Serbian City Club

Serbian Week in Great Britain – 12-19th January 2009

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Attached Documents

• pdf202 KB Presentation_Parliament_12_Jan_09.pdf
  
• pdf1.09 MB A_short_history_of_Serbs_in_Britain.pdf
  

A new chapter in relations between UK and Serbia began the second week of January with the first ever “Serbian Week in Great Britain.” It was filled with a series of cultural, business and promotional events to mark the occasion of Orthodox New Year on January 14th, elevate the image of Serbs as one of the oldest ethnic communities in the UK, and strengthen the ties between the two countries.

The week started with a presentation at the Houses of Parliament entitled “Serbs in the UK – the next generation” hosted by John Randall MP and the Associate Parliamentary Group for Serbia. The event was an opportunity to hear from the leaders of the most influential Serbian diaspora organisations – the Serbian Society, the Serbian Council of Great Britain and the Serbian City Club – about their recent activities as well as the objectives and aspirations of a younger generation of Serbs living in the UK today. Among the guests were British government officials, media representatives and parliamentarians, including Conservative Shadow Minister for Europe Mark Francois MP.

The week continued with a conference in Leeds entitled “Doing business in Serbia” which was organised by the Yorkshire Society, Leeds City Council, the Serbian Council of Great Britain and Tokos Solutions. Key speakers included the new Serbian Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Dr Dejan Popović, representatives of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, SIEPA Investment Agency, the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and UK Trade and Investment amongst others. About 50 local businesses attended to hear about exciting new opportunities in Serbia and the support they can receive from the organisations at home in the UK and locally in Serbia. A follow-up event in Belgrade is planned for April, when a representative group from Yorkshire will have an opportunity to learn “why there are so many good reasons for Yorkshire and Serbia to co-operate at every level, from economy to sports and tourism” as was concluded at the conference.

The week ended on a high note with a concert at St George’s Church in Bloomsbury, London, where highly talented female artists (a pianist, a flautist and a mezzo soprano) from “Trio Anima” of the city of Niš played a range of arias from Mozart to Babić in front of an enchanted audience of British Serbs and their friends.  

Please find attached copies of the Parliament presentation and A short history of Serbs in Britain in pdf format.

For more information please contact info@serbiancityclub.org.