the Before the crisis, a very number of uncollectible loans keeps on growing ■ You say that energy strong banking sector was our advantage. However, I would refrain from ascertaining its and transportation are Serbia’s two other advantages. How can current strength regardless of its twice higher capital adequacy we better utilize them? compared to the EU, and its high foreign currency reserves. On the - I am not sure that we can fully utilize the energy potential withother hand, the number and amount of loans that are not regularly out reforming the key public enterprises in this sector. I am mainly paid have been growing month-on-month. This can change the referring to the restructuring of Electric Power Industry of Serbia image of our banking sector’s strength rather rapidly. Many large (EPS) and using various public-private partnership formats. So, in-

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 21

companies are dealing with liquidity issues and have been investing huge efforts into fulfilling and maintaining their financial obligations. On the other hand, the public sector needs to be reformed and this entails fiscal adjustment and savings, primarily through reforming the pension system (which has been untouchable for the last 10 years), health system, education, advancing corporate management in public enterprises and their partial privatization. ■ Can banks be in jeopardy because of uncollectible loans? - The loan collaterals, which are mostly in the form of real estate, are not that certain in today’s day and age. Real estate prices have dropped. Next year will be the year when the banking sector will have to “face the truth”, i.e. it is vital for banks to carry out financial consolidation of all companies that have a good future and to support these companies. Banks need to understand that the collaterals they have are no longer as certain as they were up to 2008. The fact remains that there is no way to market such collaterals. It is much better to help the debtor to function normally with the amended loan maturity structure and possible debt consolidation or a write off, providing that the debtor has a good business perspective. Until now, banks were pretty unyielding and failed to understand the situation that these companies were in. ■ Is it possible for banks in Serbia to run out of money for loans?

■ Can NBS do something in order to help both the banks and the real sector?

- To suggest applying measures that would jeopardize the country’s monetary system is not my place, but I do know that there are subtle ways in monetary policy to induce economic activity. Everybody keeps mentioning reducing the required reserves as this is where the money, that could be useful to the economy, is trapped. In ad89 January 2012

■ Some countries have turned to wealthy businesspeople for

their help. Do we have such people and what can we expect from them?

- If we are talking about very wealthy businessmen, we usually ascertain their wealth through their property since that is how you draw a conclusion on how wealthy they really are. But, when you view it from the standpoint of their total debt, then you get the real picture of the value of their capital which is rather small, if not non-existent. ■ Are we going to see an increase in the

unemployment rate?

- Let me remind you that everybody talked about lost jobs during the first impact of the crisis, mentioning a figure of 400,000. This is not true. The number was much lower. All of these jobs were lost in the private and not state sector. It was quite paradoxical to see that civil servants held the biggest strikes. This speaks volumes about the people employed by the “state” and their privileged status compared to their counterparts in the private sector.

Since the very beginning, the crisis hit the private sector hardest, with tens of thousands of jobs lost. However, the biggest and most frequent strikes were in the state-funded sector

- The new crisis cannot be resolved by only applying the usual set of measures. Banks, which based their activities solely on capital received from their mother banks, are certainly in a more difficult situation. Now, this money is no longer available since the barriers to exporting capital have been put in place. Many Greek and now Austrian banks have already done this, and we expect Italy to make a similar decision. This is the ‘moment of truth’ that all of our banks will have to face. My stance is that businesses need to warn the bank in advance that they will have trouble in meeting their financial obligations, as well as to sell their non-core assets ASAP. Only then can they ask the bank for an extension of the grace period, a possible conversion of short-term into long-term loans and to write off a part of their debt. Banks will have to resort to that in the following period.

22 |

dition, there needs to be strong and specialized monitoring over daily market activities and the way in which this disengaged money should be spent. That money needs to be spent on the economy and production of new goods and new values. NBS can do that.

www.cordmagazine.com

■ What should companies do in order to weather the crisis?

- It happens quite often that companies wait for the problem to come and only then start doing something about it. Some think that this happens due to proprietor’s ignorance of the difficult situation, but I think that we are talking about bad management, which hasn’t progressed much since the time when these companies were much smaller and not able to realistically size up the problem. They told themselves that the problem would be solved this way or the other. This ‘other way’ does not exist; there is no spell that can simply magic away their problems.

■ Who has it easier – domestic or foreign investors? - That is a very difficult question to answer. In both cases, a highly risky business environment poses a danger to their functioning. The state needs to eliminate those risks and clean up the situation. No foreign investors have left Serbia. However, if we bear in mind that everybody is operating under the same conditions and that domestic companies are endangered, then it is highly likely that foreign companies are in the same position. Serbia is an attractive investment location since it has a strong growth potential and that is what keeps the investors here. They definitely have better management and information that is more reliable. ■

focus

The Law on Public Procurement The existing Law on Public Procurement has been notorious for years as one of the main sources of corruption in Serbia. Following serious proposals, changes to the law in order to increase its transparency, reduce administration and reform the institutions that participate in public procurement are now underway. The major public complaint regarding the proposed changes is that government procurement, when it comes to the public sector, should be centralized.. The proposed changes are now awaiting government approval. Below we have the views and opinions of experts and participants in tenders in Serbia... The question we asked our participants was the following:

What is the most important issue that should be addressed in the new Law on Public Procurement and what are your biggest objections to the previous law?

Misuse Should be Punished

and control system in public procurements, and it was justified. In addition, there is misuse of the right to appeal to the Commission for the Protection of Bidders Rights, which is conducive to corruption, whilst the period for dealing with these appeals is inappropriately long. Small and medium enterprisVidosava Džagić, es are particularly struggling in these procedures and it is viVice President of the Serbian Chamber tal for them to start bidding at public procurements under the of Commerce same conditions. here were many objections These would be the key reasons why, in April 2011, the made to the way in which the Serbian Chamber of Commerce’s Managing Board and Assembly Law on Public Procurement launched an initiative for the Law on Public Procurements to was implemented, these objections mainly came from bidbe changed. The amended law needs to rectify everything ders, and occasionally from ordering parties. One of the reathat both bidders and ordering parties have been objecting. sons why the complaints kept on coming was due to how the We want a simpler procedure for proving that a bidder meets law was applied in practice. Another reason was because misthe procurement’s terms, have a centralized execution of pubuse was rampant. Most of the complaints related to misuse lic procurements and framework agreements and more ‘green’ in preparations for public propublic procurements. Ordering curements (over 80% of the Everybody has been complaining about parties should have access to inobjections refer to the very beformation on bidders who failed the existing law, with most objections ginning of the public procureto realize public procurements as pertaining to the initial stages of the ment procedure). Apart from originally contracted. Electronic public procurement procedure and that, the extensive documenads and online public procuremisuse of the right to appeal to the tation that defines the procurements should be instigated. The ment terms, other expensive Commission for Protection of Bidders State Audit Institution should and lengthy procedures, formal Rights, which is conducive to corruption control the procedure and measreasons behind the rejection of ures should be devised to reduce quality bids and lack of transparency, particularly in the case corruption in planning public procurements. of small public procurements, need mentioning. Small and The Serbian Chamber of Commerce’s aim was to have a medium enterprises are especially at risk because the propublic dialogue whereby interested parties would hear concedure that defines the relation between the winning bidder structive proposals and the first such public debate, held at and their subcontractors, whose products and services are an the Chamber’s promises, proved to be just that. Hence, we integral part of the bid, is not adequate. It must also be said would like to suggest that, following the submission of the fithat the preferential status of domestic bidders and so-called nal draft of the law, business owners should have final consulnegative references were not taken into consideration and tations in the Chamber. In addition to all of this, the state needs that ordering parties were not penalized because of that. to create a relevant climate, and raise awareness responsibility Often, criticism was directed at the entire supervision of all participants in public procurement procedures.

24 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

Law Prevents Corruption Goran Radosavljević, State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance

t is very clear that not everything is as it should be in ‘trading with the state’. Hence, the Law on Public Procurement has been changed and amended. We should mention four key things. The first and most important is increasing transparency in public procurement procedures since there are quite a few of them that are not being carried out at all. These are considered small public procurements worth up to 3 million dinars each, which make up 12% to 16% of all public procurements executed annually. The total value of public procurements in the country is around 3 billion euros, with 300 to 400 million euros allocated without a relevant public procurement procedure. There are indications that this is an area where corruption is most widespread. In the future, all small procurements will have to be posted on the Public Procurements Portal. Another 600 million euros is allocated through public procurements via direct bargaining without tenders being launched. All in all, there are a billion euros worth of public procurements that are not published anywhere. This is one third of the value of all public procurements carried out in Serbia in one year. From now on, these procurements will have to be executed via tenders that will be published on the Public Procurements Portal.

Currently, the documentation is very extensive so, instead of concentrating on the bidding price, the Committee has to pay close attention to whether certain initials or signatures are missing. In the future, the bid will be accompanied by a bidder’s statement in which they confirm that they have met all conditions required to participate in a tender. If it turns out that they did not meet all of the conditions, they are at risk of being blacklisted which means that the bidder will be banned from participating in public procurement tenders in the following year or two.

More Details Required Nevenka Sindjic, Director, Alpine Serbia

think that the Law on Public Procurements should define certain issues in more detail, which will contribute to a better application of the law and thus less corruption. The issues involved are the following: The status of a registered branch office in Serbia, set up by a non-resident foreign company, should be explained further since the Law on Public Procurements (as well as several other

The way that public procurement procedures are conducted in Serbia is thought to be a “very good corruption vehicle” The second change pertains to institutional reform. The Public Procurement Directorate will become a part of the Ministry of Finance and have more power. Also, the Committee for Protection of Bidders Rights will be reformed. The procurement process will be annulled in the case of a bidder lodging a complaint to the Committee. The procedure will be stopped and, if it happens that a contract is signed, it will be declared null and void. Once the Committee resolves the complaint, the procedure will return to the stage before the complaint. On its website and on the Public Procurements Portal, the Committee will post information on handling individual complaint procedures. The third novelty is about centralizing public procurements. We are going to have a central body for public procurements that will carry out large public procurements. It will sign framework agreements with bidders, while purchasers will sign individual contracts. The fourth amendment pertains to bidding documents. cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 25

focus relevant laws) regulates only ‘legal entities’ which means that es” (licences that require a line ministry to issue a building the very status of the branch office is questioned bearing in permit), need not submit proof that these licences are still mind that it is not considered a legal entity. Also, there is the valid while, in the case of personal licences of engaged engiissue of a branch using references of its mother company in neers, such proof should be submitted. The date of the issue public procurement procedures. of proof or confirmation is very confusing, especially if the liThe status of JVA (Joint Venture Association) or a concence is valid for a year, while tender conditions stipulate that sortium should also be better regulated particularly in the licence should not be valid for more than six months. We terms of preferential, when one of the members of JVA think that such a prerequisite for engineer licences should not is a CEFTA country. For each tender, an identical docbe required. ument should be submitted which pertains to compliIn certain procedures, the deadline for submission of bids ance with Article 44 of the Law. Our suggestion is for conof 25 to 30 days is too short, especially if non-residents are struction companies to be dividparticipating in a tender. We propose to clarify the ed into groups (large, medium The proof of ownership over fixed status of the branches of large and small companies), that are isassets (in cases of large numbers of sued with either licence A (large companies operating in Serbia, individual pieces of machinery) is escompany), B (medium size compabecause they are not legal entities pecially problematic since certain ny) or C (small company). This libidders underwent status changes so cence would be issued by the existing specialized governthe purchase contracts and invoices for the machinery were ment agencies and it would serve as means for construcissued to the name of a company that has merged with the tion companies to prove their compliance in terms of refbidder, and not in bidder’s name. erences, resources and financial situation. One of the tenThe issue of verification of documents, submitted by der conditions should be in having one of those three lia foreign bidder, should be further clarified, especially cences, which would mean that companies would not have from the perspective of the implementation of the Hague to send the same documents for each tender repeatedly, Convention on Legalization of Foreign Public Documents which amounts to huge piles of paper. and requirements apropos verification of documents issued Construction companies, that have so-called “major licencby foreign bodies.

Practice to Confirm Law

bidders, also reducing the costs relating to their participation in public procurements. However, the proposed limited term of five days for delivery of original proofs by the bidder with the most advantageous bid could cause practical problems and might present a roadblock for foreign entities parMarjan Poljak, ticipating in the procurement; hence, we believe this term Lawyer, Karanović & Nikolić Law Office should be extended. The introduction of the Central Public Procurement Office he question of possible has been criticized a lot during the public debate. We can changes in public procureagree that this change will have a significant impact to the exment procedures has been isting scheme of public procurements. However, we believe present for quite a long time and it seems that certain changes that the actual value of the new body will be shown in pracwill be finally adopted by the end of 2011 or in early 2012. tice and we find it difficult to claim at this point that this new The proposed amendments contain different solutions solution is wrong per se. that, if adopted, would allegedly lead to more transparent To conclude, I am sure that the actual value of the proprocedures with higher efficiency. Also, one of the important posed changes could be determined once it becomes applicomponents includes harmocable in practice. We have to be The efficient and transparent use of the aware also that sole legislation nization of the existing rules new solutions and elimination of any with EU public procurement is not enough to make any imlegislation. corruptive behaviour in the future needs provements, especially if it is One of the most practithe active contribution of all participants not followed by the approprical amendments includes a ate implementation of the rules simplified procedure in which the bidder will provide only in practice. The efficient and transparent use of the new soa statement on meeting all the required conditions for aplutions and elimination of any corruptive behaviour in the fuplying to public procurement, while the exact proofs would ture needs the active contribution of all participants in probe submitted only by the bidder with the most advantacurement procedures and we are pretty sure that this was not geous bid. This change will have a significant impact on the always the case.

26 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

interview sloBodan PetroVić, Director General of DanuBe fooDS GrouP, SalforD inVeStment funD in

Leaving Serbian MARKET

SerBia anD imleK Dairy

Salford Investment Fund did not abandon the idea of selling four of its companies in Serbia which operate under Danube Foods Group. Negotiations with the globally renowned companies are continuing and the Fund is waiting for the right moment to sell, which, for now, is postponed due to the economic downturn in Europe

“O

buys, make it marketable and ultimately sell it. However, we have verall, we are satisfied with the results connot set a deadline by which we need to sell these companies. We sidering the environment that we have been are always waiting for the right moment i.e. when the company working in. We can always do better and are is at its highest value and can bring the biggest profit. Generally well aware of that. We think that our results speaking, Danube Foods Group plans to sell all the companies are satisfactory. On the other hand, we are that it owns in Serbia and we are maintaining contacts and still also aware of the fact that there is a huge decline in natural talking to prospective buyers. Because of the situation in Europe, retail turnover in Serbia, which, some people say, ranges from Serbia included, such transactions are rather slow. Simply put, 16% to 17%,” said Slobodan Petrović to CorD. “What is even now is not the time to sell, even in more developed countries. Pomore worrying is that, according to some data, the decline in tential buyers are waiting to see how the crisis in Europe is going turnover from the sales of bread is in double digits. Hence, it to unfold, but as I said, we are should not come as a surThe state needs to take care of the business still talking to our prospective prise that milk consumption environment that we operate in. We want buyers. We are in no hurry. is lower this year. It is very difficult to do business under the state to implement special measures to We’ll just wait and see how such conditions since turnoeliminate the ‘grey economy’ ASAP, as well everything develops. ver has declined but overas the unfair competition that stems from it ■ Today, both Imlek and Subheads have stayed the same, and some have even grown. All of this affects the profitability otica Dairy are good and profitable companies. Are potential of our operations, but, regardless of that, Danube Foods Group buyers interested in continuing to develop these and other is satisfied with the achieved results,” said Petrović. companies in a way that Danube Foods has been doing or could these potential buyers terminate production all together?

■ The media have reported that your companies, including Imlek and Subotica Dairy, will be sold. Do you still want to sell them?

- Yes, we do. We are a part of Salford Investment Fund, and the aim of any such fund is to advance the operations of a company that it 28 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

- Luckily, we pay a great deal of attention to potential buyers about any possible sales and the companies we have been talking to are strategic partners, i.e. renowned companies in this production field. They will certainly continue to develop the dairies and their milk production and processing. I cannot

MONOPOLY

The claim, made by the Commission for Protection of Competition, is not true and we have drafted several studies to show that our share is around 30%.

2012

We can already see that 2012 will be more difﬁcult than this year since the conditions for doing business are becoming increasingly difﬁcult.

CONDiTiONS

We only want to have a normal business environment, which means that the state needs to help agriculture and our raw milk producers.

business conditions are not equal for everybody since we are paying everything we need to pay to the state, and I won’t even mention other financial obligations. So, if a company has reduced their overheads by not paying taxes or its workers, then there is plenty of room to reduce prices and become an unfair market competitor. The state has failed to resolve this prob■ Your companies, primarily dairies, have not only become lem and we have been criticized by our consumers for having profitable but have grown in terms of the number of emhigher prices than some ployees and product The court procedure and our appeal against other dairies. ranges. Could we say that mention any names, but I can say that these are companies that are high up on the global stock exchanges and have revenues in the region of at least 10 billion euros per annum - they are the giants of the dairy industry.

they are the backbone of economic development in the areas where they operate?

the decision made by the Commission for Protection of Competition, which branded us monopolists, are going as they should and we have proof that our market share is around 30%

- Absolutely. Imlek, with its production facilities in the region, is considered as having substantial capacity, particularly since 2008. Our business is stable and we are the backbone of the economies of regional countries in which we operate. We are well aware of that and are doing everything to do business in a responsible manner. Our aim, just like the aim of any other good market orientated company, which our dairies definitely are, is in having a good profit margin. However, we not only operate in an isolated country, but also on a continent that is rife with troubles. We are mindful of the profit and everybody around us. ■ Following your arrival to the Serbian dairy industry, a lot

■ The Commission for the Protection of Competition has heavily penalized Danube Foods Group because of its dominant market share in the dairy segment. What stage is that procedure at now? - The procedure is pending and we are currently appealing to relevant courts against the Commission and Administrative Court ruling. We do understand that this is the beginning of the

professional moving & transport service

has changed in production technology and market offer. Is this going to continue?

- We, as in Danube Food Group, are engaged in a very important economic branch, i.e. we produce basic food items like milk (two dairies), water (Knjaz Miloš water factory in Aranđelovac) and confectionary (Bambi Banat from Požarevac). I would like to single out milk production. It is quite normal for the state to take care of this branch and to be well informed of what is happening with it. We only want to have a normal business environment, which means that the state needs to help agriculture and our raw milk producers. At the moment, our collaboration with the state authorities is good, since by developing cattle breeding and an entire related sector, the state actually helps the citizens. Because of such care and the state’s attitude, we have a certain stability in market supply. Apart from exerting a positive influence, there are also quite a few other areas where the state should implement certain measures, especially when it comes to this branch – milk production – where we have to fight off unfair competition in the shape of the grey economy. There are around 200 dairies in Serbia, and many of them are small. The majority operate in a so-called grey zone and this is a hindrance to us. We know for a fact that these dairies do not pay taxes and contributions to the state which means that

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 29

implementation of the relevant law and that we were victims of beginner’s mistakes and in finding the right way in regulating monopolies and market misuse.

■ You are branded as a monopolist in milk production and accused of having over 47% share in raw milk buyout. What does your data show?

- That claim, made by the Commission for Protection of Competition, is not true and we have drafted several studies to show that our share is around 30%. The studies drafted by the European Union show the same. This is far from the 40% market share the Commission claims. ■ What are your plans for next year? - We can already see that 2012 will be more difficult than this year since the conditions for doing business are becoming increasingly difficult. Banks are struggling and are trying to increase their liquidity, which means that they are keeping a certain portion of funds to themselves and not directing them to businesses. This leads to illiquidity and we really feel the consequences, since retailers are late in paying invoices, small corner shops are disappearing, purchasing power has substantially declined, unemployment has gone up and we expect the sales of dairy products to fall even further. Therefore, we are gearing up for a tough year ahead.

regional countries and Europe too. It is not a huge jump, but it is being felt in Serbia. The price of raw materials has been constantly rising since summer. If that continues, then we will be forced to change our prices. Apart from said higher prices, the cost of electricity, gas and fuel have also gone up and that is where we feel the pressure. For now, we have no plans to hike up our prices and will stick to that as long as we can. This primarily pertains to milk, although we are going to try to keep everything at the present level.

■ How would you summarise the business conditions and environment that the state has created? Are they conducive to the development of business in Serbia and should the state implement other measures to help companies?

- The environment in which our companies operate is getting more difficult by the day. Since 2000, the inflation rate has been inversely proportional to the fluctuations in the dinar/euro exchange rate. This could be interpreted as our economy being stronger than that of Europe or America since our national currency appreciated against both the euro and dollar. This is fundamentally wrong and creates huge pressure on our economy. We have big competition from abroad as their goods are cheaper due to the said euro exchange rate. There is another issue that should be handled urgently. We have signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union and started to unilaterally implement it a long time ■ We all know that bread and milk are things that most people If the dinar exchange rate is not realistic and if ago. Now, we are at a stage where, as of next year, the cannot live without and domestic production and the overall economy protective measures will be are purchased on a daily is not protected, GDP will fall and the market reduced to a minimum. As basis. Do you have plans in terms of rearranging will be swamped with cheap imported goods we now know for sure that we are not going to become your production? which will relegate our products an EU member in the next - We have enough products five years, I would like to suggest that we start renegotiating in stock which means that there will be no shortage of milk with the EU and re-impose certain protective measures on top or dairy products. There is no need to shift one product to of creating a new schedule of reducing these measures over the the other and change production since our needs are met. period of the next five to nine years. We did not use the StabiWe have two dairies whose products are sold all over Serbia. lization Association to our advantage, i.e. we did not withdraw There are consumers that simply love certain products and any financial means from European funds in order to help our are refusing to buy them from any other companies. This is economy grow during that period. We also failed to obtain EU a matter of taste and habit, and we respect that. We support candidate status, which means that, again, we are not going to them and are offering consumers an opportunity to choose us get the money allocated to candidate states. Thus, we are in or another company. a very difficult situation and if the dinar exchange rate is not realistic, and if we fail to reach an agreement with the EU about ■ Are prices going to stay the same next year or do you have additional protection, our market will be swamped in cheap other price plans? imported goods, GDP will fall and poverty will rise. Hence, we - At present, we are trying not to raise our prices despite the are going to find ourselves in a situation where we won’t be price of raw materials constantly growing, and that is not able to support the state. ■ only the case in Serbia. The price of raw milk is growing in 30 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 31

interview Miodrag kostić, chairman of aiK BanK’S manaGinG BoarD

Good Banks Grow in Good Economy Banks and companies are operating in the same economic system and it is vital to find a functioning format that enables both of them to fulfil their own interests ■ By Slavka koVač

the state should create a relevant legal framework and harmonize the existing regulation with European and world standards, as well as let the market and economy rules do their part.” Said Mr. Kostić during this interview for CorD.

“T

here are no good banks without a good economy, and high export is needed if we want to have a strong and stable economy. In order to increase exports and competitiveness on the demanding international market, it is necessary for the state to lower interest rates, start granting export loans again and provide loan subsidies in collabora-

32 |

89 January 2012

tion with banks,” says Miodrag Kostić, Chairman of AIK Bank’s Managing Board. “Of course, banks are business systems like any other, and cannot grant favourable loans and subsidies if it goes against their interests. I think that the ideal solution would be if subsidies and favourable loans were granted in accordance with performance and estimated capacity of a business that can guarantee the return of these funds. Therefore,

www.cordmagazine.com

■ There are frequent appeals for the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) to reduce mandatory reserves and redirect that money to corporate loans. Is this detrimental to the banking system and what is AIK Bank’s stance on this matter? - What is not very clear in NBS’ activities is this constant urgency to fight inflation while its activities on stabilizing the dinar exchange rate are only of a declarative nature. Since the beginning of this year, the required reserves in dinars went up by around 5.5 billion dinars with the dinar portion of foreign currency reserves constantly growing.

ThE NBS

MONEY

NBS’ activities to ﬁght inﬂation and its activities on stabilizing the dinar exchange rate are only of a declarative nature.

The fact that demand will outweigh supply on the Serbian ﬁnancial market tells us that AIK Bank is probably not going to have many problems in placing its money.

MARkET

Due to the problems in EU countries, there are many threats looming over the domestic ﬁnancial market.

case of retail loans than corporate ones, During the same period, 229.4 million i.e. the ratio is 8.8% to 21.8%. euros has been withdrawn from the AIK Bank has always maintained the required foreign currency reserves. All position that it is important to underof the aforementioned, in combination stand that we are not financing the client with the appealing price of state bonds but their business endeavours and this and NBS treasury bonds, gives an explais our guideline in granting corporate nation as to why we have such a dinar/ loans. This means that business clients, euro exchange rate. We don’t underthat have stable businesses, and creditstand what is meant by the statement worthy retail clients are moving in the that the central bank will intervene if it same direction, which is the only rationassesses that the dinar exchange rate is al business policy that a bank can have about to fluctuate excessively. We should always insist that one segment cannot develop to the detriment of another and you cannot create stable banks without having a stable economy. Required reserves and the dinar exchange rate should be closely related to the real situation on the market. I am not talking about random measures but the simple fact that if you do a good assessment and if loans are approved to those companies and business owners who are capable of launching production with that money, create new jobs and cumulatively advance the economy, we would then have a more We should always insist on the fact stable foundation for the that one segment cannot develop entire system, including to the detriment of another and you the banking sector. ■

cannot create stable banks without having stable economy

NBS claims that banks have enough money, but that the main issue is the terms on which loans are granted. In your opinion, are we talking about a shortage of cash or the lack of guarantees that businesses can give in repaying loans?

- I think that we are talking about the latter part of your question. Banks are more prone to grant retail loans due to a higher dispersion of risk. On the other hand, if the entire economy is struggling, it is only a matter of time before overall illiquidity hits citizens too. The current situation is that the number of default loans is much smaller in the

and I see no reason why any bank would refuse a loan to a good client regardless of what sector they operate in. Concerning AIK Bank, we, traditionally, have been cooperative with business clients, however the share of our retail clients is growing and currently stands at 10%. ■ In the last few years, the state has

subsidized interest rates in order to help businesses obtain cheaper loans. Do you expect the state’s help in banking, which is one of the strongest sectors in Serbia, to continue in 2012?

- I would like to reiterate that we should not view this from the perspective of banks being simply concerned for their own well-being when asking for state help. In this period, and with the current situation in the economy, the state is the most influential business subject. Although, I think that should not be changed, it is unr ealistic to expect radical and unreason-

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 33

able amendments in that field. So, yes, the state should help both banks and businesses with its subsidies and this should continue into 2012. What could pose a problem in this process is the type of subsidy and selection criteria. We would like to underline once more that production and business capacity, business success and the possibility of these good results spilling over into other segments of the economy should be a deciding factor.

■ In previous years and following ‘Savings Week’, it seemed that banks’ were not struggling to allocate their money. What about AIK Bank? - In 2012, cash will be a rare, very sought-after and expensive commodity. The fact that demand will outweigh supply on the Serbian financial market tells us that AIK Bank is probably not going to have many problems in placing its money. This is due to the bank’s high liquidity. However, because of a possible slowdown in credit activity, this could affect its rentability, growth and development. AIK Bank’s business imperative in 2012 is more dynamic operations than in 2011. Only with such a business policy, and with appropriate management of credit risks in line with the current problems in the business sector, will the bank manage to keep its existing clients, win over new ones,

34 |

89 January 2012

achieve the projected profit rate and secure satisfactory capital yield. We are bound by our long-term development strategy. Refraining from credit activity would be ruinous for the bank and the overall banking sector. Due to the problems in EU countries, there are many threats looming over the domestic financial market. These threats cannot be eliminated by refraining from doing the usual business activities. On the contrary, credit

- As I have mentioned before, AIK Bank bases its business operations on the sound choice of its clients and we are trying to gain control over as many factors possible that could affect our operations. You can never fully protect yourself from overall market tendencies, but you can do everything in your power to do so. Having said that, business endeavours by other banks will not have much of an influence on us. What we can say for sure is that any business move that our competition makes will be additional impetus for AIK Bank to increase its credit activity through finding original and innovative solutions in the shape of new products. A possible reduction in credit activity by some banks will create an exceptional chance for us to position ourselves even better, increase the number of our clients and have a healthier credit portfolio. Apart from that, we should bear in mind the high value of AIK Bank’s shares on the Belgrade Stock Exchange and the fact that, in late 2005, our net balance assets stood at 259 million euros. At the end of last year, these assets stood at 1.3 billion euros. In the period from 2005 to 2010, AIK Bank generated cumulative pre-tax profit of 307.8 million euros. So, if we have managed to overcome the obstacles brought on by The fact that demand will outweigh supply the global economic on the Serbian financial market tells us crisis, there is no that AIK Bank is probably not going to need to worry.

have many problems in placing its money activity should grow with the change of credit format. AIK Bank is experienced in this and will modernize its credit activity with new solutions tailored to the current crisis. The new wave of the crisis should be viewed as a wakeup call to the state, economy and banking sector, and should prompt them to improve the quality of the business environment and expedite reforms.

■ Do you think that decisions made by certain foreign banks to reduce or put a stop to the transfer of capital to their Serbian branch offices will affect AIK Bank is some way?

www.cordmagazine.com

■ What economy segments is the bank going to support in 2012 and what is the safest area for the bank to place its capital?

- The safest investments are the areas that have the biggest potential for stable development and which are export orientated. Also, it is very important for the state to recognize a certain segment as strategically important and have an adequate and long-term development plan for it. Speaking from personal experience, I would say that agriculture is that segment. Agriculture is one of the biggest chances for Serbia’s export and development. ■

jan 2012 business leader’s meeting point

Page 40

Page 46

Mihailo Stanišić,

Bratislav Stišović,

Supply Raises Quality

Overcoming the Crisis

Director General of Strauss Adriatic

Director of Energoprojekt Hidroinženjering Company

Page 44

Page 47

Rich McClear,

Point of View,

Media Questions Unanswered

To be Locked in Austerity With Germany - no Way!

former IREX Chief of Party

Great Britain

Interest rates

Business Dialogue

“Our interest rates are similar to those in the region. Companies that are in financial problems may require debts rescheduling, but for those who have too much debt it is difficult to find appropriate credit models.” – Draginja Djurić, President of Intesa Bank.

01 Piraeus Bank

02 Mercedes

Awards for Best Scholars

The most powerful C-Class of all time

Piraeus Bank, in the framework of their socially responsible activities, this year organized awards for the best students of the Belgrade and Nis University scholarship fund “Dositeja”

Following completion of professional practice, the bank selected five winners. Two of this years winners of the Piraeus Bank and the Fund Piraeus Bank award Jovana Andrić and Marija Stošić for Young Talents “Dositeja” at the Ministry of Youth and Sports issued criteria for the award, with the help of suggestions from the student’s mentors. Winners of this year’s awards were Marija Stošić, Milena Stanisavljević, Vladimir Dinić, Jovana Andrić and Ema Ljubenović. Part of the expertise that the winners demonstrated were in how independent, committed and serious they were in performing tasks, in addition to showing great team spirit - all qualities that are highly regarded by the Piraeus Bank Group. “The bank announced a competition for four scholarships, however we decided to award five students as all five fully meet our very high standards. On this occasion I would like to sincerely congratulate all of our scholars, since at the very beginning of their business careers, they have shown a high level of professionalism, work ethic and adaptability, these being the key indicators for the achievement of a successful career.” - Aleksandar Radić, Director of Piraeus Bank Human Resources. At a ceremony on the 10th of January, prizes will be awarded to the winners at the Palace of Serbia.

03 Societe Generale Bank

V8 engine, which accelerates the C 63 AMG Coupé Black Series to a speed of 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds, and takes it on to a top speed of 300 km/h (electronically limited). Exclusive fun at the wheel comes courtesy of the adjustable AMG coil-over sports suspension, AMG high-performance composite braking system, and functional equipment available as standard. The AMG Track package is available as an option to enhance driving dynamics even further, and boasts sports tyres and active rear-axle transmission cooling.

Salary Dropped 2 Percent

EBRD and Societe Generale Bank in Serbia have signed contracts worth 160 million euros aiming to strengthen credit support to the real economy of the country. The package includes an amount of 150 million euros aimed at supporting the growth of Societe Generale Serbia’s strategy in the next three years. The loan, which is structured in three tranches, will be used for financing Serbian companies, individuals, and municipalities. 10 million euros will be used as the credit line for the improvement of competitiveness of small and medium enterprises, as part of the ‘Financial framework to support the private sector of the Western Balkans,’ project.

89 January 2012

Spectacular design, technology transfer from the world of motorsport and driving dynamics at the highest level. The new MercedesBenz C 63 AMG Coupé Black Series embodies the AMG brand claim of “Driving Performance” like no other AMG model. With a maximum output of 380 kW (517 hp) and maximum torque of 620 Newton metres, the new high-performance vehicle is the most powerful C-Class of all time. Hefty torque, tremendous pulling power and an agile response are guaranteed thanks to the AMG 6.3-litre

04 EBRD

Support to Serbian Economy

38 |

AMG 6.3-litre V8 engine with a maximum output of 380 kW (517 hp); Adjustable AMG coil-over sports suspension as standard; Optional AMG Track package with sports tyres; Optional AMG Aerodynamics package; AMG Performance Media as an extra highlight

05 Srbijagas

The latest survey from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia shows that the average salary for October 2011 was approximately 380 euros, which is 2 percent lower than in September last year. According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s recent “Report about Transition,” consumption of staple foods in Serbia was down by 46 percent in the crisis, which was the biggest fall in the survey of 29 countries in transition. Goran Nikolić, an economist from the New Policy Centre, thinks that the ERDB’s survey is unrealistic as it is based on perceptions, which are usually overly pessimistic.

Bajatović in the U.S

Dusan Bajatović, Director General of Srbijagas, who headed Srbijagas’s delegation on a visit to the US, on 13th December in Washington, introduced the potentials of his company to the U.S. Export Import Bank and to the management of one of the largest companies in the energy field, General Electric. The meeting was also attended by Mary Warlick, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia. The Srbijagas delegation also met with representatives of the U.S. Petroleum Institute, the association of U.S. Natural Gas Corporations and visited the companies Ariel and Caterpillar.

www.cordmagazine.com

Good marks

Placements & Postings

“All EU Member States assessed that the deep reforms in Serbia are successfully implemented. We have never had such good marks from the European Commission,” Boris Tadić, Serbian President.

appointments@cma.rs

www.cordmagazine.com/corporate/appointments.html

06 vojvodjanska banka

Visa Olympic Card Vojvodjanska banka is proud to be the sponsor of the Olympic Committee of Serbia and it is with great pleasure that it supports the efforts of our national team at the forthcoming Olympic Games in London 2012 Being the official bank of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, we have decided to create a new product on the market, the Visa Olympic Card. This card could be of interest to all those living a modern life, using the internet as the main source of information and for e-payment, as well as for those people who regularly travel as this card includes discounts for shopping in selected retail outlets in Serbia. This is a considerable advantage for those who prefer using credit cards while shopping as opposed to withdrawing cash. All clients applying for the card in the promotional period will be given the special offer of a decrease in interest rate from 16% to 0%. Zero percent interest rates (0%) will be achieved in August during the Olympic Games. We would like to emphasize that for each individual shop with this credit card, Vojvodjanska banka donates funds to the Olympic Committee of Serbia, without any additional costs for our client, i.e. the credit card holder. The purpose of these funds is to support young athletes of the national team of Serbia who will represent our country in London next year. In addition to all the above-mentioned benefits, clients are also given the freedom to choose between one of four offered card designs. This card is designed in such a manner that the credit card holders have advantages while purchasing goods at all EKO petrol stations in Serbia and discounts in the stores of Calzedonia, Stefanel, Intimissimi and Zekstra, as well as in the restaurants Picollo and Hotel Zira. The above-mentioned offer is valid for the already issued VISA Olympic credit cards and for the new Olympic cards issued during the promotional period – as stated by Djordje Djordjević, the Head of Cards and Consumer Loan Products Department – Retail Products and Segments Division.

07 Cement Industry of Serbia (CIS)

New member of World Cement for Sustainable Development

Representatives of the Cement Industry of Serbia (CIS), the Serbian association of cement producers, signed a declaration on sustainable development and thus supported the initiative of World Cement for Sustainable Development (Cement Sustainability Initiative)

Gustavo Navaro (left), General Director Holcim Srbija, Sinisa Mauhar, Technical Director Lafarge, dr Miladin Avramov, State Secretary

In this way, the companies Lafarge Beocin Cement, Holcim Serbia and Titan Cement Kosjerić have further committed to continue to comply with standards of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development provided by international standards and national legislation. After obtaining the first permit for the integrated prevention and control of environmental pollution (IPPC) from the Ministry of Environment in July this year, the cement industry in Serbia with this gesture further reinforced the fact that economic growth, whilst preserving and improving the environment, remains a priority for the business of its members. In addition to signing the Declaration on Sustainable Development, the CIS member states marked the moment when their investment in the environmental protection of Serbia exceeded 200 million euros.

General-Lieutenant Ljubisa Diković New Chief of the Serbian Army Staff

Nikolina Bobić,

New Executive Director of ABC Serbia

Jelena Ćetković, New Director for Corporate Communications, Simpo a.d

Following a decree by Boris Tadić, GeneralLieutenant Ljubisa Diković has been appointed as Chief of the Army of Serbia, as said in a statement from the Presidency of Serbia. Ljubisa Diković was born in 1960 in Užice. After high school, Mr Diković graduated from the Military Academy Belgrade at the Department of Infantry. In 1996, he went through Command Staff Specialization where he exercised and completed studies at the National School of Defence in 2000. Ljubisa Diković is married and has two children. From the 1st November, the new Executive Director of the ABC Srbija has been Nikolina Bobić (29), who graduated from the Faculty of Management at the University of Novi Sad’s Media Management Department. Currently, Nikolina is partaking in specialist Media Advertising studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Belgrade. She was born in Karlovac, Croatia, in 1982. Her primary and secondary education was completed in Belgrade. Nikolina came to ABC Srbija from the company RRC, Russia, and started her successful performance as the executive manager responsible for the development of ABCAudienceGemius project. Nikolina Bobic speaks English and has been a member of MENSA since 2001. Jelena Ćetković returned to Simpo after being Director of Communications at Robne kuce Beograd d.o.o. Previously, she worked for four years at SIMPO, as a manager who, in addition to public relations duties, showed her commitment to the development of the brands and groups advertising. She started her career in the Ogilvy-Spectra agency in 2001, where she worked as a PR manager for key agency clients such as Unilever, Johnnie Walker, Wiener Städtische, Parking Service, Famis and many others. Prior to that, Jelena spent six years working as an editor, journalist and presenter of the central news program “Day” on TV Politika. Jelena speaks both English and French, and is an economist.

Exciting Taste of Dark Chocolate and Irish Cream Admirers of dessert delicacies can now enjoy refined combinations of dark chocolate and smooth Irish cream, or refreshing mint, available within the new, exciting tastes of Pralinea chocolate pralines. This product line is made with the finest Belgian chocolate with 70% cocoa, by recipes of Italian experts and without artificial colourings or trans-fats. The new Pralinea tastes are perfect for all who are conscious of their health - findings show that dark chocolate is a natural source of iron, and is rich in vitamins and minerals. For admirers of milk chocolate, we recommend the renowned Pralinea pralines filled with creams of cinnamon, cocoa flakes and hazelnut chunks. The Kondiva confectionery industry, a leader in manufacturing high quality modelled chocolate, has enriched the vivacious Smilies family of chocolate spheres with lively flavours of forest fruits and caramel cream with wafer chunks. cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 39

Direction

Business Dialogue

“It would be bizarre if we were to adopt a position of silence when countries like Germany were moving in the opposite direction,” David Cameron, British Prime Minister.

Interview Mihailo Stanišić, Director General of Strauss Adriatic

Supply Raises Quality The current excise policy, in terms of coffee, needs to be amended in accordance with the changes on the market, and the best option would be if coffee was exempt from excise altogether

“A

much fairer system would be to have a fixed fee per imported kilogramme (a system that is used in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia), where the state is guaranteed to get its cut based on the projected import. It would be ideal if coffee, which is one of the basic articles in any household, was exempt from excise, but, during this time of economic crisis, we think that such an appeal to the Serbian Government would be unrealistic,” Mihailo Stanišić, Director General of Strauss Adriatic Company, says at the beginning of his interview for CorD.

40 |

have been trying to overcome them since a shortage of coffee should not be felt in any household. We have also been trying to avoid our consumers feeling the brunt of higher coffee prices, due to rises in raw coffee bean price, and they appreciate that. After their counterparts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, coffee drinkers in Serbia are the biggest consumers of traditional coffee in the world. People’s habits don’t change that easily and coffee is something that they are not willing to give up. Still, I am glad to see that thanks to our quality and the Aroma Expert production system, we have managed to keep our existing customers and win over new coffee aficionados.

■ Compared to the standard quality of coffee in the world, what is coffee on the Serbian market like? ■ What are the current trends in the coffee mar- In Serbia, as well as in the former Yugoslavia, we ket since, only a few years back, there were many drink coffee of very high quality. It has a specific irregularities? taste compared to the - The situation is more In Serbia, as well as in the former coffee consumed in stable now, primarily owYugoslavia, we drink coffee of very high most other European ing to the contribution of relevant market players quality. It has a specific taste compared countries, and that is a matter of tradition. We who act fairly. All domesto the coffee consumed in most other are accustomed to coffee tic producers are trying European countries having a strong and bitter to provide good supply taste, while, in most EU countries, consumers lean quality, since that is the best way to win consumer more towards a softer and more sour taste. Thanks trust. Brands dominate the market, thus competition to the “Doncafé Aroma expert” system, the smell always motivates us to be even better and constantly and freshness of the coffee is preserved until the work on expanding our offer and improving quality. moment the packaging is opened, and it keeps all of its 1,000 plus aromatic components that develop ■ Coffee is a commodity. What are the global cofduring roasting and then through ultra-fine grindfee prices today? ing are released. - Coffee is under pressure from speculative capital and, hence, has a relatively high price whilst demand ■ In what way do contemporary grinders and the declines. The situation has been like this for quite a Aroma Expert system provide fresh quality for while, and, it seems, that next year will be the same. consumers? Market fluctuations are unavoidable, but producers

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

Government We don’t need a weakened government but a strong government that will take responsibility for the rights of the individual and care for society as a whole. Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister.

- The modern fine and ultra-fine coffee grinders in our factory meet the highest global quality and food safety standards. Their capacity is 1,000 kg an hour, which makes it possible for us to provide our consumers with a product produced to the highest global standards. The new “Doncafé Aroma expert” system enables the production of top quality coffee in a completely closed off system. If we bear in mind that consumers have die hard habits when it comes to drinking coffee, it doesn’t come as a surprise that local brands and producers dominate the ex-Yugoslav markets. People in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Montenegro drink our coffee. We are also present in Western Europe, but Doncafé has had its biggest international success in Romania, where we take second place.

■ The instant coffee and coffee mix market started to form in Serbia several years ago. Do you have competition in this segment? - Doncafé instant coffee mix is a range of our latest and very successful products. This success did not come easy since we operate in an already formed market, battling both global and domestic producers. The competition always motivates us to do better and constantly work on expanding our offer. Hence, we have gone a step further and offered our consumers something brand new and unique for the Serbian market. We are especially proud of two products – 4in1 with two variations, one containing Guarana extract and the other toffee caramel. These

■ From which countries do you import coffee in order to get the desired mix that makes Doncafé? - In Serbia, we import raw coffee beans from Brazil, Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Uganda, Ethiopia and Vietnam, based on samples approved by a team of specially trained experts. Before coffee is stored and processed, it is tested and filtered once more, since only a completely clean bean can be properly roasted – this is the most important stage in processing. The proprietor of Strauss Adriatic Company and the fifth biggest global coffee trader, Strauss Coffee BV help in providing the first-rate quality of our coffee.

two products have become very popular ■ Your espresso After detailed analyses and planning, we range is very popuhave decided to have the same brand name amongst consumers, lar with households in Romania as in Serbia, which resulted in us especially the younger generation, and I think and small compahaving an over 30% market share that we have comnies. Do you have pleted our mission successfully, as seen in our sales any novelties? results. Soon, our Doncafé instant coffee mix will get - We have prepared several novelties for our cona new contemporary packaging design. Aside from sumers in the upcoming period, with the most imthis, the packaging completely preserves the coffee’s portant of them being the espresso category. With unique aroma and taste. the aim of enriching the product range of Doncafé Espresso, we have prepared Doncafé Aromatico Cial■ Does Strauss have production facilities in da that contains a mixture of Arabica and Robusta Southeast Europe? coffee beans and is packed in a protected environ- Introducing the Doncafé brand to Romania has ment in line with the demands of the Aroma Expert validated the fact that once again we have achieved production system. By packing the coffee in this way, great success in Serbia. After detailed analyses and we are preserving its aroma and freshness, which planning, we decided to have the same brand name are absolutely necessary for having a perfect cup of in Romania as in Serbia, which resulted in us having espresso. I should mention that Doncafé Aromatico over 30% market share. These fascinating results Cialda should be primarily used in household and have given us additional impetus to make the Doncompan espresso machines, as these are individual café brand even more powerful in the region. ■ portions of espresso coffee. cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 41

Funds

Business Dialogue

“The U.S. has no plans to set aside funds from our Federal Reserve for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to facilitate a European crisis fund.” — Timothy Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary.

01 Bulgaria

IMF Downgrades Growth Forecast The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut Bulgaria's growth forecasts for 2011 and 2012, saying the crisis in Europe has weakened its economic recovery The IMF now projects real GDP growth at 1.9% in 2011 after setting it at 2.5% in September. For 2012 the lender expects Bulgaria’s economy to expand by a mere 1.3% - down from a 3% estimate in September - despite increased absorption of EU funds that is helping cushion the external headwinds. Inflation is expected to fall below 3% in 2012, the fund said. “In 2011, the budget is likely to meet the 2.5% of GDP fiscal deficit target, reflecting tight control over expenditures as well as some gains from improved revenue collection. This and the low public debt burden have helped insulate Bulgaria from the escalating euro area turbulence.” IMF has described the 2012 budget deficit target of 1.3% of GDP as “very prudent.” Bulgaria’s budget for 2012 aims at a budget deficit of 1.35% of

Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov (left) pictured here with IMF mission head Catriona Purfield at the conclusion of the IMF mission to Bulgaria on May 20

gross domestic product, a growth of 2.3% and inflation of 2.5%. Bulgaria’s economic recovery has slowed to 1.6% in the third quarter on an annual basis, the weakest over the last five quarters. Savings are the only thing on the rise, but the joy those figures bring is undermined by the fact that the lion’s share of the stashed money is in the hands of a meagre 5% of the population.

04 Kosovo

Fastest Growing Economy in Eurozone The IMF's recently released predicted growth rates for 2012 show that Kosovo will experience the highest growth rate in the eurozone of which it is an unofficial member

The IMF has placed Kosovo ahead of 16 of the 17 official eurozone members and on an equal position with Estonia. The Baltic state is also expected to see GPD growth of 4 percent. Kosovo remains in equal first position despite previously seeing its expected growth for 2012 lowered from 5 to 4 percent as a result of the darkening world economic outlook. While the eurozone officially includes just 17 countries, all members of the European Union, plus two others, Kosovo and Montenegro, use the single currency as their legal tender. Following last month’s visit by an IMF team, its leader, Johannes Wiegand, said Kosovo’s small size and isolation from the global financial markets had shielded it from the worst of the crisis. “Kosovo has remained largely unaffected by financial turbulence in the euro area owing to its limited integration into global financial markets,” said Wiegand. Kosovo’s growth, however, is largely driven by remittances sent home from diaspora workers, growth in lending and increased government spending, particularly on a large highway to Albania. 42 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

02 Montenegro

Electricity Shortage

Ukraine has offered Montenegro assistance in tackling problems with electricity shortages, Ukrainian Premier Mykola Azarov has said “Montenegro has problems with electricity shortages and its high cost. We’re offering our help,” he said during a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Montenegro Igor Luksic in Podgorica. According to Azarov, the Ukraine has great potential in the sphere of power engineering and “Not only potential, but also a full complex necessary for the energy security in the country, including development, and the construction of power plants for all types of energy generation.” “Ukraine is ready to offer Montenegro absolutely compatible and beneficial terms,” he said. Azarov added that the premier of Montenegro accepted his proposal to study the issue more thoroughly.

03 Hungary

Magyar Posta Set To Lose Trade “State postal service Magyar Posta’s preparations for the full deregulation of its market from January 1st, 2013 suffered delays due to the lack of development goals and strategies,” a study of the state audit office ÁSZ found. As it lacked a proper operational framework, Magyar Posta had no chance of establishing a business development strategy. The strategy for the state post office is still under development, ÁSZ added. Given this situation, it is possible that Magyar Posta will lose some of its markets to competitors after the full deregulation. The business activity of Magyar Posta was stable over the years of 2008-10, when it paid Ft 12.3 billion (€40.6 million) into the budget.

05 Romania

Investments up by 15 percent

Investments in the Romanian economy increased by 15.3 percent in the third quarter of this year, compared to the same period a year ago, the National Statistics Institute said. Overall, in the first nine months, there was an increase of 2.7 percent of investments, compared to 2010. Most investments were made in plants and tools, and the construction sector. INS said the data was provisional and could be revised.

06 Slovenia

From Retail to Riches The 2011 survey of the richest Slovenians not only sees retail magnate Mirko Tuš being replaced as the country’s richest man, but also finds other new movers and shakers finding their way into the list. Sandi Česko, who has made his fortune through the Studio Moderna group of home shopping companies, has dethroned retail magnate Mirko Tuš as the richest Slovenian. The latest annual wealth survey published by Manager magazine shows Češko more than doubled his fortune to an estimated EUR 205m to climb up from 4th to 1st spot. He replaces Tuš, worth EUR 100m who now holds 4th place.

What matters? Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters. — Steve Jobs.

07 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Placements & Postings appointments@cma.rs

www.cordmagazine.com/corporate/appointments.html

Costin Borc, General Manager of Lafarge BFC, was elected President of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Investors Council at the regular annual session of the Assembly held on December 7th. Goran Pitić, President of the Board of Directors of Societe Generale Bank Serbia, will hold the post of FIC Vice President elected as substitute to the FIC President. Gabor Bekefi, CEO of Carlsberg South East Europe, will hold the post of FIC Vice President elected as spokesperson of the Association. Other members of the Board of Directors include the General Manager of British American Tobacco South East Europe Douglas Lafferty, Managing Director of Delhaize Serbia David Vander Schueren, Managing Director of FIAT Automobili Srbija Antonio Cesare Ferrara, President and General Manager of Henkel Serbia Georg Grassl, Managing Director of PepsiCo Western Balkans Vassilis Glinos and CEO of Telenor Kjell-Morten Johnsen. Newly elected FIC President Costin Borc presented the team that will lead the Association in the next two years.

Bosnia’s Economic Woes Already reeling from the impact of the global downturn, Bosnia’s economy is suffering further because foreign investors are fearful of political instability Economic analysts say that while the impact of the global crisis is the principle reason for Bosnia’s economy woes, the failure of local leaders to exploit the country’s business potential or even pass a budget is equally crucial. Data from the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina reveals that foreign capital investments are at their lowest since 2000. In 2010, only about 360 million euros were invested in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A direct consequence of the political stalemate that has lasted more than 14 months is the absence of a state budget since 2010, forcing institutions to rely on temporary funding. Bosnia’s foreign debt at the end of the last year, according to the State Ministry of Finance and Treasury, was 3.1 billion euros, which is about 22 www.balkaninsight.com percent of GDP.

Costin Borc, New President of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC)

08 Macedonia

Euro Fears

As savers start shifting investments from euros to dollars and Swiss francs, Macedonia's bank chief assures savers that their money is safe

Governor Dimitar Bogov

Following a trend seen in much of the rest of the world, some Macedonians are selling euros and buying US dollars and Swiss francs while some are switching investments to Macedonia’s own currency, the denar. To calm fears, the head of the National Bank of Macedonia, NBM, Dimitar Bogov, insisted that people’s savings were secure in spite of the euro uncertainty. “There is no place for fear,” Bogov said. However, he added “Even if the euro collapses, we will immediately tie our national currency to the deutschmark as the most stable currency”. According to current exchange rates, Bogov said one euro would be worth 1.96 deutschmarks, identical with the exchange rate in 2002, when the euro was first introduced.

Dragan Tomić, Re-elected for the President of the Shareholders Assembly of Simpo Vranje

09 Croatia

“Zaba” denies operations cutback rumours Croatian subsidiary of the troubled UniCredit group Zagrebacka Banka (Zaba) has no plans to cut back on its operations in Croatia after media rumours of impending dismissals

The majority owner UniCredit group plans to cut some 6,150 jobs by 2015 but mostly in its Italian, Austrian and German branches. Croatian operations will remain the same. Zaba’s spokesperson Marina Dijakovic says that on the contrary, the bank plans to further develop and modernise the local and digital communications network with its clients.

Zoran Mitrović, New CEO of the Victoria Group

At the general meeting of the Shareholders Assembly of Simpo Vranje, Serbia’s largest furniture producer, the delegates made a unanimous decision to re-elect Dragan Tomić (74) to the position of President. The assembly was held on the 48th anniversary of the company. Dragan Tomic has headed Simpo continuously since 1967 - at a time when the business was facing bankruptcy – and over the decades has created a world-class company. Immediately after the election, Tomic said that in the year 2012 Simpo will increase production by 45 percent, exports by 65 percent, and sales in Serbia by 35 percent. Mr. Mitrović was one of the founders of the Victoria Group in 2001, which today employs over 1800 employees in 11 companies. As leader of the company that he founded and developed into a successful business system, Zoran Mitrović has extensive experience in organizational and financial restructuring of companies, corporate analyses and evaluations, as well as monitoring and controlling capital investments. He was project manager of the company’s recapitalization European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the sponsor of the PriceWaterhouse Coopers project to improve corporate governance. He participated in the annual Citi Bank IPO conference in London (2010 and 2011); EBRD Conference “Invest in Serbia” (2010), “Fighting food inflation through sustainable investment” organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the EBRD (2008), Annual Business Forum in Kiev (2008). Zoran Mitrović is a member of the Serbian Association of Managers, Serbian Chamber of Commerce, AHK Germany and Serbian-British Business Club.

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 43

United Europe

Business Dialogue Interview

“Despite the UK’s veto to a fully fleshed treaty change, the agreement on an intergovernmental treaty showed a stronger and more united European Union.” — Jersy Buzek, President of the European Parliament.

Rich McClear, former IREX Chief of Party

■ Having worked in many countries across the world, what was the hardest period and place in your career? - That’s a hard question to answer. In some ways the hardest, yet most rewarding was in 1993 when I first went to Albania. The infrastructure was bad; in fact everything was as they had just come out from under the most horrendous dictatorship. It was exciting because you were opening up people to new things all the time, but it was very difficult. I did have other difficult times, especially during the Milosević years.

Media Questions Unanswered When conducting this interview for CorD, Rich McClear, from Anchorage, Alaska, was still IREX Serbia’s Chief of Party. After having spent more than a decade in the region, Mr. McClear is leaving with a sense of achievement after helping to progress Serbia’s media industry ■ By Max WILLIAMS

Photo: Zoran Petrović

“H

aving worked in the region since 1993, I have a lot of friends here, so I am going to miss it, undoubtedly, but then again there are things I want to do back home, the emotions are mixed. I have grandchildren that I want to spend time with and I won’t miss some of the bureaucracy that I have to deal with from the Serbian side and others for that matter, but, I love the region and I am certain to come back.”

Shocking to the media representatives from Serbia was that once you join the EU and the spotlight is no longer on you, things go backwards, which happened in Slovakia 44 |

79 February 2011

www.cordmagazine.com

■ At the recent regional Press Media Summit in Belgrade, all participants agreed that, more or less, all the media problems in the region are the same. What is your opinion on that issue? - Everybody was trying to make it look like they had it worst. We almost got into a cycle where people we would say, “Oh yeah, you think that’s bad I can do one better…” The problems are similar, but one of the things that was shocking to the representatives from Serbia was that once you join the EU and the spotlight is no longer on you, things go backwards. That happened in Slovakia and even more so in neighbouring Hungary. It was also a surprise for me, although I know that the situations in Montenegro and Croatia are difficult. Perhaps economically things are slightly tougher here than in say Croatia, but it might well be worse in Macedonia than Serbia. It’s hard to say definitively, but they are similar.

■ IREX was a very important supporter of independent media in the region. Now, IREX activities will be closed in September. Does that mean your mission is over and what do you expect the future holds for independent media in the region? - The mission of change is never over, USAID’s mission is over. I first came here in 1997 so a time comes when you have to say Serbians can handle it by themselves, and also that Europe has a responsibility to handle it. That is an important transition. In saying that, the next few years are going to be very rough. Looking at the economic situation in the Eurozone and particularly in Greece and Italy, there is no doubt going to be fallout on the media in Serbia. I think the situation is going to get more difficult, especially in an economic sense. Perhaps the situation will improve as EU accession comes closer as far as regulation is concerned, and in terms of stabilizing the relationship with state funding. However, the economic situation is going to be worse and we are going to see more consolidation, which is a natural thing to happen in media.

Democratic Accountability “We need to ensure that there is budget constituency at the EU level, so this is not a Brussels’ dictatorship, on the contrary, it is having shared democratic accountability.” — Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. ■ Having been and worked on both sides of the borders between Serbia and Kosovo, what in your opinion is the current fundamental problem between the Serbian and Albanian people? - Oh Brother! The problem is that they both claim the same land, which is surely the fundamental basis of all the problems. In addition, both sides have a different view of history. They are taught it differently, and if you tell either side something regarding the others point of view they will disagree, so they are not even working from a common base. This situation makes it very difficult to communicate. There are other things as well like the differences in language and humour, which make it harder still to communicate.

what is your prediction of the future impact of this medium? - Everything! Nevertheless, analogue shut off might not happen in 2012, because of the upcoming Olympics, EURO championships and the elections. Neighbouring countries have put it off until 2013/14/15 and it will probably happen in Serbia too. The main thing is that when digital conversion happens it opens a huge amount of spectrum. It is the digital dividend and Serbia has to plan carefully in how to use it.

■ What do you see as a solution for resolving the matter of coexistence between the two nations? - Ultimately, it is the EU. When John Hume was head of the Social Democratic Party, in Ireland, he talked about the only solution being the EU. Remember, he was a co winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. His whole philosophy was based upon the thinking that through the EU we come to commonality and that is one reason why it is crucial that KoThe fact that the Serbian media community came sovo and Serbia take a common track towards together as a coalition and worked on media to the union. Settlement strategy is something they need to be proud of has to be worked out within the EU, with open borders, open trade, the complete respect The provision of of human rights and protection of places of national importance, esuniversal broadband is pecially towards Serbian nationality. key and it must be made available and afford■ What are you particularly proud of from your work in Serbia, able to all citizens of the and what unfinished projects are you leaving behind? country – this is the biggest single media issue that Serbia faces. If it - Personally, I am proudest of the people that we have worked with happens, it will open up all sorts of business opportunities - running and trained over the years. This is the most important legacy that we businesses from smaller towns, ecommerce will get commerce rolling are leaving behind. One of IREX’s big accomplishments is that we got again and people will get their media delivered to them by broadband our traditional partners to start thinking in and about new media and not through traditional means. Of course, digital TV will still be and social media. IREX is funded by USAID who have been funding important, but as young people age they will start using new media. media in Serbia for 15 years, even during the bombings USAID keep things going and maintained contacts. USAID have shown their com■ You are currently a part owner of Chinook Concert Broadcastmitment to creating an independent media in Serbia and I am excepers operating stations in Anchorage, Alaska. What new chaltionally proud of that. lenges are ahead? What we have left behind is the regulatory environment, al- The same challenges that we have in Serbia, like digitisation and how though media strategy in Serbia has been adapted, and anything we we can make radio move in the digital age. The good thing is that the had to do with it I am very proud of. The fact that the Serbian media Internet and radio are very compatible as people can multitask whilst community came together as a coalition and worked on media stratusing them, therefore Radio on the Internet and FM are both important. egy is something they need to be proud of. I think developments such as sales and marketing strategies using social The other area of unfinished business is in creating a real market, media such as Facebook and websites are important and I am hoping which Serbia is sorely lacking. For example, two ad agencies control to apply some of that at the stations in Anchorage. I’m excited about the a large bulk of the income for advertising and those two agencies are future. People said in 1952 when television came along that radio was politically connected. That works against a market. dead, and then many more times after that. But as we know, video didn’t kill the radio star! If radio is smart and keeps on adapting then it will con■ Since 2012 is marked as the year for the introduction of digtinue to prosper. One of my goals when I get back is to explore how radio ital media in the region and as you worked on its development, can adapt in this digital and interactive age. I’m looking forward to it! ■ cordeditorial@cma.rs

79 February 2011 | 45

Globalization

Business Dialogue

Globalization requires us to reinvent everything - to think of ourselves as compared to others. Nicolas Sarkozy, French President.

Bratislav Stišović, M.Sc., Director of Energoprojekt Hidroinženjering Company

Overcoming the Crisis Large companies are managing to fight off the financial crisis, recover and return to positive business results easier than smaller ones, providing that they focus on the quality of their business and operate on various markets, thus reducing the risk

idroinženjering, a member of Energoprojekt Holding, is one of those companies that, for the last sixty years, have managed to generate the majority of their revenue by undertaking projects abroad. Being prepared in advance, the company was not seriously affected by the economic crisis. During the past several years, Hidroinženjering used its reputation and references of work in various countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East acquired over decades to win new long-term projects.

46 |

Piura – a dam and water transfer via a 13.5 km long tunnel from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin. The services that we are providing there are inspection and verification of the contractor’s project and construction drawings, monitoring of the hydraulic model and construction supervision. We are also going to continue with our work on the Kufranja dam in Jordan. At the initial stage, and to our client’s satisfaction, we developed a preliminary design with the feasibility study, the final design and tender documents, prepared the programme and supervised site field investigations. In mid 2011 we proceeded with our activities under a new contract of project management and construction supervision.

■ In what ways are you fighting off the crisis and how did you find a way out of it ? ■ Which foreign market is the best for your work at the - We are a company that renders a wide range of services, moment? which are implemented by highly professional multidis- We have been continuously working in Algeria for half a ciplinary expert teams. We do everything – from project century and we expect to be engaged in the implementadesign and research of water and land resources, geology, tion of capital projects in this country, namely final designs geotechnics, hydrogeology and topography with interpretaof two dams and five important projects covering technition and analysis of satellite cal assistance, construction images to drafting of project Being aware of the fact that our work in drawings , and construction documents, i.e. anything from Serbia would not be sufficient to secure supervision for large-scale master plans, pre-feasibility dams of various types. We are long-term and stable operations, we have successfully bringing to an and feasibility studies to basic, turned even more to projects abroad preliminary and final designs. end a similar contract for the We also provide expert advice, Ourkiss dam. In Serbia, we consultancy services, technical assistance, project and conare working on projects for the Electric Power Industry of struction supervision, testing and start-up services, includSerbia (EPS) and private investors from Canada, Italy and ing employee training and transfer of know-how. When you several other countries in the field of renewable energy operate on the global market, as we do, it is easy to sense resources. The total value of works to be executed in the the wide impact and intensity of the crisis. coming period is well over 20 million euros. Being aware of the fact that our work in Serbia would not be sufficient to secure long-term and stable operations, ■ From whom and in what way do you obtain guarantees? we have turned to projects abroad. Last year we initiated - Banks that operate in Serbia have relatively low rating two important long-term projects that increased our presso securing of guarantees comes at significant cost and is a ence in South America, namely Peru. These projects include very long process. We have used the services of AOFI agency, rehabilitation of the Machu Picchu hydroelectric power plant which also proved to be costly. There has been no news as and verification of equipment supplier’s documents, as well yet on the establishment of a national development bank as construction supervision, testing and start-up. The secthat could help and significantly facilitate work abroad for ond large-scale project that we have initiated in Peru is Alto export companies like ours. ■

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

Culture

Point of View

“As many as two thirds of people in Serbia cannot spend more than 2,000 dinars a month to satisfy their cultural needs, and most of them are spending literally nothing.” - Institute for study and cultural development of Serbia.

Great Britain

To be Locked in Austerity With Germany - no Way! ■ Phillip Inman, guardian.co.uk

Eurozone countries failing to restrict their spending face a chilly response from Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel

talian bond rates are on the way up again. Spanish bonds are following in their wake. Among the credit rating agencies, Moody’s says the eurozone deal middle of December was weak and added little to previous emergency summits. In its opinion, the eurocrats gathered for a lengthy chat and neglected to give any details for future action. Standard & Poor’s is expected to strip France of its AAA status any day. The market remains uneasy and for good reason. The EU is huddling closer together against the chill winds blowing from the debt markets with only a T-shirt and shorts for cover. They need to buy themselves some winter warmers, but all the spare money in the kitty is going to pay debt. It is a situation that calls for a war analogy and, as you might expect, war analogies are everywhere. Mostly, they relate to the second world war and the need for solidarity among European nations. But the more accurate reference point is the first world war because the German solution to the problem is to impose a “reverse Versailles”. Everyone that owes money after the war (or in this case credit crunch) must repay in full (please ignore in Athens). Failure to put in place measures to restrict spending will be met with … a punishment of some kind … possibly ejection from the eurozone, who knows? So far, President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel have used exclusion from the inner circle as the chief threat. The imposition of debt repayments by Berlin is reminiscent of the post-first world war Versailles treaty that demanded Germany repay its debts to France, Britain, Belgium, etc. As the German economic historian Albrecht Ritschl argues, Germany repaid very little of its reparations bill, and what it did pay was borrowed from the Americans. It is a strange irony, that here we are, 90 years later, repeating the same mistake, only now it is history’s victim that is pursuing

PM David Cameron

the misguided policy. Of course, borrowing to achieve hyperinflation, as the Germans did in the 1920s, is a bad move. However, today is not then and borrowing today is unlikely to trigger even a few percentage points of inflation, let alone hyperinflation. By the end of next year most European nations could be begging for a bit of inflation just to keep people spending (the theory being that people put off spending when prices are falling to benefit from lower prices in the future). Worse, austerity will kill growth, as Standard Chartered Bank’s chief economist Gerard Lyons powerfully points out in his analysis of Britain and the eurozone. He says both will fall back into recession next year, with the eurozone faring worse than the UK. To be locked in an austerity pact with the Germans is no way to recover from a credit crunch; it simply makes the situation worse and breeds resentment in the worst-hit countries. No wonder Robin Niblett, director of the foreign relations thinktank Chatham House, argues that the euro

By the end of next year most European nations could be begging for a bit of inflation just to keep people spending

austerity pact is a recipe for civil unrest, mostly driven by far-right groups representing the disaffected working classes who will take the brunt of spending cuts. If Versailles played a part in the rise of extremist groups, why follow the same path again? David Cameron chose to bat for the City and finance industry when he wielded his veto in Brussels, could be he reached the right conclusion (using the veto) for the wrong reasons. Who in their right mind would want to support another Versailles treaty? ■ cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 47

Leader

Business Dialogue

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership, John Kenneth Galbraith was a Canadian-American economist.

01 USA

Parting Worth Millions Tom Glocer, the boss of Thomson Reutures, looks set to collect a staggering €27.3m in pay and shares after unexpectedly parting company with the media giant he led since 2001 As a consequence of fierce competition with rival Bloomberg, the New York-listed firm, which has seen its shares sink 36 percent over the past 12-months, said Glocer would leave the company by the end of the month to be succeeded by his number two Jim Smith. It is thought the Thomson family, whose investment firm owns over 55 percent of the stock, were unhappy with the recent share price performance. Glocer was responsible for knitting together Canada-based Thomson with London listed Reuters in 2008, and had lined himself up for a controversial € 20.9m share award at the time, which has been spread over five years. He took home €7m in pay and bonuses last year. This would see him collect his 12-month salary and a ‘relevant bonus’ calculated by multiplying this figure, together with his

Tom Glocer

shares and options, worth €20.3m, totalling €28! While based in London running Reuters the American received an annual housing allowance of €313,227 and in 2008 was paid €478,493 to relocate back to New York. Glocer’s previous contract also showed he had benefited from ‘the cost of business class travel from New York to London (and return) five times a year’ for his ‘spouse, children and nanny’.

03 China

89 January 2012

The Swedish portfolio of mortgages is the fastest growing in Europe, and house prices are among the highest Europe

the bank of sweden

The generous lending by Swedish banks´ has become a profit machine. In ten years, the ‘big four’ banks have earned SEK 1000 billion (€110.5 billion) in lending rates. In Europe over the past four years, Swedish house prices have risen most. According to the OECD, the prices are more than 30% higher than they should be in relation to household income. The latest real estate statistics show a square metre price for a co-operative apartment in central Stockholm hovering around SEK 60 000 (€6,650), which is among the highest in Europe. In the past five years, Sweden has topped the list of countries where the portfolio of mortgages has increased the most. Moreover, it continues to grow, month-on-month. As late as September 2011 there was an increase of nearly 6%, compared to the same month in the year before, despite the Stockholm stock exchange crumbling and the European debt crisis. In addition, mortgage loans have been profitable business for Sweden’s ‘big four’ banks: Nordea, Swedbank, SEB, and Handelsbanken. Annual reports since 2001 show that the rapid increase in mortgage loans is an important explanation for the banks’ huge profits. Since 2001, the four banks have earned about SEK 1,000 billion (€110.5 billion), the same amount as Sweden’s current public debt.

Danfoss Faces Massive Fine Li Yang, deputy head of the

“We won’t predict how many further Chinese Academy of Social Sciences cuts in bank reserve ratio requirement are coming, but we believe monetary policy will move toward a neutral or a slightly loosening stance,” deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Li Yang said, according to www.china.com.cn. Economists of the think-tank expect China’s gross domestic product to grow 8.9 percent in 2012, down from an estimated 9.2 percent last year. “The central government will shift its priority to maintaining economic growth, from taming inflation,” said Chen Chaogui, a director at CASS. The full-year consumer price index was forecast at 4.6 percent, easing from 5.5 percent this year. The slowdown of the economy is the outcome of a contraction in exports - one of three drivers of the world’s no.2 economy - amid headwinds from the EU and the United States, CASS said. It also said China’s trade surplus dropped 13 percent to €120.3 billion (HK$1.25 trillion) in 2011, from €136.9 billion in 2010. Vice Commerce Minister Chong Quan also said in Beijing export growth in November 2011 was “even slower than in October.” In October, exports rose 15.9 percent year-on-year, the slowest expansion since November 2009. 48 |

Banks Have Earned Billions on Mortgages

04 Denmark

Economy Slowdown Beijing is likely to adopt "neutral-toslightly loosening" macroeconomic policies as economic expansion may recede to a decade low next year, an influential think-tank said

02 Sweden

www.cordmagazine.com

The European Commission is expected to hand a giant fine to the Danfoss company, according to widespread media reports According to TV2 News, a fine of between DKK 600 million (€80.7 million) and DKK 700 million (€94 million) is to be levied on Danfoss for having taken part in a global cartel on the compressor market. Danfoss CEO Niels Bjørn Christiansen has previously commented on the case saying: “This is an embarrassing and unfortunate case and far from our basic values.” The fine is not a surprise for Danfoss. In its latest half yearly accounts from October 2011, the company set aside DKK 720 million (€97 million) in anticipation of the penalty. Danfoss has already been fined DKK 16.5 million (€2.2 million) in the United States as a result of its German subsidiary Danfoss Flensburg GmbH having been involved in a cartel between 2004 and 2007 on the American market for light commercial processors. Danfoss is a privately-owned company which employs some 24,000 people around the world. The company has 79 factories in 22 countries. Revenues in 2010 were at DKK 31.6 billion (€4.25 billion) and the company showed a profit of DKK 1.38 billion (€186 million).

Leader 2 Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery, Warren G. Bennis professor, University of S. California.

05 Austria

05 London Stock Exchange

Organic Brand Prospers

Former Site Sold for £176m

Spar Austria CEO Gerhard Drexel has vowed to keep focusing on organic products due to the strong demand for the supermarket’s own Natur Pur range

Hammerson has sold the former site of the London Stock Exchange in the City for £176m (€210 Euro) to Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund

Spar Austria supermarket chain’s Natur Pur portfolio has achieved two-digit growth rates each year since its introduction. Potential effects of the crisis did not affect the sale of organic vegetables, dairy products and pasta, as customers were appreciative of the opportunity to buy organically produced food with only a small difference in price to regular products. The sales turnover of organic food and non-food products of this type increased by €1.05 billion (20%) from 2009 to the next year. Drexel also underlined that all items sold as part of Spar Austria’s S-Budget range were of the utmost quality. On the other side, consumer information and protection watchdogs have criticised leading supermarket companies like Spar Austria, Billa and Zielpunkt for branding many of their goods on sale with slogans such as ‘From Austria’ although most ingredients are shipped to the country from abroad. Spar Austria is now considering building up a network of small shops called ‘Spar To Go’. The initiative is seen as the Salzburg-based company’s response to similar projects of rivals such as Billa and Tesco. Until now, the company has considered managing megastores in the country as its main priority.

Hammerson bought the 60 Threadneedle Street site in 2002 before redeveloping it into a new 214,200 sq ft (24,000 sq/m) office building with occupiers including Talbot Underwriting and The Toronto Dominion Bank. The deal is a boost to the City of London property market, where around £5bn of real estate is up for sale, because it values the building above the £165m price tag put on it in June. Analysts said the deal reinforces the City’s appeal to overseas investors as they seek safe havens amid the eurozone debt crisis. David Atkins, chief executive of FTSE 100 property company Hammerson, said: “We have a clear strategy for London offices of creating high quality property through asset management and development, then recycling capital to realise value. “This disposal will allow Hammerson to crystallise significant development profits and further enhance our financial flexibility for future refurbishment, development and acquisition opportunities.”

06 UAE

Dubai Prices Deter Shoppers

The high cost of goods in Dubai may be driving shoppers away as expatriate workers admit to buying items abroad in a bid to avoid the city’s inflated retail prices A survey by Arabian Business found that 64 percent of expatriates avoided shopping in the tax-free emirate in favour of bulk buying in their home countries when on leave. More than 90 percent of those polled said they considered cosmetics, clothes and electronics to be more expensive in Dubai when compared with the UK and the U.S. More than half said prices were between 10 and 20 percent higher. “It really affects the way I shop,” said one British expatriate. “I will wait until I go home to buy most of my stuff. I wouldn’t buy things that are over 15 percent more expensive.” High prices of retail goods have long been a complaint amongst Dubai expatriates, with many accusing shop-owners of neglecting American and British shoppers in their pricing policies. In the UK clothing store River Island, operated by franchise partner Alshaya, several items reviewed by Arabian Business were found to be significantly more expensive in Dubai than in Britain. A sweatshirt priced at £33.84 costs £25 in the UK, while a dress being sold for £51.19 in Dubai was just £36 in England. Jeans priced at £43.38 in the UAE sold for £30 in the store’s domestic market. Significant price variations were also seen among electronics goods. cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 49

interview Ms. Aleksandra Keserovic, Principal of the British International School

The British International School in Belgrade (BIS) will be celebrating its fifteenth anniversary in the spring of 2012. BIS is the oldest British school in Belgrade, founded in 1997 to cater for the needs of diplomatic and foreign business families as well as for local families who wanted education in the English language for their children

Mini Cambridge in Belgrade B

IS was the first institution in Serbia (after the British Council) that received Cambridge Examination Centre status. The school is a regular member of the European Council of International Schools (ECIS), the Council of International Schools (CIS) and an affiliate member of the Council of British International Schools (COBIS). To celebrate the 15th anniversary and the upcoming school holidays at the end of the first term, CorD spoke to Ms. Aleksandra Kerović, principal of BIS.

many of whom are UK nationals, with UK teaching qualifications, is to instil a love for life-long learning in our students regardless of the future carriers and the walks of life they take.

■ The school has two campuses. What else do you offer? - Within the two separate campuses for Primary and Secondary students, there are three modern computer laboratories (with one computer per student in a class), a modern science laboratory and indoor swimming pool as well as a playground for children. ■ Being a member of the European Council of International The Primary school caters for children from 4 to 12 years Schools, which children are qualified to attend BIS? of age (pre-school to Year 6). Each year group is taught by a - BIS caters for children from four to eighteen years of age ofqualified UK teacher and a bi-lingual teaching assistant who fering the British National speaks English and Serbian. The goal of our highly qualified and Curriculum starting with ReThe role of a teaching assistception and finishing with A enthusiastic teachers many of whom are UK ant is to facilitate the teachlevels. In the last two years of nationals, with UK teaching qualifications, ing process in order for each Secondary school, an accredstudent to receive the individis to instill a love for life-long learning ited American curriculum is ual attention and to develop offered to our students as the alternative to the British Nain accordance with their abilities and their current level of tional Curriculum. knowledge. The British educational system applies the conThe mission of BIS is educating the whole child where their cept of ‘differentiation’ which enables the teacher to teach education addresses not only intellect but also the social, emoto different levels of students in their class and make sure tional, physical and spiritual aspects of students’ personality. they all achieve individual progess. This approach is possible The goal of our highly qualified and enthusiastic teachers only with a small number of students per class, and therefore

50 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

the number of students per class at BIS does not exceed the number of 15. In the teaching process, all senses of a student are addressed in order to achieve thorough learning and successful retention. Wall displays of student work play a significant part in the learning process. ■ How do students learn and master the latest applications and skills?

- For the purpose of better learning, the school organises one day field trips which are related to the material covered in a certain subject. The secondary school caters for ages 12 to 18. The ages 12 to 14 comprise Years 7,8, and 9. The ages 14 to 16 comprise Years 10 and 11. At the end of year 11 students sit Cambridge IGCSE examinations. The ages 16 to 18 comprise Year 12 and 13. At the end of Year 12 students sit Cambridge AS Level examinations while at the end of year 13 they sit their final Cambridge A Level examinations. A student who has passed A levels in three subjects has earned a standard British Secondary school qualification which, according to the evidence of Cambridge University is recognized in 175 countries of the world. Secondary students have a different classroom for each subject and all the subjects are taught by a subject specialist teacher. Teaching of Information Technology plays great part in both Primary and Secondary school. Computers are used in the teaching of the majority of subjects and students work on power point projects. Our aim is to enable our students to develop a critical approach towards the internet and to be able to make a distinction between valid and invalid websites. Our students use the internet as an additional and enriching learning tool. ■ Do you organize competitions for students, as is often the case in UK schools?

- In our school we have a very popular computer programme for furthering the Mathematics curriculum which is one called ‘Mathletics’. Both Primary and Secondary students compete amongst themselves in the quick solving of Maths problems. Once a year our students participate in the ‘World Maths Day’ competing in Maths against students from all over the world using this computer programme. Last year a Secondary student of ours from Angola took 56th place in Europe at this competition. One of the crucial goals measured in the written examinations both in Primary and Secondary school is to make sure

Duke of Edinburgh Award

The school is the sole Balkans operator of the International Award for Young People, better known as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, initiated in 1952 by H.R.H Prince Phillip.

that a student has truly understood the material covered and can therefore apply critical and creative thinking to it.

■ Which extracurricular activities are the most popular? - The past fourteen generations of BIS graduates have entered universities worldwide. They live all over the world working as lawyers, managers, doctors, artists, linguists etc. In order for our students to become well-rounded personalities, BIS offers a range of extra-curricular activities to both its Primary and Secondary students. One of the most

Students are also learning the skills of nature survival and mountain tracking

popular Primary clubs is Drama, which includes intensive practice each year before Christmas. This year the theme of the Primary Christmas Production was the Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. The Rakovica Cultural Centre with 350 seats where the performance took place this year was filled with happy parents, relatives and friends who enjoyed the almost professional performance of our Primary students who acted danced and sang in full costume. The most popular Secondary club is the above mentioned Duke of Edinburgh Programme. The programme comprises three levels leading to bronze, silver and gold awards. Students learn the skills of nature survival and mountain tracking, and the expeditions are led by professional mountaineers. Thanks to the kindness of their Royal Highnesses Prince Aleksandar and Princess Katherine Karadjordjevic, the Duke of Edinburgh Award ceremony for BIS students has always taken place at the White Palace. One of the very popular clubs in the Secondary school is 3D Maya (three-dimensional computer programming). In 2007, two of our Secondary students won silver awards at the International ‘Infomatrix’ computer competition, which is traditionally held in Bucharest. In May of 2011, three of our Secondary students took bronze awards in the same competition. We should note that at both ‘Infomatrix’ competitions our students were competing against 300 students from all over the world. ■ cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 51

faces & places 07.11.2011 National Day of Algeria To celebrate the National Day of Algeria, the Ambassador of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria to Serbia H.E. Mr. Abdelkader Mesdoua invited guests to a reception at Belgrade’s Hyatt Hotel on the 7th November. The ambassador (pictured) entertained guests and cut the celebratory cake with his wife Mrs. Arina Mesdoua. Guests included prominent members of Belgrade’s diplomatic, business and culture communities.

03.12.2011 VIRTUS Corporate Philanthropy awards This year’s honourees for the 2011 VIRTUS Corporate Philanthropy awards were announced at a special ceremony held at the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. The traditional annual prizes are awarded for the fifth time in several different categories, in recognition of companies and enterprises in 2011. Numerous guests, including U.S. Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Mrs. Mary Warlick, and British Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Mr. Michael Davenport, attended the award ceremony held on the 3rd of December.

25. 11. 2011 Consultation on CSR H.E. Mr. Christer Asp, Swedish Ambassador to Serbia (pictured) delivering his speech at the consultation, which took place on 25th November in Robne Kuce, Zemun. The embassy of Sweden, in cooperation with the Swedish Trade Council, invited CEOs of Nordic companies in Serbia and other guests to participate in a consultation on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and to share their views and opinions on how the embassy and Swedish Trade Council could assist the Swedish business community in CSR efforts.

06.12.2011 "Zoran Đinđić" Scholarship program The Scholarship program of Zoran Đinđić Foundation in Italy and the SerbianItalian Business Council formalized their cooperation, and invited guests to attend the conference “Zoran Đinđić”, representing training for young professionals in Italy, held at the Palace of Italy, Knez Milos 5, on 6th December. The Italian Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Mr. Armando Varricchio, Director of the Foundation “Zoran Djindjić,” Ruzica Đinđić, as well as co-president of the Serbian-Italian Business Council, Draginja Djurić, President of Intesa Bank, hosted the conference.

52 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

02.12.2011

DHL Anniversary

DHL celebrated the 20th anniversary since its incorporation in Serbia, in Belgrade on the 2nd December at the Hyatt Hotel, Milentija Popović 5. At the occasion, Darko Babic, CEO of DHL International Belgrade d.o.o addressed the audience, which included the Danish Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Ms. Mette Kjuel Nielsen.

05.12.2011 "Wild Serbia" The Ambassadors of Australia and India to Serbia, H.E. Dr. Helena Studdert (left), and H.E. Mrs. Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhaya (right), with H.E. Falah Abdulhasan Abdulsada, Ambassador of Iraq to Serbia at the “Wild Serbia” evening adventure, held on Tuesday, 6th December at Comunale Restaurant, Beton Hale.

08.12.2011 Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy Award In Belgrade, on the 8th December, Draginja Durić, CEO of Banca Intesa was presented the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy (Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) by the Ambassador of Italy to Serbia H.E. Mr. Armando Varricchio. The award is given to outstanding individuals for their contribution in the sphere of economics, public, social, philanthropic and humanitarian activities, Literature and the Arts.

06.12.2011 National Day of Finland On the occasion of the National Day of Finland, H.E. Mr. Pekka Orpana the Finnish Ambassador to Serbia, invited guests to a reception held at Šekspirova 9, Belgrade, on the 6th of December. cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 53

faces & places 07.12.2011 SIEPA Export Awards The SIEPA ceremony for ‘Best Exporter 2011’, won by Tarkett, from Backa Palanka, was held on the 7th December in Belgrade City Hall. The event was attended by Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković, Deputy Prime Minister Verica Kalanović SIEPA Director Bozidar Lagagin, Italian Ambassador in Belgrade H.E. Mr. Armando Varricchio, Secretary of State for the Digital Agenda Jasna Matić and Dragijana Radonjić Petrović, State Secretary in the Ministry the Economy.

08.12.2011 BDF & VIP Party On the 8th of December, Belgrade Dance Festival (BDF) in partnership with VIP threw an after work party in the Ellington Club of the Hyatt Hotel. Aja Jung, Founder and Director of the Belgrade Dance Festival, hosted the event for the highest representatives of VIP and guests from Belgrade’s cultural and business society.

H.E. Mr. Toshio Tsunozaki and his wife welcomes H.E. Mr. Wolfram Mass, German Ambassador to Serbia.

12.12.2011 Japanese Emperor Birthday In honour of the birthday of Akihito, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Mr. Toshio Tsunozaki and his wife invited members of Serbia’s diplomatic corps, officials and members of cultural life to Belgrade City Hall on the 12th December to join them in the celebration.

54 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

Aleksandar Vlahović, President of the Economics Institute (left), Nenad Prokic, playwright with the Ambassador and his wife.

13.12.2011 UAE National Day The non-resident Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Mr Abdul Aziz bin Nasser Alshamsi and H.E. Mrs. Madame Abdulaziz Nasser Alshamsi hosted an event held on the 13th December in the Hyatt Hotel, Belgrade, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates National Day. Guests were treated to Serbian dance performances and a raffle was held for the chance to win flights to Dubai.

08.12.2011 New Year Cocktail A New Year celebratory cocktail event, for the media in Serbia, was hosted by Miloš Bugarin, Director of Serbian Chamber of Commerce in presence of distinguished representatives of Serbian companies. The event was held at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce on the 8th of December.

14/15.12.2011 Evening of International Cuisine An Evening of International Cuisine at the White Palace, Belgrade, 13th December, was hosted by the Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Princess Katherine. A traditional dinner of international cuisine, was also held on Wednesday 14th December, again in the White Palace.

04. 12. 2011 IWC Charity Bazaar Many embassies participated with a stand at the IWC Christmas Charity Bazaar. The event organized by the International Women’s Club took place in Belgrade Fair - Hall 5, on December 4th. Guests at this year’s bazaar were provided with countless opportunities to buy beautiful gifts and taste food and drinks from all over the world, many of them served by ambassadors.

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 55

ConCerts GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA sava center, 18 January @ 20.30 For years one of the most active orchestras in Europe, the Glenn Miller Orchestra will perform on 18th January 2012 at the Sava Center, as part

of tour “In the Miller Mood”. This tour will be an upgrade of their last tour “Evergreens in Swing,” which has achieved great success and ﬁlled venues in 17 countries across Europe with an incredible 260 appearances. The main focus of the music program, of course, remains on Miller’s compositions and his unique sound that is created and that it is positioned as an idol of his time, while the newspaper as a tribute tour is reﬂected in the other band leaders like Woody Herman, Count Basie and Harry James, and Ella Fitzgerald reminder of the swing as the best singer of all time. Thus, compositions like ‘’In the Mood’’, ‘’Moonlight Serenade’’, ‘’String of Pearls’’, ‘’Little Brown Jug’’, ‘’Stairway to the Star’’ and ‘’Somewhere Over the Rainbow ‘’bring a touch of the thirties and forties of the last century. Glenn Miller Orchestra conductor is Will Salden since 1990. When it was on Broadway in New York, president of Glenn Miller Productions Inc., Mr. David Mackay, Jr.. appointed as leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra for Europe. Since then, orchestra’s tour had sold-out halls across Europe and as many as 200 concerts a year, which puts them in one of the most active orchestras in the world. Will Salden is a perfectionist who demands the same perfection from every member of his orchestra. His orchestra was carefully groomed and for a number of tours and television and radio appearances, one of the most popular orchestras in the world. Members of the orchestra are: Conductor: Will Salden Trumpets: Erik Veldkamp, Reijs Marcel, Pascal Haverkate, Roeland Cleijne Trombone: Uli Plettendorff, Hansjörg Fink, André Fri, Jenko de Vries Saxophone - Clarinet: Benjamin Steil, Malta Dürrschnabel, Peter Peuker, Frank Jacobi, Frank Meuwissen Bass: Ingo Senst Percussion: Klaas Balijon or Haye Jellema and Anton Burger Piano: Wil Salden Vocals: Roos Jonker and Ellen Bliek or Miette Molnar and Mariska Hekkenberg. 56 |

89 January 2012

Alton Glenn Miller was born on 1st March 1904 in the State of Iowa, USA and was famous jazz musician, arranger, composer and band leader in the swing era of the 30’s and 40’s of last century. His band was one of the biggest selling of his time and his most famous works are of course: ‘’American Patrol’’, ‘’In the Mood’’, ‘’Moonlight Serenade’’, ‘’Chattanooga Choo Choo’’, ‘’Tuxedo Junction’ ‘and so on. At the beginning of his career he played in various orchestras and worked as an arranger and composer for some singers. In 1938 he decided that it was necessary to invent a completely unique sound that later became known as the “Miller sound” and Glenn Miller and his band launched into orbit and as one of the most commercially successful performers of that time.

RTS CHOIR AND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Kolarac Foundation Hall 14 January @ 20.00 RTS is organising its New Year concert in Kolarac Foundation Hall on 14th January 2012 Conductor: Bojan Suđić KOLARAC CHAMBER MUSIC Kolarac Foundation Hall, 15 January @ 11.00 Solist: Biljana Valčić Bulatović – soprano Harp: Ljubica Sekulić Programm: Ravel, Schuman, Konjović Entrance is free

time the most beautiful and most famous ballet Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” on ice. National Ballet on ice from St. Petersburg, which has already had over 7,000 performances worldwide, is a remarkable blend of classical ballet and ﬁgure skating, and offers the audience an unusual spectacle in the form of ballet on ice. National Ballet on ice Konstantin Boyarsky was founded in 1967 by setting production based on the “Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky, for the ﬁrst time by combining the art of skating on the ice with the Russian classical ballet. Over the years, not only did the repertoire expanded, but the sophistication and design settings, theatrical props and costumes, also perfected. This unusual ensemble now consists of over 80 brilliant dancers on the ice that will

Tickets are available to purchase at the selling points: Sava Center, Ticket Service... RADE ŠERBEDŽIJA madlenianum concert Hall 21 January @ 19.30 Grat actor and shanson singer Rade Šerbedžija will held his solist concert in Belgrade at Madlenianum Concert Hall on 21 January 2012. ClassiCal MusiC NEW YEAR’S CONCERT Kolarac Foundation Hall 3 January @ 12.00 New Years’s Concert will be performed by the most promising young artist of 2011. CONCERT OF VIOLIN STUDENTS, Kolarac Foundation Hall, 11 January @ 18.00 The entrance to this concert is free. BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, Kolarac Foundation Hall 13 January @ 20.00 Conductor: Srboljub Dinić Solist: Aneta Ilić – soprano, Dejan Maksimović – tenor and Nikola Mijailović – baritone Choir Obilić-AKUD Branko Krsmanović Programm: N.Rimski-Korsakov Fantasy Serbian Theme, A. Borodin Polovec game, Tchaikovsky Eugeny Onegin, Tchaikovsky Slovenian march, Binicki Rising, Glinka Cernomorov’s march and Binicki March on Drina.

www.cordmagazine.com

NEW YEARS’S GALA CONCERT national theatre 13 January @ 20.00

Traditional New Year’s gala concert will be held on 13 January at 20.00 at the National Theatre. The program of the festive New Year’s overtures, arias and duets from popular operas of the world masters champions will perform BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Kolarac Foundation Hall 20 January @ 20.00 Theme: Chinese New Year

opera and the National Theatre Orchestra conducted. The program includes arias and duets by Johann Strauss, Franz Lehar, Jacques Offenbach and many more. Popular arias and duets will be performed by artists such as Iva Profaca, Vladimir Andric, S. Kerkez, Snežana Sekulic Savicic, Darko Đordjevic, Katarina Jovanovic, Nebojsa Babic and Soﬁa Pižurica.

MIŠA MAJSKI WITH BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Kolarac Foundation Hall 27 January @ 20.00 Conductor: Vladimir Kulenović Solist: Miša Majski on cello Programm: Milojević, Šostakovič, Rahmaninov

enchant the audience in the theater halls around the world. Most of the dancers are professional ice skaters that have previously competed in individual events and skating in pairs. Their excellent ice skating skill have amazed Russian and international audience. They went through the grueling and intensive training with choreographer Konstantin Rasadina who is for more than 23 years a leading soloist of the Marinsky Theatre Ballet and danced and worked with stars such as Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Dudinskaja. National Ballet on ice from St. Petersburg attracts audiences of all ages because of its beautiful music, mesmerizing scenery, amazing costumes and the magic of theater turns into a skating paradise.

Ballet

art

SLEEPING BEAUTY save center, 21 January @ 20.00 After the great success and sold-out performances of “Swan Lake”, “Cinderella” and “Nutcracker”, a respected National Ballet Ensemble from St. Petersburg this time will perform this

THE WHOLE CITY cvijeta Zuzorić pavillon 22 december-22 January “The whole city” is one part in a series of exhibitions of German’s artistic photography. It brings together examples of the subjective

KOLARAC CHAMBER MUSIC Kolarac Foundation Hall 22 January @ 11.00 Violin: Jelena Rokvić Piano: Katarina Hadži Antić Tatić Free entrance

culture news author photographs, that manages to merge the artistic interpretation with documentation. Exhibition “The whole city” was named after the Max Ernst’s piece on city of his dream, where natural and cultured spaces are interwoven. Six art photographers - Zoltan Jokaj, Andreas Rost, Maria Sevce, Ulrich Vista, Tomo Yamaguchi and Eva Bertram – will present different perspectives

of urban culture and urban life. Their common theme is the question of the identity of the man and the urban area. In doing so, the artists have included various aspects - city, architecture, portrait, contemporary history and society which turned to look inwards and outwards. Their thoughts are focused on everyday situations. It is through their photographs that they recount their own story. Photographs are intended to inform about modern Germany, striving for artistic strategy, which allows user-friendly access to the world of their images. Exhibition is organized by Goethe Institut.

Yuri reviCh guarnerius 25 December “He is only 20 years old and already considered as a young Paganinni” Radio Uno said about young Yuri Revich. On 25th December Guarnerius organized concert of one of the ﬁnest violinists of Russian younger generation Yuri Revich in Kolarac Foundation Hall. Yuri delighted Belgrade audience as well as audience around the world during his concerts at the most prestigious venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall. This was Yuri’s ﬁrst concert in Belgrade.

The program consisted of compositions by Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Piazzolla, Paganini, Bach, Rachmaninov and Sarasate, Yuri performed accompanied by the Polish pianist Piotr KOŠČIKA. Mt:S noć ReklaMoŽdeRa (la nuit deS PuBlivoReS) sava center 24 December Fans of the world of advertising and creativity, enjoyed best TV commercials from around the world during Mt:S Noć Reklamoždera on 24th December in Sava Center. Event dedicated to advertising, simultaneously held in more than 50 countries around the world, shines bright ideas in 150 cities. Worldwide event entertains millions of fans to the magical world of advertising, which celebrates its 30th birthday. This is

NEW YEAR’S FAIR belgrade Fair, 16-30 December The famous International New Year’s Fair at the Belgrade Fair opened on 16th December and completed until 30th December. This year, as always, the famous New Year’s fair offered various content for visitors of all ages. The rich supply of consumer goods was complete with the live entertainment which is usually the top reason for visiting Belgrade Fair in the holiday season. The famous amusement park, ice-skating rink, numerous sports competitions, as well as a video game competition, movie screening etc. – this is just a part of the content that has been prepared for this year’s visitors. Also, visitors were able to purchase all necessary items for the upcoming holidays and see a very affordable supply of textiles, garments, leather and footwear, food and beverage, technical goods, furniture etc.

the popular LA NUIT DES PUBLIVORES - known to us as the night ADEATERS. It was founded in 1981 in Paris by an avid lover of the world of advertising Jean Marie Boursicot, a pioneer who is now the owner of the world’s largest collection of advertisements. SuperStar worldwide, as the organizer is proud of the fact that the Belgrade audience showed their interest in this event, back in the 1996 when Belgrade hosted its ﬁrst Noć Reklamoždera. Over the years, Belgrade became the No. 1 city in the world by the number of the attendees.

iwC BelGrade fair

RECITAL FOR SOPRANO AND PIANO italian culture center 15 December Recital of pianist Adele D’Aronco and sopranist Maria Laetitia Groseli was held on 15th December in Italian Cultural Center. Adele D’Aronco and Maria Laetitia Groseli performed famous Verdi arias as well as Bellini and Rossini’s compositions. Adele D’Aronco, who was educated in famous institutions such as the Academy Chigiana and International Summer Academy Mozarteum in Salzburg, not only acquired numerous certiﬁcates and awards throughout Italy but also performed with respected names like opera Kabavainske Rhine. Often on tour in Italy and abroad, both performed as

soloist and in chamber ensembles and are engaged in contemporary Italian music. Soprano Maria Laetitia Groseli achieved great success in the Arena of Verona interpreting Liu’s opera “Turandot” under the leadership of Frank and Anna Zeﬁrelija in Verdi’s “Nabucco”.

ovations and unforgettable tennis player Novak Đoković who was presented with the award “Brand Serbia” for the best promotion of our country in the world. 2008 We all stood excitedly in the hall of the Sava Center, congratulating Milorad Čavić who was presented this year with the award “Brand Serbian”. 2009 this ﬂattering award was presented to our world champions in swimming Nađa Higl. 2010 Award the “Brand Serbian” was presented to our celebrated virtuoso on the violin-Stefan Milenković.

This success belongs to the cosmopolitan spirit of Belgrade, who appreciate the world but at the same its own creativity. The audience votes. The fantastic encompasses atmosphere with 4000 people watching the commercials and gets inspired, when they travel together into the world of advertisements across the world. In this lively and colorful atmosphere, a mixture of theater, carnival and crazy clubbing, Noć Reklamoždera communicated the positive energy through the games specially designed by traditional and new sponsors, led by Mt:S. A short overview of the previous Noć Reklamoždera: 2006 it celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla and ‘glow in the head’, a prize awarded “Brand Serbia” National Ensemble “KOLO” 2007 It was a unique night, marked by

sunday 4 December 2011 Once again generously hosted by Belgrade Fair, this year’s bazaar provided countless opportunities to buy beautiful gifts and taste food and drinks from all over the world. This was the IWC’s premiere fundraising event of the year and it would not have been as successful as it always is without the tremendous support of its members. The International Women’s

Club of Belgrade (IWC) is a non-governmental and non-proﬁt association run by volunteers with approximately 200 members from over 40 countries. The IWC welcomes and assists newcomers to Serbia; promotes knowledge and understanding of Serbia; fosters friendship amongst members and raises funds for community projects.

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 57

interview Sreten Ugričić, Director of the Serbian National Library

“Following the reconstruction of the Library’s infrastructure and interior and with the opening of twelve reading rooms, we can proudly say that, now, we are among the most contemporary and best equipped national libraries in Europe”

Cultural Project of the Year 58 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

lthough the culture project of the year has not yet been officially chosen, the end of the reconstruction of the building that houses the Serbian National Library certainly qualifies for the title. After four years of reconstruction works, the first library members entered the reconstructed building on 12th September. The reconstruction took twice as long as expected, but, now, the National Library spans across 6,000 functionally improved square metres, has 50% more places in the reading room that can house up to 600 people, there is internet connectivity for all of them along with a computers, and a reading room that has been specially designed for people with weak eyesight. The entrance hall has under gone reconstruction, as well as the cafeteria with an atrium and the hall in front of the main reading room now has an information counter and toilets on all three levels. In addition, electrical installations, hydrants, ventilation, air conditioning, telephone installations, video surveillance and an elevator have all been either replaced or reconstructed. The design is contemporary and very striking. We are talking to the Library’s director, Sreten Ugričić. ■ It’s been nearly three months since the reconstructed

building that houses the National Library has been opened. Have expectations been met?

- Every day, our reading rooms are filled and the number of people who spend their time there on a daily basis ranges between 700 and 1,000. One of the reasons why the reading

section of the library was reconstructed was to increase the capacity of our reading rooms by 50%. In addition to the increased capacity, working conditions have been significantly improved and none of our users are complaining as they were prior to the reconstruction, which tells us that the project has been successfully implemented. It’s especially wonderful to see just how thrilled young people are with the reconstructed library and its overall ambiance that aesthetically and functionally is very different to the surrounding area. They are also satisfied with the available information technology, which will incite them to learn and research more. ■ Bearing in mind that the reconstruction of the National Museum hasn’t even begun, the Museum of Modern Art is closed, and the Belgrade City Museum has been searching for a new location for the past five years, having the National Library’s building reconstructed is certainly a good sign. What was the reason behind the reconstructions delay? Money perhaps?

this is a testament to a cultural, historical and professional step forward, i.e. an improvement in the work done by our library and many others thanks to new technology. The Serbian Main E-Catalogue contains 2.5 million entries, has a digital collection of the most important materials from the Library’s foundations, over 1.5 million digital documents contained within 100 collections and it is all available to the public wherever they might be. Our members and visitors have other services available to them: KoBSON, which contains 35,000 of the most important global scientific journals in electronic format, 20,000 e-books, 2.5 million newspaper articles and video clips from the Ebart media documentation etc. The Library is improving and updating the aforementioned e-services on a daily basis. To illustrate this point, let me say that close to 8,000 users make use of our scientific journals database every day. ■ How well equipped is the National Library in comparison to other national libraries in Europe?

- Prior to the reconstruction and taking into consideration our professional work and - In the last six months, the Serbian National successes in national, European and global Library, the Cinematheque and the Lepenski projects, our library was amongst the most Vir Museum have all been repaired or reconsuccessful national libraries. However, the structed. These institutions are renowned conditions for our employees and users were in Europe and around the world. So, there not up to standard and we were considered a are positive signals that improvements of poorly equipped library. Today, following the the main national cultural institutions and reconstruction of the Library’s protection of Serbia’s cultural heritage is catching up with Without culture, everything is reduced to infrastructure and interior we can proudly say that, now, we the rest of the world. None imitation, improvisation, manipulation, are amongst the most conof our state’s improvement declarative statements and rhetoric, temporary and best supplied priorities like democracy, incompetence and, in the end, oblivion national libraries in Europe. rule of the law, economy of Recently, there was a threeknowledge, environmental day international meeting, organized by the European Library, sustainability, independent media and educational system, which took place in the Serbian National Library. Over 120 of satisfactory health service and so on are possible if we don’t our colleagues visited us from almost every single national reach a corresponding level of culture that is alive and eflibrary in Europe. Their reactions were very positive and we fective. Without culture, everything is reduced to imitation, received a lot of praise which validates the fact that we are one improvisation, manipulation, declarative statements and of the top contemporary libraries. rhetoric, incompetence and, in the end, oblivion. Culture means and guarantees solid foundations, quality, dignity and understanding. Culture is a production of reason, as a uni■ Not so long ago, the Leipzing Library returned books that fying social capital, and an invisible and immeasurable, but were seized during WWII to the Serbian National Library. necessary, force of functionality and integration, both interWhat does that gesture mean to you? nally and externally. If the self-consciousness, i.e. awareness - These are not just the books that were missing from our liof culture’s vital importance were higher up on the political brary. The quiet and dramatic destiny of books published by and strategic agenda of our country, we would not be under Geca Kon, which was the most important Yugoslav book pubthe impression that a shortage of money was the only problisher between the two world wars, reflect Europe’s history lem and we would all know its purpose. over the last seventy years. These are the translated books that contained the most valuable thoughts of the European civili■ What is available to your members thanks to the library’s zation, as well as books written by the most prominent Serbian intellectuals of that time. With the surge of Nazism, Geca main catalogue, digitalization and other innovations? Kon and his family were brutally killed during the holocaust - Close to 20,000 people use the Library’s online service and cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 59

and the books they published were seized and sent to Vienna where Hitler’s Third Reich’s main distribution centre was stationed. In April 1941, following the Nazi bombing of Belgrade, the Serbian National Library was destroyed. Geca Kon’s books were sent to many European libraries, on demand from the distribution centre in Vienna, and ended up in the library of Leipzig University where they were displayed on the library’s shelves without any information on their background. Following the unification of Germany, post WWII, the archives were brought to light. Thanks to a wonderful initiative launched by my colleague and director of the University of Leipzig’s Library, Ulrich Johannes Schneider, a list of Geca Kon’s books was sent to us and I sincerely thank him for that. Since Geca Kon has no living relatives, Mr. Schneider got in touch with me and we quickly reached an agreement on returning the seized books to Serbia. Mr. Schneider and the German Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Mr. Wolfram Mass were the first Germans to enter the Serbian National Library in Kosančićev Venac after 70 years. The books of Geca Kon have finally arrived home, thus rounding off the era which details the history and culture of Serbia, Germany and Europe since 1941 until today. ■ What is the value of the books in the Serbian National Library?

exhibition of the Roma people’s culture in Europe that was a great success. We are also partners in projects that deal with materials from WWII, medieval manuscripts etc. We can also proudly say that our library is one of the founders and most active partners in Europeana.

■ The Serbian National Library is a member of the European Library. What kind of library is that?

- Together with Europeana, the European Library (TEL) is currently the biggest and most important pan-European project for the preservation and presentation of European cultural heritage. The main aim of the project is to use a multi-lingual portal of the European Library (TEL) to gain access to integrated catalogues and the most valuable collections from all European national libraries. TEL also serves as an aggregate for collecting and processing library materials, which, after that, are transferred to Europeana. The web portal of Europeana has masses of digital collections of literary and audio-visual materials from many European museums, archives, libraries, cinematography archives etc. The Serbian National Library’s collection was amongst the first to be included in the European Library and is available for perusal via Europeana’s portal. ■ For years, there

have been debates

- Their total value about the danger is immeasurable of our national because these Between 700-1000 people use the identity being lost due to the EU integration books represent Serbian National Library on a daily basis. process. Do you think that is a possibility? our entire written Following the reconstruction, the Library - Of course not. However, this misinterpreheritage. If we are tation is not only a characteristic of Serbia has twice as many reading places talking about inand its attitude towards its own European dividual pieces, I would like to single out several exceptionally identity and integrity. If the idea of multiculturalism is revaluable manuscripts from the 13th century like the Belgrade flected through a lack of tolerance for being different, then Paroemaic - Bratkov Menaion, the Speeches of Teodor Studit we have a problem. Very often, we have been witnesses of and the Collection of Serbian Hagiographies written by Monk relativisation and resignation coming from the top European Marko. Also, there is the 14th century Lestvica, 15th century politicians – Angela Merkel, David Cameron, Silvio BerlusAleksandrida, and Prizren’s copy of Dušan’s Code from the first coni and, as of recently, Hungarian politicians. Since identity half of the 16th century. Not to mention the legacies of Miloš is above everything, the accent is on irreducible differences Crnjanski, Ljubomir Micić and Veselin Čajkanović. that are artificially created and promoted. And the point is not on emphasizing differences, but similarities. It sounds ■ You are a member of Europeana. What is Europeana’s paradoxical but it’s true. Similarity, rather than difference is a better protector of identity if we care so much about this stance on Serbian heritage? phantasm. Only different things can be similar. There are no - Europeana has accepted a whole range of digitized items differences in identity. If you insist on similarities, it will reprepared by our library. We have included 70 of our most imsult in recognition, getting closer to each other, understandportant literary works in the ’Europe Reads’ project, as have ing dialogue, cooperation and integration. The point is not all other national libraries. This means that, now, Europeana emphasizing the autism of differences, but the dialogue beis a digital treasury of the European literary canon. Apart from tween similarities. ■ that, we have initiated staging a specialized pan-European

60 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

chill out

Baby Swimmer

Wandsworth, South London, in the New Year. London Baby Swim’s operations directors are confident that babies have what it takes to be happy in a swimming pool. The new 10,000 gallon pool will be heated to a pleasant 33 degrees Celsius and be 4ft-deep. Special UV light is used to keep the water clean and reduce the amount of chlorine used for a pool that is friendly to sensitive babies’ skin.

A baby swims underwater at London Baby Swim Centre in Osterley, West London. The specialist centre caters for babies from just six weeks old. The current baby-adapted pool is such a hit with water-mad parents that the centre’s owners have decided to open the UK’s first fully purpose-built baby swim centre in

Contortionists 2012 Calendar Zlata the rubbery Russian contortionist, has created 12 wonderfully weird poses for each month of the year, ranging from performing the splits to cooking in the kitchen with her leg over her head. The 25-year-old makes every shot an opportunity to show off her suppleness. The former gymnast, whose real name is Julia Gunthel, expanded her British fan base after showing off her wiry skills outside the Houses of Parliament in London last January. Zlata, who now lives in Germany, discovered her talent when she was just four-years-old, but in an odd twist to her career, last month she won her first Guinness World record, bursting three balloons with her back, which she did in 12 seconds.

Cocaine Bar Route 36 has turned La Paz, Bolivia, at 3,900m above sea level, into a hotspot for drug tourism, is home to the most celebrated bar in all of South America: Route 36, the world’s first cocaine lounge. This new trend of ‘cocaine tourism’ can be put down to a combination of Bolivia’s notoriously corrupt public officials, the chaotic attitude of La Paz, and the national example of President Evo Morales, himself a coca grower. In early July, the largest ever cocaine factory was discovered in eastern Bolivia, capable of producing 100kg a day. The lab was the fourth large facility to be found in Bolivia in 2011. Nowhere in South America is cocaine production growing faster than Bolivia.

Animals Predict Earthquakes Animals may sense chemical changes in groundwater that occur when an earthquake is about to strike. This, scientists say, could be the cause of bizarre earthquake-associated animal behaviour. Researchers began to investigate these chemical effects after seeing a colony of toads abandon its pond in L’Aquila, Italy, 62 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

in 2009 - days before a quake. Animals that live in or near groundwater are highly sensitive to any changes in its chemistry, so they might sense this days before the rocks finally “slip” and cause a quake. There have been reports throughout history of reptiles, amphibians and fish behaving in unusual ways just before an earthquake struck. Let’s hope there are none in 2012.

4° of Seperation Forget the famous 6 degress of separation - we are now only four people away from being friends. A study of the relationships between 721million Facebook users on the social networking website revealed that 92% of users are only four connections away from each other. The largest social network

study ever - was carried out in collaboration with researchers at Università degli Studi di Milano. Detailing the findings, Cameron Marlow, in-house research scientist at Facebook, said: “We found that the degrees of separation between any two Facebook users is smaller than the commonly cited six degrees, and has been shrinking over the past three years as Facebook has grown.”

1km Long Xmas Cake The cake, measuring exactly 1,068 metres, was created at the Pudong Shangri-la Hotel. The busy chefs designed and baked the cake across a period of seven days. A staggering 904 organic eggs, 1045kg of flour, 209kg of sugar, 401kg of bitter chocolate and an impressive 34 kilograms of Tahitian vanilla were all mixed together to create the one-of-akind dessert. The final presentation saw 150 staff put the finishing touches to the cake, helping to place it out on 156 tables during an intense 24-hour period. Initially the team of cooks aimed to create a cake at a length of 888 metres. All proceeds from the sale of slices to the public went to support chemotherapy treatment of four children in Shanghai.

Superman Superprice A copy of the first issue of Action Comics, featuring Superman’s debut, has become the world’s most expensive comic, fetching €1.6 million. It was auctioned online for a starting bid of just €0.7, with a reserve price of €668,976. It is the first time a comic book has broken the €1 million barrier. The issue was published in 1938 and cost 10 cents, with only about 100 copies of Action Comics No 1 thought to still be in existence. Another copy of the same issue sold for a then record-breaking €1.1 million in March 2010, but that one was not in as good condition as this copy. Connoisseurs of the comic world say this type of investment has become popular during troubled economic times.

World's Largest Insect The giant weta is a cricket-like creature with a wingspan of close to seven inches. The one in the picture, isn’t just the largest weta, it’s the world’s largest insect ever photographed. Renowned entomologist, Mark Moffett, found the amazing bug after two days of searching New Zealand’s Little Barrier Island.

The species was previously found on the New Zealand mainland, but had been virtually annihilated by rats introduced by Europeans. Moffett located the weta in a tree and proceeded to feed her a carrot. “She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away,” Moffett said in a press release. cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 63

feature

Fast Money ■ By Max WiLLiAMS

ife in the fast lane doesn’t come cheap. All the players in F1 from hospitality to whole nations are well aware that there are huge rewards for being a part of the rolling money making machine. However, the costs to become a player, at any level, are not cheap, as unsuccessful team bids from the likes of the now nonexistent Steffan GP, from Serbia, will attest. In this feature we delve into the financial facts of Formula 1 to see what is spent and what, if you’re lucky (read: pay out a fortune) can be earnt.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship in F1 typically provides around 60% of a team’s budget but this is increasingly harder to attain. When

64 |

89 January 2012

companies slashed their marketing budgets due to the global financial crisis it made them look even harder at the returns they were getting from sponsorship. So whilst the budgets of the bestperforming teams ticks over, it has become even harder for the back markers. This has led to the funding gulf between the top and bottom of the grid growing ever wider. The top three outfits of 2011 - Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren - together pulled in over half of the teams’ total sponsorship revenues. Virgin-Cosworth, which finished in last place, is believed to have little more than €1.5 million in sponsorship. Remarkably this is nearly 1,000 times smaller than the income of F1’s biggest sponsorship earner Ferrari.

www.cordmagazine.com

To prevent teams from hitting the wall, if owners decided to pull the plug on funding, the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA) was introduced. This limits areas such as staff numbers, size of computer storage space and the amount of days cars can be tested on track. However, there are significant exclusions from it such as marketing costs and engine development, which accounts for around €260m of annual spending. They may make all the difference. The RRA was introduced in 2009 but this didn’t stop Red Bull Racing’s costs increasing 8.8% to €182.7m in its bid to win the championship. To maximise lead time, development work on F1 cars is done the year before they are introduced and in 2009 Red Bull Racing’s spending

Sport is big business, and it doesn’t come much bigger than the most glamorous of them all, Formula 1. Whether or not you are fan, the numbers involved are nothing short of staggering. From Australia to America, the long way round, everyone wants a piece of the financial pie street circuits get higher than average attendance than races at permanent venues where Grand Prix destinations such as Turkey and China have become famous for their less than filled grandstands. The higher attendance increases the street circuits’ take from ticket sales but they lose out in other areas. Many permanent circuits sell camping spaces with each slot going for around €50. Assuming that around 30,000 are sold per race, this brings in €1.5m. The remaining revenue sources are roughly equivalent for both street and permanent venues. They aren’t all what you might expect though. Venues get around 25% commission on food and beverages sold at onsite Wage: McLaren Racing, offered Lewis stands. This brings in around €800,000 ‘a drive for life’ deal, which would whilst selling presee him earning in excess of €350 mium parking spacmillion over the course of his career es makes around spending in the local area during the Grand Prix weekends. The governments also get promotion on a scale that isn’t possible with any other annual sport as they use the races to advertise their countries to F1’s approximate 527 million television viewers, and thus drive tourism. The return governments get from F1 is almost unparalleled in the world of sport, but so is their input. Unsurprisingly, ticket sales bring in the majority of revenue. On average, they comprise €22m of the €27m revenue for permanent circuits and €16.3m of the €20m brought in by races on city streets. With hugely popular races such as Singapore and Australia amongst them,

on research and development increased 18.8% to €66.6m. It was far from the only focus of the team’s investment drive as it also spent €5.7m on improving its engineering facilities and although staff numbers remained stable at 592 their total pay increased 21.9% to €53.4m. To cover the increase in costs Dietrich Mateschitz, co-founder of the Red Bull energy drinks company that owns the team, agreed to boost investment in F1 to €124m. It gave the team victory and proved that although the championship is decided on track, the off-track battle of the budgets is an equally, if not more important part of the season. Team sponsorship increased by 10 percent in 2011, while F1’s revenue was €1.16 billion.

Government & Beneﬁts

A total of 15 of F1’s 19 races are funded with government cash. Last year, governments invested an estimated €304.1m in the races and got a return of around 465% from the 1.5m spectators

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 65

return to the track well after the race has Ecclestone’s family trusts and a group of half that. Likewise, merchandise spots finished and stay at a hotel trackside. investment banks. The controversial Mr go for as much as €19,000 with several From an organisers’ viewpoint, although Ecclestone remains the sport’s chief exsold at each race. the running costs are high, it takes less ecutive and a large shareholder in Delta Race costs differ widely between time to arrange since few permanent faTopco. Mr Ecclestone and his family trusts permanent circuits and street races with cilities need to be built. This gives their have earned more than €109.6m in five the latter being a great deal more costly hosts quick access to the attractions of years from their stakes in Delta Topco. to organise. The biggest single cost is the F1 and means that they have no fears of fee paid to the F1 Group, which stands at being left with a white elephant if they around €21.9m for both street and perThe Drivers decide to quit when their contract exmanent circuits. However, street circuits Formula 1 drivers are a rare breed, pires. In contrast, permanent circuits then have to pay approximately €6m to their bodies have to be able to cope cost around €186m to build and are dirent portable pit buildings, another €6m with enormous amounts of G force, ificult to re-purpose if required. to buy safety fencing and barriers and have lightning fast reaction times, the €10m on renting grandstands. ability bed women like its a contractual The costs of renting grandstands, obligation and cope with the never endF1 Owners pits and fencing comes to a total of ing travelling. Thus, the drivers are reIn 2010, The Formula Money Report around €22.4m and accounts for the big warded heavily. - an industry analysis of the business of difference in costs between street cirIn addition to salaries, purely for Grand Prix racing - said that F1’s holding cuits and permanent venues. The other their sporting ability, drivers are given company made net profits of €101.5m afkey costs are marketing, staff and vehicompany cars (not bad if they work ter costs, which included paying race teams cle hire which come to over at say Ferrari or McLaren), €7.5m for both types of race. Sponsorship: The top three outfits of and earn colossal amounts This gives permanent venues money through numerous 2011 - Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren of total annual costs estimated sponsorship deals. Tradition- together pulled in over half of the ally, Ferrari pays the highat €35.6m whereas street races have to pay around teams’ total sponsorship revenues est amongst the teams, with €65m. It leaves the permaFernando Alonso topping the nent venues with an annual deficit of list with €28 million annually. McLaren €487.5m. It brought the net profits made €15.6m with street races losing €40m. pays €18 million to their former world since the private equity firm CVC took conSingapore’s Government for example, champion driver, Jenson Button, while trol of F1 in 2006 to €900 million. is believed to be investing €45m in the Red Bull pay the 2011 World ChampiCVC, which now owns 63.4% of F1’s race every year. Governments generally on Sebastian Vettel, and his teammate Jersey-based parent company Delta Toppick up the bill and there is a valid reaMark Webber, €16 million. Even the co, made €64.4m from the sport in 2010. son as to why they are prepared to pay least experienced F1 drivers like Sergio The remaining €37.2m in profits was split more for street races. Perez and Paul di Resta are paid in the between investment banks and individuWith local landmarks in the backregion of €200,000. als who own the rest of Delta Topco, inground, TV viewers’ attention is foLewis Hamilton is one of the luckicluding Sir Martin Sorrell, boss of advercussed on the background just as much est drivers at present. His performances tising giant WPP with a 0.3% stake. CVC as it is on the race. It also allows fans to in 2011 were slightly disappointing in bought majority control of F1 from Bernie 66 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

terms of both his performance and the car he was given, however this did not deter his bosses at McLaren making him the deal of a life time, literally. Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Racing, offered Lewis ‘a drive for life’ deal, which would see him earning in excess of €350 million over the course of his career. The deal would make him the richest sportsman in Formula 1’s history. Despite the colossal offer, Hamilton will be out of contract at the end of 2012 with a deal yet to be concluded. For 2012 an old face is returning, Kimi Raikkonen – The Ice Man, which will bring the total of former world champions on the grid to 6. Kimi has signed a two year contract with Lotus Renault

Fee: The biggest single cost is the fee paid to the F1 Group, which stands at around €21.9m for both street and permanent circuits

GP, estimated to be worth in the region of €15 million per year. Not bad for a 32 year old who quit the sport in 2009.

The Chequered Flag

Formula 1 is a tangled knot of contracts and negotiations that to untangle would require a lengthy stay in the brain of Bernie Ecclestone. Not only are there debates concerning the racing itself – generally due to Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton - there is much contro-

versy surrounding the sport in general. Secret meetings, rumours of favouritism, whispers of bribery and unsavoury characters coupled with sums of money that are almost unbelievable it is no surprise there are some questions that people

F1 Car Costs – Price per Single Part Telemetry Software €87,450

would like answers to. Regardless of the debates, Formula 1 is a spectacular and very expensive show. The sport of kings is horseracing, but the sport of multi millionaires and billionaires is most definitely Formula 1. ■

Exhaust €9,300

Steering Wheel €23,000

Brakes €2,900

Rear Wing €10,400

Front Wing €17,490 Tyres €600

Gearbox €110,000

Undertray €7,000

Engine €172,500

Total Cost for Season (incl. replacement parts etc.) €5.55 million

2012 F1 Race Calendar Round Race Title

Grand Prix

Circuit

Date

Australian Grand Prix

Australian GP

Albert Park, Melbourne

18 March

Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix

Malaysian GP

Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur 25 March

UBS Chinese Grand Prix

Chinese GP

Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai

15 April

Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix

Bahrain GP

Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir

22 April

Gran Premio de España Santander

Spanish GP

Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona

13 May

Grand Prix de Monaco

Monaco GP

Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo

27 May

Grand Prix du Canada

Canadian GP

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal

10 June

Grand Prix of Europe

European GP

Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia

24 June

Santander British Grand Prix

British GP

Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone

8 July

Großer Preis Santander von

German GP

Hockenheimring, Hockenheim

22 July

Eni Magyar Nagydíj

Hungarian GP

Hungaroring, Budapest

29 July

Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Belgian GP

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa

2 September

Gran Premio Santander d’Italia

Italian GP

Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza

9 September

SingTel Singapore Grand Prix

Singapore GP

Marina Bay Street Circuit, Marina Bay

23 September

Japanese Grand Prix

Japanese GP

Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka

7 October

Korean Grand Prix

Korean GP

Korean International Circuit, Yeongam

14 October

Airtel Grand Prix of India

Indian GP

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Abu Dhabi GP

Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida

28 October

Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi

4 November

United States Grand Prix

United States GP Circuit of the Americas, Austin

18 November

Grande Prêmio do Brasil

Brazilian GP

25 November

Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 67

restaurant

Waiting on

Excellence

I, unlike the rest of the foreign community in Belgrade, had not eaten at Public Dine & Wine before this review, but I had heard some very good things. Normally, I am cynical when it comes popular restaurants, however Public Wine & Dine lived up to the er... public’s opinion – oh the shame

hen one decides to head out on a cool ■ By Max WiLLiAMS and foggy December and simple decor. It does have a slight whiff of IKEA catanight to eat at a restaulogue, albeit of the nonexistent quite expensive restaurants rant that they have heard range variety that the Swedes aren’t specialising in these through the grapevine is days. The tables on the upper level are all in light coloured excellent, one is usually wood, complimented by a very simple table arrangement optimistic and full of exof white plates and standard silver cutlery. To give credit citement thinking of the where it’s due I must say that coupled with the cool wallwarm and well-cooked paper, the restaurant has a very London or New York feel meal that awaits them. about it. The tables in the lower lever of the restaurant are I, on the other hand, am bar style, and pleasingly my regular reviewing partner and innately pessimistic no I were not sat there. Sitting on a stool is perfectly fine when matter how good something, or indeed someThe menu is made up of dishes from across Europe, taking in a pre-party where, reportedly is. primarily cooked on lava stones and includes a cocktail or two and a light snack, but not Consequently, as I made very nice selection of Serbian specialities for a full-blown meal. my way to Public Wine Maybe that’s just & Dine, I thought ‘This is going to be another let down in me though, howevthe Belgrade culinary journey of Max Williams – reviewer I will acknowler extraordinaire.’ The reviewer, that has a terrible habit of edge that for big switching whimsically between the first and third person, groups,particularly was to soon be proved very wrong. younger people, it The entrance to Public sits on a lovely cobbled street, is acceptable. that happens to be the oldest in Belgrde, near the Austrian Whilst waiting embassy. As you descend into the heart of the restaurant, to be served I slowa view across the Danube to New Belgrade gently strokes ly, and increasingyour face, as opposed to hitting you square in the jaw with an iron-clad fist, and it is a beautifully subtle way to enter ly irritatingly, stumbled upon the only issue I have with the establishment. The same goes for the inside of the res- Public, and that, in an ironic and completely unfunny twist, taurant, that is if you are lucky enough to be seated at a ta- is the waiting itself. It is not uncommon in Serbia to have wait for what seems like an age before you are served, and ble next to the plane glass windows. The first thing that you will notice, as I know I certain- it would be unfair to say that the wait was ridiculous, but ly did, and all great minds think alike (says I, in what is no it wasn’t far off. However, after ordering a bottle of Spanish doubt a sentence of offensive flattery), is the laidback, hip red, which came via the scenic route... probably from Spain,

68 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

my date and I settled in to peruse the very well put togeth- greener than my dates. Full of flavour, not overpowering er menu, and drink half the bottle. The wine had a quirk and accompanied with deliciously soft bread, she, for once, that I love, yet I know others despise. It was chilled. This to out did me. To carry on the beef theme, I ordered the beef me is a lovely thing, but it might make sense for the restau- steak. I admit that a steak is a rather unimaginative choice, but on a cold winters eve, there is something very satisfyrant to offer customers the choice. Public Dine & Wine offers a very good selection of dish- ing about a chunk of meat. On a side note, I am a on a peres, most of them being served on a wooden board. The sonal quest to find a restaurant in Serbia that can make me menu is made up of dishes from across Europe, cooked pri- a steak the way I actually ask for it – medium, well. And, marily on lava stones and includes a very nice selection of thankfully, this was the point at which my quest came to Serbian specialities. To start, my partner and I opted for the an abrupt end. Public, hvala for listening. Along with the Serbian platter. On the enormous slab of wood was a selec- delicious steak were three jars, two containing standard tion of meats, cheese, ajvar and some of the nicest bread- condiments, one containing oranges. I still don’t see the sticks I have ever had the pleasure of having stuck in my gums. The portion sizes, like in most restaurants in Serbia, and across the region for that matter, are vast but for once I didn’t mind. Appetisers mainly consist of meat and cheese dishes, whilst on the main menu the offers are far more extensive. A very good option with certain dishes, like our mixed platter, is the choice of having a small, medium Not only is Public Dine & Wine a great place point but I suppose that in an avant-garde Serbian or large. That might sound by Serbian standards, it is far better than restaurant a few quirks a bit McDonaldsish, but it many supposed guarantees in Europe have to be offered. The only slight imperfection of my meal was the distinct lack of vegetables. The very thin and wide chips were both superb to taste and in preparation, housed in their paper wrap. This reviewer is a very lucky man. I am allowed, and fortunate enough to eat at some of the best restaurants not makes sense. The more of you there are, the bigger you go. only in Serbia, but across Naturally, being just the two of us, we went for the medithe globe. Not only is um, which still proved too much. After another inexplicably long wait, which gave me Public Dine & Wine a great place by Serbian standards, it more than enough time to take in the fanatic atmosphere, is far better than many supposed guarantees in Europe. In the mains finally arrived. My date ordered the steak tar- words that Winston Churchill probably never said: sometare, and to cut a very long winded and excessively artic- times you have to experience the bad to relish in the good, ulate story short, it was remarkable. I am very rarely jeal- sometimes you have to taste bitterness to remind yourself ous in restaurants, I have a keen eye for what sounds good of what is sweet, other times you must listen to the puband usually make a choice based on what I see others eat- lic to know that they are wrong, and sometimes you have ing and what I think the chefs from a particular country to stop trying to think of puns and say that Public deserves this display of affection. ■ will be adept at making. As it turned out, my eyes became cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 69

techno talk ’s tecHnoLogicaL MUSt HaVeS for 2012 – neW year, neW tecH

The turn of a New Year is a time when you should treat yourself to some new tech to make your life that little bit easier, and, of course, cooler, unless the Mayans are to be proved right after all, in which case we’ve got you covered... just to be safe. A number of gadgets in this Top 10 are not yet released whilst others came out at the back end of 2011, however they are all worthy of a spot on our list of must have buys for 2012 ■ by Max WiLLiAMS

SONY HDR-TD10 €TBA Whereas some other 3D cams reduce resolution, the TD10 doesn’t, instead it has two independent HD sensors and a 10x optical zoom. You can also watch 3D footage back in full-HD 2D, should you be in the shameful situation of lacking a state-of-the-art TV.

LG PRADA 3.0 €TBA Fashionista Alert! Slated for a 2012 release, the android powered device is rumored to sport a 4.3" Nova HD display, a powerful dual-core processor and 8-megapixel camera. The Prada phone by LG has been slated for launch in early 2012. Get your (designer) wallets ready. 70 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

SONY PERSONAL 3D VIEWER €TBA One of the most futuristic-looking devices to be launched in 2012, the head-mounted "Personal 3D Viewer” is slipped onto your head to give the experience of a movie theatre-like virtual screen. The device has separate panels for the left and right eye resulting in 3D vision.

iPAD 3 €TBA Another product from the kings of must want technology. A quad-core A6 processor should be powering Apple's new tablet, which might be thicker than the iPad 2 in order to house dual light bars that will make its screen super bright. Expected in March 2012.

APPLE iTV €TBA Apple is reportedly set to enter the television market with a line of repeatedly rumoured iTV television sets to be officially launched by the Cupertino based company at the end of 2012. Apple’s iTV has been repeatedly referred to as the late Steve Jobs’ ‘pet project’.

HOME HUB CHAIR €900 The Home Hub chair is covered in luxury semi-aniline leather, in addition to featuring a built-in headrest Bluetooth speaker system. Headphones can be plugged in for a more personal listening experience, although it would be a lot cheaper buying an ipod and a new dock to go along with it. Just not nearly as cool.

LUCA TRAZZI XI ESPRESSO MAKER €800 This 18-bar pressure espresso-making machine strides the balance between clinical design and features with aplomb. It froths milk speedily and has a rail around the top to keep your cups warm whilst the 1.5 litre water tank heats up. The machine is finished in powder-coated steel for durability.

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 71

techno talk SAMSUNG 950 3D MONITOR €850 Not only will this give your computer a facelift, it’s equipped for 2D to 3D conversion too. Available in 23 or 27 inch models, the 950 is also a bit of an eco warrior, using zero watts in power saving mode, and its EcoLight Sensor adjusts the screen brightness to the room, optimising picture quality and saving energy.

EGO TULIP LAPTOP €10,000 & Up Ego Tulip Laptops are the height of computing luxury, and are far from mere fashion accessories. With cutting edge tech EGO has created fashion and function in the extreme. Most laptops can be customised in anything ranging from gemstones and white gold plates to ostrich leather.

KNIGHT XV ARMOURED SUV €375,000 Doomsday 2012 is coming and anyone who has seen the Mad Max series knows that you are going to need a capable vehicle to survive in an inhospitable wasteland. The Knight XV is certainly more capable than most in this scenario It also runs on E85, which means it's 6.8L V10 is, sort of, environmentally friendly.

EAT FORTE TURNTABLE €15,000 If you’ve listened to Pink Floyd and thought, “Mr. Floyds’s good!” then you don’t love music enough to spend €15k on this beautiful EAT Forte turntable. It features mind-boggling tech to ensure your vinyl won’t rumble like the giant boulder in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Pink would’ve loved it.

TOMTOM NIKE+ SPORTSWATCH GPS €200 This watch captures your location during a run and logs your time, distance, pace, and calories burned. Sync it to your PC via USB and it’ll map your tracks and upload your stats for others to see. If that’s not encouragement enough, it motivates you verbally with ‘attaboys’, and reminds you if you haven’t run for five days. 72 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

ElliptiGO €2,300 When former Iron Man triathlete Bryan Pate became injured and had to stop running, he found cycling at length too uncomfortable, so devised a hybrid of the two. Instead of pedalling you stand and move your feet in an elliptical motion to power the ElliptiGO – it’s easier on the joints than running.

BRAMMO ENERTIA PLUS €6,800 Where other electric motorcycles use up half their juice just leaving the driveway, the Enertia Plus gets eighty miles to a charge – easily enough to get to work and back. Its electric motor will fly off the line, but avoid the motorways; at the top speed of sixty-five miles per hour, its battery drains doubly fast.

PLAYSTATION VITA €TBA Boasting graphics that are nearly up to PS3 standard and a massive amount of games, the Vita is expected to be a hit when it is launched in February. It has an intuitive touch-screen on the front and back, and uses augmented reality in many of its games.

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 73

fashion

Wardrobe Update F

ashion is evolutionary and thus your wardrobe should follow suit - pun entirely intended. Although ‘the look’ for 2012 is not too different from 2011 (fashion evolves over time, and in cycles) there are some key trends set for the New Year. As a break from the more sombre pieces of last year, colours in - big time. Every fashion house worth their salt has introduced some ﬂair into their collections from trim details to full on prints. Take a look over the following pages at our top picks to get the New Year started in the right way... Fashionably.

RICK OWENS

2012 is upon us, as are some fabulous new pieces in the world of fashion. With so many items to choose from it can be difficult to know what is in and what is out! The classics are still very much in fashion, particularly in menswear with shoe styles like the brogue being a must in any modern mans wardrobe MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

Cotton Sweater With Elbow Patches € 295 A simple piece with distinctive leather elbow patch detail, this is sporty style with a twist. Team with sneakers and chinos for a dynamic, goanywhere look.

Cashmere Beanie Hat

€ 220 Rick Owens black cashmere beanie hat with ribbed trim. A basic item gets an ultra sophisticated update; this hat comes in cashmere so soft that you’ll long for cold weather.

JIMMY CHOO

Draycott Leather Oxford Shoes € 485 Dark brown leather Jimmy Choo Draycott shoes with laceup front and leather sole and mid sole. These classic brown Oxfords will be the backbone of any considered professional wardrobe. The perfect accent to refined tailoring.

74 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

Skull Printed Triangular Scarf € 370

Take a style tip from the raffish charm of Mr Johnny Depp with this triangular shape red cotton-blend scarf by Alexander Mcqueen. The signature skull print and vivid colour will bring a punchy accent to an everyday look.

VALTER MAN’S BELGRADE

Supermarket Concept Store € 253

Valter is all about cross styling and versatile choices that are always right. From a business meeting to a casual occasion, the Valter man is cool and selfconfident. Look for Valter in Supermarket Concept Store, Visnjiceva 10, Belgrade.

DOLCE & GABBANA

Classic Patent Leather Shoes J.CREW

Cashmere Zip Up Hoodie € 455

J.Crew zip up hoodie with front pockets, ribbed cuffs and hem, and drawstring toggles. In super fine navy blue cashmere, this hoodie is an ideal piece for laid back weekend style.

€ 385 Patent leather shoes from Dolce & Gabbana with front lace up and leather soles. Sleek and sophisticated, these shoes will provide sartorial punch to considered evening attire.

CHURCH’S

Grafton Wingtip Leather Brogues € 428

Black leather wingtip brogues from Church’s with chunky rubber soles and a full leather lining. These solid, hard-working shoes will form the base of a formal wardrobe.

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 75

MAX & CO

Limone Tuxedo Jacket € 274 Max & Co.’s black Limone tuxedo jacket features understated tonal panelling, and is perfect for creating this season’s androgynous look.

HERVE LEGER

Narrow Bandage Dress € 1,630

RUPERT SANDERSON

Chicago Boot

A red carpet icon, Hervé Léger’s signature dresses are coveted the world over. This silhouette-revealing dress in lightweight fabric pairs well with bright accessories.

€ 845 rupert Sanderson’s chicago boot in black features fulllength zip closure; an ultrasmart style that will add a touch of elegance to the season’s ensembles.

ZUHAIR MURAD

Beaded Cropped Jacket € 2,665 Adorned with a host of glittering, light-reflecting beads, Zuhair Murad’s cropped evening jacket cuts a strong silhouette with padded shoulders and exaggerated embellishment.

76 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

ZUHAIR MURAD

Beaded Shift Dress € 4,690 For attention-grabbing style this season, look no further than Zuhair Murad’s beaded shift dress. Keep accessories to a minimum and let this stunning dress do all the talking.

MARC BY MARC JACOBS

House of Marc Snappy Bag

€ 399

The bag House of Marc Snappy designed under Marc Jacobs’ name are funky and classic at the same time whilst still bearing retro features. Look for Marc by Marc Jacobs’ collection FW 2012 in Supermarket Concept Store, Visnjiceva 10, Belgrade

LANVIN

Fox Fur Gilet € 6,990 The autumnal shades of Lanvin’s fox fur gilet add depth to layered ensembles; layer over chunky knits and maxi skirts for a grown-up bohemian vibe.

FREYWILLE

Luna Piccolissima € 1,566 The Luna Piccolissima ring, reminiscent of the full moon in form, displays FREYWILLE designs in a unique and enchanting way. Each diamond representing the gem-like quality of the full moon on a clear night. Available in FREYWILLE boutique, Terazije 26.

MONIQUE LHUILLIER

Embroidered Tulle Gown € 15,735 Monique Lhuillier’s embroidered tulle gown in ivory is a dress fit for a princess. Beautifully embroidered, the black velvet ribbon tie at the waist provides the perfect finishing touch.

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 77

DIPLOMATIC

Services

78 |

Dufry Diplomatic Services Serbia Phone: +381 11 205 41 47 Fax: +381 11 205 41 47 E-mail: diplomatic@rs.dufry.com http://diplomaticservice.dufry.rs

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 79

DIPLOMATIC

Services

80 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

Thank you for shopping with us cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 81

proﬁle

Teamwork is CRUCIAL Having, on one hand, ‘Swiss punctuality’ in her blood and on the other a more easygoing, flexible attitude to life which is closer to her Serbian roots, Manuela Stamatović easily adapts to different environments, business cultures and expectations

ManUela staMatoVić,

Marketing Director at Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad

orn in Switzerland, where she finished both elementary nication is crucial not only in fulfilling and high school, and growing up in a multicultural environher division’s goals, but also in supment, Manuela learnt to speak five languages and easily porting colleagues and ensuring the adapt to foreign cultures and ways of doing business. During her further development of the whole business. high school years, it was clear that marketing and management Manuela motivates herself by always searching for new prowas what she wanted to pursue as her future profession. fessional or personal challenges, and new ways to develop the “Languages were always my passion,” said Manuela “But I business and integrate new marketing practices and ideas into yearned to work in a dynamic and challenging industry, which coits strategy. Innovation and vision are keywords in the marketing incided with a time when marketing was an upcoming and visionprofession, especially if you want to stand out in an oversaturatary field of business.” ed market. Teamwork and constant communication are definiteWhen she moved to Belgrade, at the age of 20, she chose IFAM ly the main factors in her achieving the best possible results and Business School for her studies, as then it was the only specialhaving a successful career. ized faculty in Yugoslavia for management and marketing studManuela Stamatović also strongly believes in constant self-edies. Added to the study program was one year in Paris where she ucation, be it through seminars, reading books or searching the ingraduated and got a BBA diploma majoring in marketing. ternet. Staying in touch with new technologies is necessary for her, “I didn’t expect to work in marketing for a bank, but looking particularly now that digital media is an obligatory part of every inback at my now close to 3 years at Erste Bank (www.erstebank.rs), tegrated marketing strategy. In addition to that, Twitter, Facebook it was more than worth it.” said Ms Stamatović. and other social media channels provide fantastic sources of inGoing into banking after being in the FMCG field for over 9 formation and keeping in touch with what’s going on in the world. years, she worked at Coca-Cola and L’Oreal which proved to be Impressively, Ms. Stamatović is currently studying for a masters in the correct choice and ideal mix of creativity, tradiHaving a committed and supportive team makes tion and innovation. all the difference to Ms. Stamatović, and she “It was my personal challenge and an interesting experience for me to apply FMCG marketing is very proud to say that together they have methods and best practices to the banking marketmanaged to achieve “outstanding results” ing strategy. Erste Bank’s very good results in recall, brand awareness and image parameters in the last two years European business and marketing, which means getting back to her show that my team and I have built and executed the right brand professional roots and enlarging her extensive practical knowledge communication strategy.” Said Manuela. and experience with the necessary theory. She is constantly workBesides ‘classical’ advertising and brand management actiing on her communication, team management and coaching skills. vities, Ms Stamatovic is also in charge of Quality and Complaint “Keeping abreast of current trends, I would suggest following Management for the whole bank and all types of marketing research. good business social networking pages and Twitter profiles, such “Together with my team, we have implemented Group quality as ‘MarketingWeekEd’, ‘HarvardBiz’ and ‘brandingmag’.” standards, involving methods on how to measure them and ways With regards to reading materials she recommends ‘Marketing in which to improve customer satisfaction scores and loyalty inWeek’ magazine, the marketing ‘Bible - Principles of Marketing’ by dexes. Erste Bank is at the top of the market, together with some Philip Kotler, ‘Bank 2.0’ by Brett King, ‘The One Minute Manager of the biggest banks when it comes to customer service.” Meets the Monkey’ by Kenneth H. Blanchard, ‘Six Thinking Hats’ It must be underlined that having a committed and supportive by Edward De Bono and ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by team makes all the difference to Ms. Stamatović and she is very Stephen R. Covey. Manuela says an excellent seminar is held at the proud to say that together they have managed to achieve “outGfK Academy called ‘Marketing Strategy’ by Head of the Marketing standing results.” Having good internal cooperation and commuDepartment at Harvard Business School Ph.D. Sunil Gupta. ■ 82 |

89 January 2012

www.cordmagazine.com

...or simply subscribe NOW! and receive a copy each month providing the information you need

for only

¤26

Thank you for shopping with us office@cma.rs • www.cordmagazine.com cordeditorial@cma.rs

89 January 2012 | 83

84 |

89 January 2012