Dialogue is Key - CorD magazine

contents6 Serbia on Europe’s radar:Candidacy and Accession NegotiationsBOŽIDAR ĐELIĆ, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister8 Dialogue is KeyMr. Enver Hoxhaj, Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs12 Relations Need StrengtheningH.E. Oszkar Nikowitz, Ambassador of the Republicof Hungary to Serbia16 Global diary22 Serbia is Held Hostage by ExtremistsNenad Čanak, President of the League of Social Democratsof Vojvodina28 Bankruptcy, a Fashionable WordThe Vicious Circle of Sovereign Debt Crisis30 Political ToyingProf. Dr DarkoTanasković,leading BelgradeOrientalist and theformer Ambassadorto Turkey32 In The Land OfGood ReadersKayoko Yamasaki, Professor, Poet and Translator35BusinessDialoguePage 8COVER40 Globalization AdvantagesGORAN JANKOVIĆ, Director and Proprietor of InmoldCompany from Požega41 Loyalty Enhances the CompanyDIMITRAKI ZIPOVSKI, CFO of Energoprojekt Holding a.d.44 Chime.In Pays You To PostBILL GROSS, CEO of UberMediaEnver Hoxhaj, Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign AffairsDialogue is KeyEnver Hoxhaj, Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs , gives us his opinionson the hot topics in the region at the moment and provides a clearinsight on the position of the Kosovo Government.Economy page 4149 Greek Companies areStaying in Serbia“Go International”51 The 10 world’s mostpowerful womanFeature56 Fridays at EightBelgrade Philharmonic Orchestra60 Apple Not So SweetWhat Jobs Left Behind andWhat Happens Next64 Winner Winner Any DinnerRestaurant review66 Risk Pays OffSport70 TREASURED IslandsTravel74 PRESENT & FUTURE gadgetsTechno talk78 Autumn EssentialsFashionProfile page 8282 Nothing is as Strong asTeam SpiritVUK KOSOVAC, Director of Strategyand Marketing, Societe Generale SerbiaNovember 2011EDITOR:Miloš Zlatićm.zlatic@aim.rsART DIRECTOR:Ilija Petrović,i.petrovic@aim.rsASSISTANT EDITOR:Max Williams,m.williams@aim.rsCONTRIBUTORS:Sonja Ćirić, Jovana Gligorijević,Radmila Stanković, Boško JakšićPHOTOS:Zoran Petrović,Marijana ŠaponjićTRANSLATION:Snežana BjelotomićPROJECT MANAGERS:Marija Savićm.savic@aim.rs;Nataša Popovićn.popovic@aim.rsBiljana Devićb.devic@aim.rsVanja Jokanovićv.jokanovic@aim.rsEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:Ruža Ristanovićr.ristanovic@aim.rsGENERAL MANAGER:Ivan Novčići.novcic@cma.rsFINANCIAL DIRECTOR:Ana Besedića.besedic@cma.rsoffice MANAGER:Tanja Bankovićt.bankovic@aim.rsPRINTING:Rotografika d.o.o.,Segedinski put 72, SuboticaCorD is published by:alliance international mediaMakenzijeva 67,11000 Belgrade, SerbiaPhone: +(381 11) 2450 508Fax: +(381 11) 2450 122E-mail: cordeditorial@cma.rswww.cordmagazine.comwww.allianceinternationalmedia.comISSN no: 1451-7833 All rights reservedalliance international media 2011This issue is audited by ABC SerbiaSubscribe NOW and save 10% 11 issues for only €26 Call our subscription line +381 11 2450-508, 2450-1224 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

interviewmr. EnvEr HoXHaJ, kosoVo’s minister of foreign affairsDialogue is Key■ By Boško jakŠićEnver Hoxhaj, Kosovo’s Ministerof Foreign Affairs , gives ushis opinions on the hot topicsin the region at the momentand provides a clear insighton the position of the KosovoGovernment. In an exclusive forCorD, Mr. Hoxhaj says that Kosovohas always been willing to talk tothe Serbian Government, Serbiamust accept the reality on theground and the facts that dialoguebetween the two countries is thepath that must be taken for bothparties sakeExcLuSivEWe want political solutions aswell, though at some point freedomof movement for peopleand goods will have to be guaranteed.I believe KFOR, EULEXand the Kosovo Government are dedicated tofinding the most appropriate response to the barricadeissue that would minimize the politicalrisk. However, we will be firm in protecting theborders of Republic of Kosovo from any idea ofethnic division.■ Mr. Hoxhaj, how do you assess the EuropeanCommission’s decision to recommend that Serbiabecome an official candidate for membershipof the European Union, after dangling thecarrot of accession talks if it stops obstructingthe independence of Kosovo?8 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

- The Republic of Kosovo is a staunch supporter ofEU integration for all Balkan states, including Serbia.Progress of any individual country is a step forwardfor all the remaining countries in their path towardsthe European Union. We are hopeful that Serbia willheed the advice of the EU to normalize the relationshipwith Kosovo, so both countries can look towardsthe future in a way that benefits our respective citizensand relaxes the tensions between the countries.■ The European Commission report also statesthat, “It is important that Kosovo launches a comprehensiveagenda for the north.” This puts responsibilityon the government in Pristina forreintegrating the area. Are youready to face all the risks?- Kosovo has always been readyto talk. We wanted to talk and doa deal in Rambuillet in 1999, wealso accepted the recommendationscontained in the Kai Eide report in2005 and we were fully engaged inthe Ahtisaari process. As a result, theconstitutional package we have approved,as a compromise, providesextensive and unprecedented rightsto the Serbian minority living in Kosovo,including self-governance inWe are always coordinating our moveswith EU and NATO in the securing andproviding of equal opportunities for allthe citizens of Kosovoeducation, health care, local organizations, links withSerbia, financing from Serbia, etc. Most of the Serbs insouthern enclaves are now benefiting and participatingin elections and the system itself. The problem isin the north where the criminal elements have preventedthe progress by threatening, and sometimeseven killing, members of the community who wantto cooperate with Pristina. This is an issue for bothSerbs and Kosovans alike.■ After all the recent developments, how would youdescribe the security situation in Northern Kosovo?- The situation is sometimes tense at the barricadesput up by parallel structures, but overall it’s peacefuland we have clarity of purpose and action withthe entire international presence. We hope for dialoguewith Serbia to produce the type of results thatwill be fully implemented in all of Kosovo.diaLoguEWe hope for dialogue withSerbia to produce the typeof results that will be fullyimplemented in all of Kosovo.invESTigaTionSSeveral high-level investigationsare currently takingplace against several formermembers of the government.ELEcTionSMost of the Serbs in southernenclaves are now benefitingand participating in electionsand the system itself.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 9

PeaceThe government was dedicated to peaceregardless of any internal political dynamics.RealityInevitably, Kosovo and Serbia will be equalmembers of the international community.StruggleWe went twice to Brussels to wait for theBelgrade delegation who never showed up.■ A KFOR Commander recently said that he wouldlike the barricades to be removed as a result of politicalprocesses, not by force. Can this be achieved?- We want political solutions as well, though at somepoint freedom of movement for people and goodswill have to be guaranteed. I believe KFOR, EULEXand the Kosovo Government are dedicated to findingthe most appropriate response to the barricadeissue that would minimize the political risk. However,we will be firm in protecting the borders of Republicof Kosovo from any idea of ethnic division.We are hopeful that Serbia will heed the advice ofthe EU to normalize the relationship with Kosovo,so both countries can look towards the futureThe EU and especially German ChancellorMerkel were rather clear on the issue of whatneeds to be done by Serbia■ Analysts say much will depend on whether NATOtries to remove the Serb barricades by force, and Kosovotakes further steps to rein in the north, where confrontationcan quickly escalate. Will Kosovo authoritiesbe part of the future actions in the north or it hasit been totally left in the hands of KFOR and EULEX?- Kosovo is the host to a robust mission in the rule, andlaw, from the EU and NATO presence. We are always coordinatingour moves with them in the securing and providingof equal opportunities for all the citizens of Kosovo.Escalation will not happen, as the only ones keen onit are the criminal and smuggling gangs and members ofparallel institutions keen to keep the current status-quo.■ Some say that not all “parallel structures” in thenorth – the public institutions financed by Serbia –would have to be dismantled. What do you say?- The Ahtisaari plan provides a very wide variety oftools and instruments for people’s autonomous decision-makingin municipalities. They are clearly definedand this is our offer to all citizens. Anything beyondthat would be unacceptable and a direct breachof UN resolution 1244, which clearly says that ALLSerbian authority or presence in Kosovo is banned.■ In order to keep territorial integrity,the Pristina Government has to win thehearts and minds of the Kosovo Serbs.How do you plan to do it?- We have to increase interaction andalso assist the international communityin launching the process of electing legitimate leaderswho would take ownership in the entire processof integration within existing constitutional arrangements.Where there is a will, there is a way– and the Kosovo Government is very interested inassuring all of its citizens of the dedication in pursuingthe EU path.■ Is there any official contact between Pristina authoritiesand North Kosovo Serbs?- Yes – of course we keep in contact. These are ourcitizens. Unfortunately gangs have attacked, inthese areas, on multiple occasions any Serbs whodare meet us or even participate in our politicallife as was the case of Kosovo MP Miletic, whowas shot last year or the Bosniak from thenorth and head of the election commission,Šefko Salković, brutally murderedin front of his own house also only lastyear. We do not want to convince NorthernSerbs that they have to love the Republic of Kosovo;we just want to ensure the plurality of opinionso those who may want to enjoy the benefits ofworking with the Kosovo Government can do so,without fearing for their life.■ The Kosovo Prime Minister cites organized crimeas the chief problem plaguing the Serb-dominatednorth, and vows to counter it and parallel criminalstructures operating there. What is being doneabout organized crime and corruption in otherparts of Kosovo?- A progress report received from the European10 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Union says that there was a certain amount of progressin the fight against organized crime and corruption. Severalhigh-level investigations are currently taking placeagainst several former members of the government. Weare dedicated in using all the means and tools availableto us to establish a society where everyone will have opportunities,and we will not allow the minority to misuseand disrespect the system. This will not happen.■ Belgrade-Pristina dialogue has hit a stumbling blockover the recent unrest in Northern Kosovo. Both sidesare promising to be a constructive part of talks oncethey resume. How fast can this happen?- We went twice to Brussels to wait for the Belgradedelegation who never showed up, so actually the KosovoGovernment is waiting for Belgrade to be ready toresume talks. They are conditioning the EU with theissue of opening talks on northern borders, but as thisis an internal issue on Kosovo and not a subject of dialogueas foreseen by the UN General Assembly. The EUUnfortunately gangshave attacked inthese areas (of NorthKosovo) on multipleoccasions any Serbswho dare meet us oreven participate inour political lifeand especially German Chancellor Merkel were ratherclear on the issue of what needs to be done by Serbia andwe are all waiting for the government in Serbia to beready to resume the dialogue with us.■ Some in Pristina hope that dialogue with Belgrade regulatingtechnical issues could open the way for a peace treaty.Do you share that optimism?- Inevitably, Kosovo and Serbia will be equal members of theinternational community. The sooner this is realized in Belgrade,the better for the whole of the Balkan community.■ Next year Kosovo and Serbia will enter an election yearand the danger is that no politician will talk about reconciliation,but mainly patriotism and nationalism to gainvotes. Do you agree?- The Government of Kosovo was dedicated to dialogue andpeace regardless of any internal political dynamics. We hopefor parties in Serbia not to engage in nationalist and inflammatorydiscourse. ■

interviewH.E. osZKar niKoWitZ, amBassador of tHe repuBliC of Hungary to serBiaRelations NeedStrengtheningSerbia’s integration in EUstructures will be beneficial forHungary for many reasons, rangingfrom security to economy, fromfree movement to investmentfriendliness,etc.must not forget that Hungary’seconomy suffers from the vicinityof a region that is branded ‘a blackhole’ - an uncertain investment area.“OneAnd one must not forget that weare concerned about our fellow-Hungarians welfareand European prospects of their home, in Serbia, saidH.E. Oszkar Nikowitz, Ambassador of the Republic ofHungary in Serbia in his exclusive interview for CorD.■ The Law on Rehabilitation will be debated in the SerbianParliament soon. Representatives of the Allianceof Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) and Serbian officialshave reached an agreement which is incorporated intothe law that stipulates that the Hungarians should begiven back their property, which was repossessed followingWWII. What is your view of the draft law?- I hope you will pardon my hair-splitting but the statementincorporated into your question is not correct.What the new law stipulates is not that Hungariansshould be given back their property, but it clarifies whoto understand under the term ‘members of the occupationforces’ in the other law, in other words, who thepersons are that are not entitled to claim restitution.And this is exactly what we deem important. Since thenew draft law says it is those only who have committedwar crimes, it is acceptable for us in Hungary.12 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

■ Could we say that the draft Law on Rehabilitationprovides a satisfactory solution to the issue of restitutionas far as the Hungarians living in Serbia are concerned?- Yes, if the draft in its current form is endorsed by thegovernment, submitted to the parliament, survives debatewithout major amendments and passes – it shouldbe considered as satisfactory. After all, all Hungarianswant is to be treated as equal individuals with others,and not looked upon as people, a collective, with a darkstain in their past.their descendants are excluded from the restitution, butwe insist that the rest of the Hungarians are not putunder the same heading as them. Which the law onrestitution suggests. It is very important that the proposedtext clearly says that only war criminals are tobe deprived of the restitution. War criminals, sentencedas such. Yes, it will probably provide a solution – butwhether for once and for all…? One should be optimisticbut not naïve.■ Can we conclude that the satisfactory resolution ofthe rehabilitation and restitution issue will promptHungary to support the Serbian candidacy for EUmembership?- Once the above mentioned satisfactory solution isfound you can take Hungary’s support for candidacyfor granted.■ The process of restitution will be dynamically tiedto the process of rehabilitation. In your opinion, whatwill the speed at which those two processes are implementeddepend on?- I do not really feel competent to forecast or commenton how, and at what pace these processes will be carriedout. I think the forthcoming campaign and theelection period might slow it down a little, temporarily,but I do not see any reason the process should notcontinue smoothly.■ You have said recently that restituting the propertyto the descendants of Nazi soldiers, who participatedin the Novi Sad raids, should not constitute a prerequisitefor Serbia becoming an EU member, and that “thecollective guilt” of the Hungarian nation for eventsthat took place during WWII should not be imposed.Do you think that the proposed solutions will resolvethis problem once and for all?- Well, I have to insist again on the precise quotation. Icertainly did not say anything with the word Nazi as Iconsciously try to avoid superficial generalising, especiallyin such sensitive matters as behaviour in WWII.We do not necessarily need stick the name Nazi on theHungarian evildoer criminals during the Razzia in orderto despise them more. They are despicable enoughas they are. What I said is that no-one would mind ifOur stand has not changed. Serbia’s integration in theEU structures will be beneficial for Hungary for manyreasons, ranging from security to economy, from freemovement to investment-friendliness, etc.■ At the beginning of this year, you reminded thepublic that, in 2005, Vojvodina’s Inquiry Board startedto investigate the aforementioned crimes, that acommittee that would probe the issue of secret graveswas set up and that the respective Hungarian and Serbianacademy of science formed historically importantcommittees that would investigate the events inquestion. You have also said that so far it is only ‘on ahigh official level’ that the intention can be felt . Hasanything changed in the meantime?- I said that the Inquiry Board and the joint committeeof historians investigate not only the aforementionedSErbian bEnEfiTSerbia had better behave as ifit hinged exclusively upon thecountry. First and foremost,because the entire EU requireswork for the benefit of Serbia.‘HiSToricaL pEak’We still haven’t reached the levelwe had before the crisis andeven the before the crisis the‘historical peak’ of our trade connectionswas not too high either.common projEcTSWe shall have to find projects inSerbia, or create common onesin the fields we have what to offer:food processing, agriculture,spa and wellness industry, etccordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 13

crimes, that means the ones the Hungarians committedin ’42, but equally the ones the Serbs, i.e. partisans committedagainst Hungarians in ’44. These are, too, ‘eventsin question’. Anyway, while the committee on massgraves works very effectively, I can state with regret thatthe mixed committee of historians has not really startedthe intensive work yet and neither side has yet allocatedthe necessary means (read: money) for the investigation.In other words, from the ‘high official level’ it has stillnot filtered down to the level of the everyday people.■ You were also quoted as saying that the burden ofthe dark history of World War IIwas the only remaining obstacle inachieving total reconciliation, thatenough time has passed and that therelations between our two nationswere sufficiently good in order tostart talking about that painful issue.Who should initiate these talksand who should participate in them?- Yes, I really said that and I still thinkit is time for proper ‘in-depth’ dialogue.Does anyone need any moreproof than this recent conflict to beconvinced that problems go back asfar as the same history period? Thereasons boil down to the fact thatwe bilaterally haven’t yet discussedthem thoroughly enough and weI can state with regret that the mixed committee of historianshas not really started the intensive work yet and neither sidehas yet allocated the necessary means (read: money) for theinvestigation. In other words, from the ‘high official level’ it hasstill not filtered down to the level of the everyday peoplehaven’t come to terms about those questions of recenthistory between us. The initiators of the dialogue couldbe politicians, but it must be carried out by the intellectualsof the two countries, in the papers, periodicals,in symposiums, conferences, etc. All we should avoidis to cede it to the level of anonymous (and irresponsible)bloggers or let our ultras on both sides, turboSerbs,turboHungarians get meddled in. We say that WWIIis over and thinking in those categories is outdated, itdoes not lead anywhere, any more. Should Europe bestill thinking the same way as for example what wasreflected in the debate on the Law on Restitution in theskupshtina, if so the EU would never have come about.■ At the onset of restitution disputes, you said that itseemed that “Everybody had suddenly forgotten howHungary, during its presidency over the EU in thefirst half of the year, supported Serbia’s candidacy.”You have also objected to the attitude that Serbia hadtowards Hungary. Could you elaborate what was yourobjection all about?- I meant that some of the statements made in parliamentquestioning the Hungarian goodwill were not rebukedby the leading party at all, which made us thinkthat their criticism was shared by the government. Andif it is like this, that would certainly mean some amnesiaregarding Hungary’s firm support of Serbia’s integrationduring the last years.■ If we are talking about Serbia’s integrationin the EU, is it fair to say thataccession hinges on Serbia alone? Howready is the Union to continue with theenlargement process?- I agree with the hint in your questionthat the EU itself is hesitant as regardsthe continuation of the integration process. However,in my opinion, Serbia had better behave as if it hingedexclusively upon the country. First and foremost, becausethe entire EU requires work for the benefit ofSerbia, even without the EU context. Modernisation ofthe country is in the interest of its citizens, anyway. Politicalconsiderations might get tougher or looser in theEU – I suggest Serbia should not bother much aboutthem, but continue with the modernisation of thecountry and with the harmonisation of the legislationand administration with EU standards. There is hardlyany alternative for all the countries in the Balkans.■ You have also announced that you expected at least80,000 Serbian citizens to apply for Hungarian citizenshipbased on the law that gives that option to the14 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Equal TreatmentAll Hungarians want is to be treated asequal individuals with others, and notlooked upon as people, a collective, witha dark stain in their past.ClarificationIt is very important that the proposedtext (Law on Restitution) clearly saysthat only war criminals are to bedeprived of the restitution.StatementsSome of the statements made inparliament questioning the Hungariangoodwill were not rebuked by theleading party at all.Hungarians living abroad. You have also said that everythird Hungarian living in Serbia had expressed interestin obtaining Hungarian citizenship. How manycitizenship applications have been filed for so far?- ‘Approximately’ I said, and not ‘at least’. But anyway,the response has justified our expectations and we arevery busy processing the applications amounting to over15 thousand so far. No up-to-date figures are available.The Inquiry Board and the joint committee ofhistorians investigate not only the crimes committedby Hungarians in ’42, but equally the ones the Serbs,i.e. partisans committed against Hungarians in ’44■ Serbia was expected to participate in two EU fundedprojects during Hungary’s presidency – implementationof the Danube strategy and the Hungarianproposal for the European Roma Integration Strategy.Did Serbia participate and could you tell us howmuch progress has been made in the implementationof the Danube strategy?- Serbia is actively taking part in the Strategy as oneof the coordinators of the projects on rail and airtraffic and of the ’knowledge-based society’, focusingon research and development. The startegy itselfhas not reached the implementation phase yetin the most important domains such as navigation,projects on common energy or sewage systems, etc.The clarification of the financial frameworks seemsvery time consuming.■ You have often underlined that Hungary has beentrying to help SMEs in Serbia in order for more jobsto be created since small and medium enterprisesare crucially important for sustainability of the Europeansocial format. What does this help look likein practice?- Promoting small and medium enterprises was a focalpoint of our proposals for the economy duringour EU presidency - as this is the format that createsjobs at the local level and helps in maintaining theEuropean social model. Vis-à-vis Serbia, it is naturalfor Hungary to open up first towards these enterprisesas Hungarian companies wish to cooperate withSerbian ones of the same size and they can be helpfulfor their counterparts in Serbia, in most of the casesin Vojvodina, in applying for European tenders andsources. Often by forming joint ventures or, simply,by providing them partners in the EU.■ What is your view on the economic relations betweenSerbia and Hungary and the future of thoserelations?- There are huge potentials that are not exploited. Westill haven’t reached the level we had before the crisisand even the before the crisis the ‘historicalpeak’ of our trade connectionswas not too high either. The crisis hascertainly had a negative impact, but it isthe business environment in Serbia thathas to improve and change in order toattract investments. As regards Hungary,we shall have to find projects in Serbia, or createcommon ones in the fields we have what to offer: foodprocessing, agriculture, spa and wellness industry, etc. ■cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 15

globaldiaryTabloids arechanging mediaenvironmentFounded in 1925 as abroadsheet affiliated withthe Communist Partyyouth “Komsomolskayapravda” reinvented itself asa tabloid in the 1990sThe bridge“The bridge over Ada will be ready on time, but the access road to Banovo Brdo will be completed in thespring. This is because one of the owners of a house in Požeška 9 did not want to sell 123 square metersof land. “ - Dragan Đilas, the mayor of Belgradeand “incomprehensible.”The worldwide art markethas developed rapidly in the lastfew years, much to the gratificationof big auction houses such asChristie’s and Sotheby’s.In the first half of 2011,Sotheby’s reported its best everfigures, with consolidated salesof 2.5 billion euros. “That is reallya sign of a strong art market,”said Gallus Pesendorfer, directorof Sotheby’s Cologne office.Vladimir Sungorkin, Editorin-Chief,Komsomolskaya pravda“We’ve got the most printpresses in the world of anynewspaper,” editor-in-chiefVladimir Sungorkin says. “Weare printed in about 75 differentcities and in each city theyhave their own content. It’s likea massive factory where 75 cities- each with its own editorialoffice - takes care of about halfthe content. KP has a daily circulationof between 600,000 and700,000, whilst its Sunday editionhas a print run of 2.5 million,making it Russia’s mostcirculated daily newspaper,”said Sungorkin.“Komsomolskaya pravda’s”impressive numbers are a farcry from the daily circulationrun of 22 million it enjoyed inthe early 1990s, a decline thepaper’s editors attribute to ashrinking global appetite forprint media.However, KP’s numbersstill dwarf those of influentialRussian broadsheetssuch as “Kommersant” and“Vedomosti,” which hover ataround 100,000.The best British foodTraditional Observer Food Monthly Awards for 2011, now in their eighthyear, celebrated the best in British food and produce, from independentproducers to the UK’s most revered chefsThe best food personality is writer, campaigner and broadcasteris Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.The winners of various categories of the 2011 OFM Awards hadbeen announced at a ceremony in London. The best restaurantis “Dinner by Heston Blumenthal”,London; the best cheap eats(under £15 per head) –“ Koya”, London , best ethical restaurant– “The Ethicurean”, Somerset; the best place to drink – “Mark’sBar”, Hix, London, best cookbook –“ Plenty” by Ottolenghi, bestSunday lunch –“Bull & Last”, London and best independent localretailer (shop or online)- “The Cheese Shed”, Devon.“Demand for tabloid entertainmentis pretty massive,”Boris Timoshenko, an analystat the Glasnost DefenseFoundation says.” People areless and less interested in seriouspublications.”Like KP, “Moskovsky komsomolets”transformed itself intoa tabloid now specializing incrime reporting. Both, however,stress that they still do seriousreporting and have not becomesimple scandal sheets.In 2008, the National MediaGroup bought “Izvestia” andsoon realized there was onlyone way of turning around circulationfigures that had fallento below 250,000. After 94years as a staple broadsheet forthe Soviet and Russian intelligentsia,the legendary “Izvestia”brand name remodeled itself asa tabloid in June 2011.Safe haven in artWarhol’s “200 One Dollar Bills”Investors have had plentyof sleepless nights in recentyears, prompting manyto put money into goldor property, but there aremore creative safe havensGerman artist GerhardRichter’s painting “Kerze” from1982 sold for 12 million euros ata Christie’s auction in London inmid October. It was a price eventhe artist called “absurd,” “silly”Vietnameseofficials bannedfrom playing golfGolf has become morepopular among Vietnam’sgrowing middle classincluding Communist Partyofficials, in recent yearsVietnam’s transport ministerDinh La Thang issued a documentrecently saying that someministry leaders have performedpoorly and that part of the problemwas that they spent toomuch time playing golf.The ministry’s website posteda statement late October sayingMr Thang has ordered allsenior ministry officials and executivesof corporations underthe ministry not to play golf,particularly in this difficult time.Some ministry officials“have not actively given directionor administered their work,leading to the slow handling ofaffairs, which affects progresson projects and general operations,”a notice on the ministry’swebsite said.16 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Elections“In this country, the atmosphere that is created is all to do with elections, and I say it shouldn’t be this way.We still have much work to do.” - Boris Tadic, Serbian PresidentAge brings wisdomAge really does bringwisdom, makingthe brains of olderpeople as agile as theiryounger counterparts,research claimsThe findings contradict previoustheories claiming thatour brains deterioriate withage, making us less able tomake sound decisions, but scientistsdiscovered that yearsof life experience makes olderbrains as effective when itcomes to decision-making asmuch younger minds.Older people were found tobe less bothered by making amistake and used their brainsin a far more efficient way, onlyengaging certain parts of itat the exact moment that theywere required.Canadian researchers studied24 young people aged 18 to35 and a group of ten older peopleaged 55 to 75, all of whomstill held down a job.Participants were asked toperform a special matching taskwhose rules changed as thegame went on. This saw thempair up different words accordingto a heading given to them.Study author Dr OuryMonchi, from the UniversityGeriatrics Institute of Montrealsaid: “”We now have neurobiologicalevidence showingthat with age comes wisdomand that as the brain gets older,it learns to better allocateits resources.”Facebook couldface €100,000 fineFacebook could face a fineof up to €100,000 afteran Austrian law studentdiscovered the socialnetworking site held 1,200pages of personal dataabout him, much of whichhe had deletedMax Schrems (24) decided to askFacebook for a copy of his datain June after attending a lectureby a Facebook executive while onan exchange programme at SantaClara University in California.Schrems was shocked when heeventually received a CD fromCalifornia containing messagesand information he says hehad deleted from his profile inArt or eyesore?A graffiti project on an old Scottish castle has become more popular than expected.Should it be removed for the sake of preserving the historic building?Kelburn Castle is just like hundreds of other old Scottish castleswith its quaint turrets, grand estate and Earl-in-residence - exceptthat one of its outer walls displays a bright psychedelic graffiti mural.The Earl of Glasgow, whose family has occupied the castlefor the last 800 years, invited four Brazilian graffiti artists - twinbrothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, known as Os Gemos -to create a work of art on one of the walls in 2007 as a temporarymeasure. The so-called Graffiti Project involved 1,500 cansof spray paint to decorate the 13th-century castle. It put KelburnCastle, which lies near the seaside town of Largs on Scotland’swest coast, into the top 10 worldwide examples of street art -on the same list as Banksy’s work in Los Angeles and Rio deJaneiro’s Favela Morro da Providencia.the three years since he joinedthe site.After receiving the data,Schrems decided to log a list of22 separate complaints with theIrish data protection commissioner,which next week is to carryout its first audit of Facebook. Hewrote to Ireland after discoveringthat European users are administeredby the Irish Facebook subsidiary.A spokeswoman for thecommissioner confirmed its officerswould be investigating allegedbreaches raised by Schremsas part of the audit. If the commissionerdecides to prosecuteand Facebook or any employeesare found guilty of data protectionbreaches, the maximum penalty isa fine of €100,000.Chocolatefashion showThe 17th Salon du Chocolatin Paris is the world’s biggestshow dedicated to chocolate.Every year, fashion designersand chocolatiers from aroundthe world collaborate to dressFrench models and celebrities.Centenariancompletes TorontomarathonOfficials from the GuinnessBook of Records wereon hand to watch FaujaSingh become the first100-year-old to finish a fullmarathon distanceMr Singh, from Ilford, EastLondon, ran the TorontoWaterfront Marathon in eighthours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds.He finished in 3,850th placeahead of five other competitors.The record-holder took up running11 years ago after his wifeand son died and runs 10 milesevery day.Mr Singh previously held thetitle of fastest marathon runner inthe 90-plus category, covering thedistance in five hours, forty minutesand 1 second at the age of 92.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 17

focusLabour market reforms shouldbe based on the following princi p l e s .Firstly, there needs to be a shift in the collectivebargaining process. For now, it hasbeen driven by the public sector trade unions,which are much more powerful thantheir private sector counterparts. The resultingwage leadership by the public sector - with high and oftenunjustified wage increases - has hurt Serbia’s export competitivenessand private sector growth.Secondly, there should be an effort to reduce excessive legislativerigidities in the Serbian labour market. This in particularconcerns the calculation of severance benefits, which are basedOne of the features of the financial crisisin Serbia is the low employmentrate, i.e. a constantly high unemploymentrate. In 2011, less than half of the workcapablepopulation in Serbia have a job.Over the course of the ownershipchanges, it has become quite obvious thatthe private sector has failed to absorb thepeople who were made redundant in thepublic sector. The employment rate, as it isat the moment, is being maintained throughthe growing share of bad, unsafe and lowquality (temporary) jobs, self-employmentand family members engaging in work.Preserving sustainable development,i.e. decent, contractual, legal and safework, is the main priority in this situationof acute crisis. At the same time, thatmeans investing serious efforts in eradicatingthe black, and reducing the greyeconomy, which are sources of income forBlocked Labour MarketBoth domestic and foreign businessmen say that it is more than obvious that the Serbian labourmarket is not functioning as it should. “There isn’t sufficient political will for this problem to besolved. Not only in the government, but also in trade unions and with employers themselves,” the IMFsays. The labour market has to be reformed, regardless of these reforms being rather painful. Also,this is crucial for improving the investment atmosphere in Serbia.What should the new labour legislation be based on, in order for the Serbian labour marketto become more flexible, to facilitate employment in the private sector and encourageinvestments from both domestic and foreign investors?ReduceDirect TaxesBogdan Lissovolik,IMF Resident Representative in SerbiaThe length of fixed-termcontracts, which, at 1 year,is lower in Serbia than inmuch of Eastern Europe1/3 of Serbiancitizens andwhich generateone thirdof (unregistered) domestic product.With the imposed prerogative of maintainingthe employment rate and creatingnew jobs, which actually took the backseat, the following have become the mainpriorities of employment policy:- reducing and combining stimulating(lower contributions, better loans and taxincentives) and destimulating (inspection)measures of informal economy;- work and social protection for pooron the entire working history of an individual, rather than on theirrecord with the last employer. Serbia is very atypical in this respectcompared to its regional peers, and this is a reason whyolder people have scarce opportunities in the labour market.Another important rigidity is the length of fixed-term contracts,which, at 1 year, is lower in Serbia than in much of Eastern Europe.Furthermore, there have been attempts to unduly broaden collectivebargaining agreements to firms that were not party to the negotiations.An important rigidity are various mandatory allowancesand rules (relating to holidays, business trips,meals etc.), which could be usefully streamlined.Thirdly, taxation of labour, especially via socialcontributions, should be analyzed with a view toincreasing incentives for employment. This couldtake the form of a revenue-neutral reform envisioninga reduction in direct taxes. In Serbia, the high social contributionshave particularly reduced scope for hiring low-incomeworkers, especially the young, who badly need experience to begintheir careers. Young workers are potentially the most dynamic – andhence productive - elements of any economy, and a failure to involvethem in the labour market severely dampens growth potential.Labour Costs Too MuchZoran Stojiljković,Deputy Chairman of the Belgrade Chapter of trade unionconfederation ‘Nezavisnost’and low-quality employment (temporaryand part-time employment, self-employmentand undocumented work);- conducting public works;- self-employment projects and trainingfor work at known employer.At the same time, it is surprising to seejust how much apathy there is in usingother self-employment venues like cooperativemovements, social enterprises andcooperatives.These employment formats are efficienttools for linking employment and social policyprimarily through state support in findingemployment for marginalized groups.18 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Clear andPrecise LawsErnst Bode,Director General of Messer Tehnogas AD,Belgrade and Chairman of the GermanBusiness Association in BelgradeAbove all, labour legislation needs to be clear and precise, understandableto everybody and simple to use. It also needs tocontain solutions that are applicable in practice by all or mostof the companies, since only such legislation will be acceptable, pertinentand useful to all interested parties.From my experience as Director General of Messer Tehnogas ADand Chairman of the German Business Association in Belgrade, I wouldlike to give a few suggestions pertaining to changing the labour legislation,which, in my opinion, would contribute to employment growth inthe private sector and encourage new investments:• To enable more flexibility in temporary employment;• To set up an institute which would deal in “renting out” employees,as well as having attainable preconditions for the functioning of such aninstitute so it would not remain only a dead letter;• Employment contracts, concluded between an employer andan employee, need to stipulate additional training or sending an employeeto work abroad, and the obsolete legislation that currentlyregulates this area should be entirely abolished;• To enable more flexibility in granting annual leave, i.e. for employeesto reach an agreement with the employer on using their annualleave in two parts. The existing law that regulates this area is absurdand completely outdated;• Compensation of wage to be tied to an employee salary whenhe was at work, and not to a three-month average;• To leave enough leeway for employers to determine the salary,and for the labour legislation to stipulate a minimum salary (imposingsalary calculation formulas is absolutely inappropriate, especially forcompanies that are majority foreign and which already have an establishedand tested salary calculation systems used all over the world).• To set up realistic and rational criteria for ascertaining thenumber of surplus workers which can be easily verified;• To make sure that an employee is notEnabling moreflexibility intemporaryemploymentpaid a severance payment several timesfor the same job, which resembles a ’casinomentality’;• To shorten the deadlines for exercisingprotection of rights in order tohave more legal security;• To make sure that employers and employees alike pay relevanttaxes and contributions, with no exceptions;• To reduce the huge amount of red tape wherever possible.All of the aforementioned, along with reducing income taxes andcontributions and providing additional incentives for employing certaincategories of the population, whilst not insisting on a companyrefraining from declaring certain workers as surplus, would certainlycontribute to the growth in legally regulated employment and wouldincrease employee status and living standards.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 19

Flexible WorkFormatsDragoljub Rajić,Serbian Employers AssociationLaw is Not MainProblemLjubisav Orbović,Chairman of the Serbian Trade UnionConfederationBack in February this year, the Serbian Employers Union sentthe Serbian Government an official proposal stating what hadto be done in order to relieve the economy in matters of taxesand income contributions, as well as how to stimulate employmentin low-profit economy branches and curtail substantial labour costs.We propose reimbursing severance payments for the workersmade redundant because of structural and technological changes forthe period they spent at their last job, just like in the EU, rather thancalculate the severance payment based on total years of service.We propose reimbursing the contractual basic wage to an employeeon annual leave, national holidays, sick leave and when calculatingseverance payment, instead of reimbursing a three-monthaverage.It is vital to reduce the number of formalities apropos employmentcontract termination (like having to make numerous decisions,drafting bylaws, putting several different stamps and signatures,registries etc.), as well as in the case of job transfer. Hiringand firing needs to serve the company’s economic function. TheOur proposals havebeen sitting in adrawer for monthsgovernment needs to terminatethe practices which prevent anemployer from firing workers incase the employer is experiencinga substantial drop in turnoverand liquidity problems, while adhering to the severance paymentlegislation and other legitimate rights.We propose extending the deadline to three instead of one yearfor hiring temporary workers and providing more options for flexiblework formats (part-time work), which would provide more jobsfor people under 35 years of age.We want cash penalties for small companies with up to 10 employees(so-called micro-enterprises), stemming from them breachingtheir liability, to be reduced since the current penalties, thatrange from 800,000 to 1 million dinars, are too high, which makesit impossible for small companies to recover and they are oftenforced to close. State taxes and contributions are also too high andthey are forcing employers to pay some wages in cash since that isthe only way for them to stay liquid and survive. The penalties forpaying a portion of wages in cash are also too high.The state should make it possible for an employee, who hascommitted a criminal offence, such as theft, to be immeditelyfired even before court proceedings are finished since employersoften find themselves exceeding the relevant deadlines fordismissal mentioned in the employment contract due to lengthycourt procedures.The state should cover the costs associated with a worker beinggiven two-day leave on the account of giving blood. By paying highincome tax (62.5%) and other taxes, employers have already giventhe state enough funds to provide for voluntary blood donors.We want trade union heads to be criminally liable for stagingillegal strikes, which cause huge financial damages to employers.The country’s economyneeds to be revived witha series of measuresthat will expedite theeconomic developmentAmending the Labour Law is not the basic premise and prerequisitefor achieving higher employment in Serbia. Firstand foremost, the country’s economy needs to be revivedwith a series of measures that will expedite the economic development,and, hence, increase the employment rate.Amongst other things, these measures should entail the following:1) Re-industrialization of the Serbian economy.2) Setting up a Serbian development bank that is supposed to providedevelopment loans on favourable terms and thus enable largescaleinfrastructure projectsto be implemented and newjobs created.3) Reforming the pensionsystem with the aimof equally distributing taxburden among tax payers,i.e. for due taxes to be proportionate to the economic strength ofthe tax payer. This will encourage production, investments and employment,as well as destimulate import and grey economy.4) Providing incentives for the financial sector that will be directedtoward businesses:a) banks should no longer be obligated to keep dinar reserves;b) enacting a law that will regulate credit guarantees throughpublic – private partnerships;5) Devising export incentives.6) Tackling the illiquidity problem – bringing order into the paymentsystem through:a) shortening payment termsb) offesetting debts with tax authorities with the aim of overcomingthe crisis and achieving liquidity.7) Developing infrastructure and providing support to attractinginvestments in production:a) redefining the system used in attracting and encouraging foreigninvestorsb) simplifying the procedures in obtaining building permits.Additional funds for the revival of economic activity can be securedby having more organized and better regulated public procurementprocedures, as well as in the grey economy zone.According to some estimates, the grey economy’s annual turnoverin Serbia exceeds four billion euros, which is 30% of the overallturnover from the sale of goods and services. If the aforementionedmeasures could bring at least a billion euros to the state budget,a lot more money could be spent on new investments. In terms ofpublic procurements, some estimates have shown that a billion eurosis lost through corruption in public procurements, the annualvalue of which is close to four billion euros.With two billion euros, important projects could be instigated inSerbia, primarily the production of goods for export, which, in turn,could create many new jobs.20 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

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interviewnenad Čanak, president of tHe league of soCial demoCrats of VojVodinaSerbia is Held Hostageby Extremists■ By Radmila StankoVićIt’s been 21 years since heformed the League of SocialDemocrats of Vojvodina,which he now chairs. Heis currently a member ofthe Serbian Parliament.He was born to a family ofuniversity professors. Hisfather Milan was Novi SadMayor and a member ofthe Socialist AutonomousProvince of Vojvodina’sPresidency. Nenad saysthat he was raised as a childof two teachers, meaningthat he never differentiatedbetween people because oftheir nationality or religion,but rather formed hisopinion about peoplebased on their knowledge,skills and diligenceThat is also the reason why nationalism-fueledeuphoria in Yugoslavia, and especially in Serbia,in the late 1980s, with Slobodan Milošević at itshelm, was so devastating to him since it wentagainst every element of his value system thatthis economics graduate acquired in his family.■ Bearing in mind that your parents were members of theCommunist Party, were you ‘weaned’ on left-wing ideas?- I would rather call them social-democratic ideas. True, myparents were Communist Party members just like most peoplewho were appointed to prominent positions in society.But they were strong opponents to revolutionary events, andespecially the dictatorship, even if that implied the dictatorshipof the proletariat. In that respect, they instilled in me theidea of social democracy.■ Did this upbringing entail having more tact than the onethat you would demonstrate later in dealing with your politicalopponents and people who did not share your pointof view?- I really don’t know from where you got the impression thatI am ruthless?■ Because you are one of the politicians who are very openand public, and sometimes even offensive, in demonstratingyour stance...- That is not being ruthless, that is calling a spade a spade. Iwas brought up in that way. And if you scratch the surfaceof my so-called extremism, as it was called back in the 1990s,you will see that was only a way of faithfully describing theevents that happened in the former Yugoslavia and that Iwas right all along. I have to remind you that the then re-22 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Union HopesI do hope that the EU won’t use Serbia andneighbouring areas as a learning curve formuch longer.StrengthThere are certain times were we need to “showour teeth“, as it were. If we don’t do that, wewill have a serious problem.RealityIt is no secret that Kosovo is no longer a partof the Republic of Serbia and its sovereigntyrecognized by many countries.gime was not particularly gentle with the opposition. Andthere was no other reason for me to behave differently towardthe regime, i.e. to have a different approach to the peoplewho were responsible for thousands and thousands ofdeaths and destroying the future of millions of people. Atthe time of Slobodan Milošević, we, in Vojvodina, experienceddisturbances of tectonic proportions because peoplewere persecuted on account of their nationality or politicalviews. To this day, nobody has talked about that at all. Forinstance, tens of thousands of Croats were thrown out ofVojvodina after they were exposed to direct pressures, hadgrenades thrown at their yards, guns pointed at their childrenas they were returning from school, armed men enteringchurches during service.... And how was I supposed torefer to people who did that? We were political opponents,we were enemies, and we were defending these unfortunatepeople. Also today, there are hooligans and their politicalmentors who think they may damage anyone’s propertyand any other security, just because they do not like someone’ssexual, religious or national affiliation. There is somekind of communication, especially mindfulness.■ There have been speculations that superpowers have theirfavourites among Serbian leaders. First, it was Dinkić, thanĐelić and now Dačić, for example. Do you beleive that suchpatronage does exist?- Politics is the mathematics of possibilities. Even superpowers,and by that I mean the U.S., Russia and the EU, areexercising their foreign policy in light of their internal relationsdespite their internal differences. The Americans havea rather brutal, but frequently used, saying that goes: “If youdo business in hell, you have to make a deal with the devil.”In this part of the world, such pragmatism comes at a highprice. If you reach a sensible agreement without carefullyeliminating the ideological background, you are doing agreat disservice to the process of democratization and developmentof the state and overall society. I am happy to acceptthe possibility that people can change. In that respect, I canunderstand that Ivica Dačić can change, and I can even acceptthat Tomislav Nikolić can change, but I don’t think thatsuch change can happen without a catharsis.■ Maybe we can remove this guilt of the Serbian peoplefrom the agenda once and for all?- In order to have closure, there needs to be strong politicalwill in the country. There is no such will in Serbia at the moment.Never have the democratic, anti-fascist and even antitotalitariangroups, organizations and political parties, wonthe majority of votes in Serbia. If you pay close attention,you can see that all of that was a resultof huge compromises being made. Theincoherent group, that the Serbian oppositionwas, could not make a step forwardin terms of democratic and pro-Europeanvisions. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić paid with hislife for attempting to reach that vision by taking shortcuts.Today’s coalition government was formed following a tacitagreement that the events and issues from the 1990s wouldnot be re-opened in a principled way. By refusing to re-openthe issues from that era, we keep on finding ourselves in thesituation where their heritage is continuing to rot and spreadlike poison. We cannot close this chapter, since we have neveropened it in the first place.It is no secret that Serbia cannot do anything inKosovo apart from deal with the serious problem ofprotecting its population and culture monuments■ What do you mean?- Let me give you a simple example. When somebody stealssomething, he ceases to be just a thief once he is sentenced,i.e. when he returns what he stole to the person he stole itfrom and when he leaves prison after doing the time. Hehas been reset, in the civil meaning of the word. We haven’texperienced that. Some things need to have their conclusionand I mean the events from the 1990s. I demand forguilt to be determined.■ You really believe that you will see that happening?- I only ask not be judged too harshly since I do know peoplewho believe in heaven, hell, God, Allah.... Why shouldn’t I believethat lustration is possible? If somebody ridicules your beliefin God, then that person is politically incorrect.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 23

■ You have often been accused of making a problem out ofVojvodina, like we don’t have enough problems in Kosovo.Would you feel responsible if, in the near future, a dramaticturn of events in Vojvodina were to happen?- Could you please tell me for how long has Vojvodina hadto suffer because of the problems in Kosovo? The so-called“yogurt revolution”, which was, if nothing else, but a constitutionalcoup d’état that eliminated Vojvodina’s autonomy, wascarried out with the help of the people who came to Novi Sadfrom Kosovo, shouting, “The three parts of Serbia will be oneagain.” And what happened? Kosovo is getting more distantby the day, centralism in Serbia is growing and the citizens ofalso wish for Šumadija or any other region in Serbia for thatmatter. I want property and source income to be returned, forVojvodina to be given executive, legislative and partially judiciarypowers, and to be assigned the right to dispose of its assetsand revenue. Vojvodina should be given its full autonomy andstrength back and be treated as a part of the country capableof bringing Serbia to the European family in a much faster,better and bigger way. However, I am forced to take shortersteps and be patient. I need patience when called a traitor andseparatist, whilst still insisting on what is in the best interestsof Vojvodina and Serbia. Thus, as an example, was with the officeof Vojvodina in Brussels. For years we advocated for it andfinally agreed on the possibility of opening the office of PrimeMinister Mirko Cvetkovic, in the form of amendments to theauthority. And here we met, on the 10th of October and itsopening. Now, many find this office to be good. If we are talkingabout the responsibility for events in Vojvodina possiblytaking a dramatic turn, I would feel responsible if it turned outthat I did not provide a timely warning. That is what I am doingnow – I am warning about fast-growing extremism in Vojvodinaand the clear polarization that is taking place becausethe state authorities are indescribably wimpish and weak intheir dealing with the extremist organizations.Today’s coalition government was formed followinga tacit agreement that the events and issues from the1990s would not be re-opened in a principled wayVojvodina are becoming increasingly poorer. Did you knowthat Vojvodina, at the time when it had a full autonomy, wasneck-to-neck with Slovenia and Croatia in terms of economicdevelopment, while today it is branded as an undeveloped region?I am referring to the government’s bylaw published inthe Official Gazette in September. Did you know that, out of15 Serbian municipalities with the highest average salary, tenare in Belgrade, four in Central Serbia and only one (Vršac) inVojvodina? At the time of the full autonomy, salaries in Vojvodinawere nearly as high as those in Slovenia and Croatia!For years, I and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodinahave been advocating the full autonomy for Vojvodina in decentralizedSerbia. We are sending out warnings that thingsshould change. While we are being accused of being separatists,Vojvodinian villages and towns are being emptied out.When is the appropriate time to talk about Vojvodina? Fortwenty years, Vojvodina has been like a pantry, with thingstaken out of it and sold off. Even the petroleum industry ofSerbia was sold without any discussion, i.e. it was presented asa gift to the Russians. Everything I can and am doing is gearedtoward Serbia becoming decentralized and revived. I have saidon many occasions that everything I wish for Vojvodina, I■ Which organizations are we talking about?- Clero-fascist organizations like Obraz, Dveri, 1389… So, whatyou have are openly fascist organizations with only NacionalniStroj actually being banned following street protests on 7thOctober 2007 held by LSV, the Liberal–DemocraticParty, several NGOs and citizens of NoviSad that found themselves there. Look, fiveyears ago, in December, a police report was readout in the Vojvodina Parliament that brandedObraz and several other organizations as clero-fascist. To thisday, these organizations are functioning without any interruptions.And not only that… They have managed to carry outa sliding coup d’état by disintegrating state structures and takingover power in streets. If you, as a state, cannot stop themfrom protesting in the streets, that means that you are havingserious problems. And nothing has been done to remedythose problems.In an operational sense, there are no differences betweenthese fascist organizations like Obraz 1389, Naši and others,on one side, and Al-Qaeda, on the other. Nobody in Serbiais willing to admit that, due to the fact that everybody isthinking that they can use these people just like SlobodanMilošević used football supporters as recruiters for the socalledparamilitary units. None of them were called paramilitary,but state-funded groups with false IDs which weregiven to them in order to shield the state from responsibilityfor the evil things that those groups did.■ Do Serbian authorities have any real power in the countryor are they mere executors of decisions made by the internationalpower centres?24 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

- A small country like Serbia, which is weak and depends onmany foreign policy elements, needs to take on board, forthe most part, what the international community thinks.However, there are certain times were we need to “show ourteeth“, as it were. If we don’t do that, we will have a seriousproblem. We have reached boiling point with the situationthat we have with the Law on Restitution. This law demonstratesa very strange intention of our northern neighbour –Hungary – to criticize, albeit unfairly in my opinion, certainlegal solutions in Serbia. This is where we need to set thingsstraight. In that respect, I welcome President Tadić’s stance ofnot tolerating being conditioned and threatened with a veto.The Law on Restitution simply says that property willnot be returned to people who fought together with Nazis inWorld War II. Therefore, we are not talking about a collectiveguilt here that is being forced onto the Hungarian people.That would be tantamount to equating the Hungariannation with fascists.The amendment submitted by the Alliance of VojvodinaHungarians, that we objected to and that was not incorporatedinto the law, released the responsibility from every personthat fought on the Nazi side, but lived in the Republic of Serbiaterritory before the war. If the amendment was accepted,for instance, the family of Peter Egner, the known war criminaloriginally from Crvenka and a man who is held responsiblefor the deaths of 18,000 people and sending 150,000 moreto concentration camps, would be entitled to claim their repossessedproperty. That’s why I said, at a certain point thatwe would give serious thought if forced to choose betweenEU accession and the rehabilitation of people who shot ourcitizens and threw them in the frozen river. I also said that itwould be absurd if the EU, which is one of the corner stonesof anti-fascism, were to blackmail us with fascists.Let me remind you that I, in the capacity of Speaker ofthe Autonomous Province of Vojvodina’s Parliament, havesigned a resolution on rejecting the notion of collective guiltof any nation living in Vojvodina and I know very well whatI am talking about since that is one of the founding principlesof LSV. The League is the same party that defendedand protected Hungarians in the 1990s and after 2000 duringvarious incidents, for which both sides were to blame. Inaddition to that, several days ago, we asked the LegislativeCommittee to draft a proposal of an authentic interpretationin the matter of rehabilitated members of occupation forcesbeing entitled to restitution.■ Is there an ulterior motive behind the way in which the restitutionis interpreted in the case of Vojvodina Hungarians?- If you scratch the surface, this story runs deep. And is gettingmore sinister. The gist of the reactions coming from the Hungarianstate is actually something that the international communityis not paying much attention to and that is - if you aredemanding for every person who was a resident of Vojvodinabefore the 6th April 1941 to be pardoned, then you need toask yourself whether the Hungarian army came to occupya part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia or liberate an occupiedpart of Hungary? Let’s not forget that only 20 years had passedfrom the moment Vojvodina was integrated into the Kingdomof Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and subsequently into theKingdom of Yugoslavia, until Hungarian military formationsI deeply believe that the Treaty of Trianon couldbe revised, but I also beleive that there is a dangerassociated with trying to revise itoccupied Vojvodina. And during those 20 years, it was quitelogical that the Hungarian national minority had been clingingonto the notion of Yugoslavia being a transient country.In that respect, ominous events have been transpiringnamely an attempt to revise the Treaty of Trianon (TheTreaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed on 4thJune 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies ofWorld War I and Hungary. The treaty greatly redefined andreduced Hungary’s borders. The principal beneficiaries of territorialadjustment were Austria, Romania and the Kingdomof Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which, to this day, is a sourceof malcontent among right-wingers – author’s remark). Therevision is supposed to be carried out through the back door,so to speak, i.e. through an issue of whether drafted soldiersin Vojvodina were drafted by domestic or occupation forces.democracyThe incoherent group, thatthe Serbian opposition was,could not make a step forwardin terms of democratic andpro-European vision.changesI can understand that IvicaDacic and Tomislav Nikoliccan change, but I don’t thinkthat such change can happenwithout a catharsis.RestitutionWe have reachedboiling point with thesituation that we havewith the Law onRestitution.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 25

Such an approach of the official Budapest makes us thinkthat, indirectly, Hungary wants us to admit that it was thedomestic forces. If we did admit to that, we would open thedoor to the revision of the Treaty of Trianon.■ Do you believe the revision to be a possibility?- I deeply believe that the Treaty of Trianon could be revised,but I also beleive that there is a danger associated with tryingto revise it. My experience tells me that in such games, whichare hegemonistic and nationalistic to the core, it usually endsin people living in diaspora exposing themselves to the possibilityof having a conflict with their neighbours, which, inthe case of Serbs from Croatia ended up in operations Stormitself. It will be too late to do anything once conflicts erupt. Allof this is a form of spiritual and mental preparation for that.■ Did the problem with Kosovo stem from the fact thatnone of the Serbian politicians were bold enough to call itwhat it actually was?- The whole of Serbia is held hostage by extremists. Since wefailed to properly process the events from the 1990s, when itbecame clear that Ratko Mladić, Radovan Karadžić and SlobodanMilošević were not Serbian patriots and that ŽeljkoRažnatović Arkan and Milorad Ulemek Legija were not nationalheros but members of a crime organization that inflictedonto us an unimaginable evil, we have become morallydowntrodden, economically exhausted, robbed and reducedto thinking that we have no future. And the democratic andpro-European government has to constantly apologize to thefascists if it does anything that destroys the myths that thesefascists feed on. And that is where the problem lies. It is no secretthat Kosovo is no longer a part of the Republic of Serbia.It is no secret that Kosovo declared independence and thatits sovereignty was recognized by many countries all aroundthe world. It is no secret that Serbia cannot do anything inKosovo apart from deal with the serious problem of protectingits population and culture monuments. That can only bedone through diplomatic means.Out of 15 Serbian municipalities with the highest averagesalary, ten are in Belgrade, four in Central Serbia and only one(Vršac) in Vojvodina? At the time of its full autonomy, salaries inVojvodina were nearly as high as those in Slovenia and Croatia!(Oluja) and Flash (Bljesak). In Bosnia, it manifested itself inethnic cleansing and violent divisions among people who, untilyesterday, were neighbours, friends and family, as well asin an exodus of a huge number of people. In Kosovo, the resultwas national polarization, relocation of the population andother evils that we saw happening in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.It is quite clear to me that if this option is kept alive, conflictswill ensue in Vojvodina. And these conflicts will homogenizesomething that we can provisionally call the Hungarian electorate,assembled around the national Hungarian parties.■ So, in your opinion, what should be done?- If the state authorities fail to arrest people from Obraz, 1389,Dveri and similar organizations, if their activities are notbanned, if the activities of 64 Županije (the Hungarian extremelyright-wing movement) are not suppressed, and if thestate is not noticing that right-wing Hungarian rock and rollbands are holding concerts in Serbia at which they are promotingtheir extremist ideas, then such a state is working against■ Do you think that the European Union has done everythingin its power to solve this problem?- I am quite surprised to see that nobody from the Europeancommunity actually raised the question ofa customs union between Kosovo and Serbia.If Kosovo and Serbia want to join theborderless European Union, why shouldKosovo and Serbia be separated by borders?Why don’t we use that as a starting point?By doing so, we would eliminate the verythings that are making criminal groups rich. Who stands to profitthe most from having borders? Smugglers, of course.■ Can you envisage Serbia never becoming an EU member?- By being a member of the European community, Serbia isgaining a huge political advantage, meaning taking the issueof borders off the agenda. Borders are the main source ofincome for generations of parasites that live in the Balkans.They have built careers and played historical roles by alteringborders and relocating the population. If there are no borderswith Croatia, Kosovo and Hungary, the huge tension will nolonger have a stronghold.The European Union is still suffering from serious childhooddiseases. And, as strange as that sounds, EU membershave found functioning within a coordinate system, that theEU is, a brand new experience. In that light, the EuropeanUnion needs to learn how to behave in certain situations. Ido hope that the EU won’t use Serbia and neighbouring areasas a learning curve for much longer. ■26 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

ReInventing PRINT16th November, Hotel Continental, 9:00-15:00hGolden Sponsors of the conference:Conference Sponsor:Organizers:The 2. Press Media Summit will be held in Belgrade on the 16th November 2011, and like the previous year, it will gatherover 200 regional leaders of the most prestigious newspaper publishing companies and accompanying industry sectorbusinesses. This year, they will be joined by marketing, media and PR agency leaders and the highest officials from Europeannewspaper associations.The aim of the Summit is to reach, collectively, the most rational solutions for the future of newspaper publishing industrythrough the exchange of experiences.The most eminent speakers from Europe and the region have confirmed their presence:Host of the 2. Press Media Summit is Mr. Veselin Simonović, President of Media Association of Serbia, opening speechwill be delivered by Mr.Vincent Degert, Ambassador, Head of Delegation of European Union to the Republic of Serbia; andthe following have also confirmed their presence, Ms. Francine Cunningham, Executive Director, European NewspaperPublishing Association (ENPA); Ms. Dragana Milićević Milutinović, State secretary for information and media, Ministryof Culture, Media and Information Society; Mr. Jurij Giacomelli, President of Management Board, Delo (Slovenia); Mr.Dragoljub Žarković, Editor in Chief, Vreme; Mr. Erl Murati, Editor in Chief, Gazeta Shqiptare (Albania); Ms. JelenaDrakulić Petrović, General Manager, Ringier Axel Springer; Mr. Juergen Bernkopf, Senior Research Consultant, GfKAustria; Mr. Robert Čoban, President, Color Press Group; Mr. Tomislav Wruss, Board member in charge of media EPH(Croatia); Mr. Zoran Sekulić, Director and Editor in Chief, FoNet news agency; Ms. Vanda Kučera, McCann Grupa; Ms.Milica Stefanović, President, Group of Advertisers Serbia, and others.Moderator: Mr. Ivan Stanković, Director, Communis.Additional information and online registration can be found on this address www.abcsrbija.com. Registration fee is80EUR (payable in dinars), and 50EUR for ABC Srbija members. For all additional questions regarding the Summit, pleasecontact us at: office@abcsrbija.comMedia partners:

2009, and the accession negotiationsbegan in June 2010.At the very end of 2008, thecountry defaulted, whichcaused quite a shock aroundthe world. Iceland used to bethe poorest European country, but thingspicked up between 2002 and 2007 whenthe country experienced its golden age.The economy was flourishing, stock valuewas on the up, but, to sustain this revival,the country relied on a fragile foundaeconomytHe ViCious CirCle of soVereign deBt CrisisBankruptcy, a Fashionable Word■ By Miloš ZlatićThings are not the same. TheEuropean bankruptcy candidatesbelong to the eurozone,which prevents them fromsimply depreciating their currencies.The suspension in paying liabilities,like loan instalments, interest ratesand bond yields, usually comes spontaneouslybecause the state budget has beenemptied and there is no opportunityof getting yet another loan. The suspensionof payments can be declared by thestate too, even if the state is still able toservice its debts to a certain extent by applyingradical measures and with somebodyelse’s help. Several countries havealready been servicing their debts withthe help of the EU and international financialinstitutions. Ireland, Portugal,Top 10 Most Risky28 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.comGreece, Spain and Italy are just someof the EU countries that are mentionedas potential bankruptcy candidates. Accordingto a survey conducted by London-basedagency CMA Vision, Serbia’sneighbours, Hungary and Croatia, tookIreland, Portugal, Greece, Spain andItaly are just some of the EU countriesthat are mentioned as potentialbankruptcy candidates9th (30.7%) and 12th place (29.7%) respectivelyamongst 68 countries when it cameto bankruptcy risk. This survey, however,did not include all the regional countries,as well as Serbia. According to analysesconducted by certain economy experts,Top 10 Least RiskyThe global sovereign debtcrisis, which has reachedits lowest depth and is mostcomplex in Europe, has beenspreading week-on-weekwith the looming threat of acertain EU country sharingthe same destiny as Iceland,Argentina and Russia, andeven Spain which wentbankrupt seven times in the19th centurySerbia could be facing bankruptcy in2014 if it fails to conduct radical reforms,primarily in its public sector.The most recent bankruptcy befell acountry that was on the verge of joiningthe EU. Iceland submitted its membershipapplication in summerpoSiTion Q3 counTry 5 yEar cpd (%)poSiTion Q4 counTry 5 yEar cpd (%)1 Greece 90.6%1 Norway 4.4%2 Portugal 61.3%2 USA 4.6%3 Venezuela 58.7%3 Sweden 5.1%4 Argentina 53.2%4 Switzerland 6.2%5 Pakistan 51.8%5 Finland 6.8%6 Ukraine 46.9%6 Hong Kong 7.7%7 Ireland 46.2%7 UK 7.8%8 Italy 33.3%8 Australia 8.3%9 Hungary 30.7%9 Saudi Arabia 8.4%10 Dubai 30.4%10 Abu Dhabi 8.4%■ Note: CPD is a function of the recovery level which varies according the several factors and distance to default. i.e. emerging markets assume 25%, Greece is now 32%, others 40%. Source: CMA Vision

Short history of state bankruptciesPhilip II King of Spain (1527-1598)The first country in history to default was theKingdom of Spain. In 1557, King Felipe II declaredbankruptcy for the first time, followed by threemore defaults by 1596. The historical records saythat the bankruptcy ensued due to high costsassociated with the conquering of South andCentral America. Spain is actually a record holderwhen it comes to the number of bankruptcies – inonly the 19th century, the country defaulted seventimes. France defaulted eight times in the 17thand 18th century. Germany went bankrupt twice– both bankruptcies took place after World Wars.tion made of new loans that Iceland kepton getting whilst hoping for growth tocontinue forever. Young bank and investmentfund managers from Iceland tookout loans to buy assets all over the world,until, in 2007, the country’s total bankingdebt grew nine times over the annualrevenue generated by the entire Icelandiceconomy. When, in the summer of 2008,the world was gripped by a financial andcredit breakdown, Iceland suddenly runout of places to borrow money to consolidateits debts. By October 2008, Iceland’scurrency – the krone – depreciated by35%, the three leading banks were underreceivership, while the governmentcould not pay the country’s foreign debt,including 6.5 billion euros worth of savingsdeposits in Icelandic banks in GreatBritain and the Netherlands. In time, thedepreciated krone was good for exportand the Icelandic economy managed torecover just nicely, despite natural disasterslike the two volcanic eruptions. Recently,the IMF came up with a GDP projectionfor Iceland, which said that thecountry’s GDP will grow 2.5% this yearand 3.1% next year.The signs of imminent bankruptcy areusually pretty noticeble and, in the case ofArgentines, in 2001, they could feel it intheir bones that bankruptcy was coming.They crossed the state borders in hugenumbers, taking their savings in dollarswith them to Montevideo. Uruguay is forSouth America what Switzerland is forEurope, i.e. a safe haven for endangeredcapital. When most of the wealthy entrepreneurstook their money out of Argentina,the last default stage began. Fearingthat their savings would be wiped off,droves of ordinary citizens hurled themselvesat banks. They even tried to breakinto the banks and withdraw their moneyso the banks looked more like fortresseswith metal panels instead of windows.The state converted foreign currency savingsinto pesos and limited the withdrawalsto only 250 pesos per bank accountper week. Nominally, that amount wastantamount to $250, but, in reality, it wasworth only $80. Small businesses werehit the hardest, most of them having toclose down. In December, mass demonstrationsagainst the government erupted,The epilogue of the European default crisisis still not in sight, and possible bankruptcyof some of EU states could cause a dominoeffect and reduce the events in Argentinaor Iceland to an “exotic episode”Argentina 2001stores were looted and 39 people died inclashes with the police. Argentine PresidentFernando de la Rua fled the presidentialresidence by helicopter, and hissuccessor Adolfo Rodriguez Saa immediatelydeclared, in front of Congress, thatthe country would stop paying foreigndebts which, together with interest rates,had grown to $145 billion. Following thebankruptcy, the peso was no longer tiedto the U.S. dollar and the peso exchangerate was left to be freely determined bythe global market. The peso / U.S. dollarexchange rate grew to 4:1, which destroyedthe businessmen who took outloans with the foreign currency clause.Production virtually stopped for a wholeyear, the unemployment rate jumped to25%, all credit card payments were suspendedas was grantingany kind of loans.Nonetheless, followingbankruptcy, inthe next eight years,the Argentine economygrew at a rate ofnearly 8% per annum.In 1998, Russia was also grippedby a severe financial crisis caused by reducedproductivity, budget deficit and acostly war in Chechnya. Although manynational and international economy expertsadvised the Russian Government tostop spending the country’s foreign currencyreserves to keep the rouble afloat,in only ten months, the Russian centralbank spent $27 billion on keeping thenational currency stable. Rogue tradershad been selling the rouble for monthson end and, on the 13th August, panicerupted. Russian foreign currency, stocksand bonds markets suffered a meltdown.Four days later, the government and centralbank announced that the rouble wasdepreciating, that they were stopping thepayment of the country’s foreign debtand imposing a three-month-moratoriumon foreign debt.The epilogue of the European defaultcrisis is still not in sight, and possiblebankruptcy of some of EU states couldcause a domino effect and reduce theevents in Argentina or Iceland to an “exoticepisode”. ■cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 29

commentPolitical ToyingWhen it comes to the Turkish side, thenew head of Turkish Religious Affairs,Mehmet Görmez, and the country’sentrepreneurial foreign minister andthe chief architect of the current Turkishneo-Osmanic foreign affairs doctrineAhmet Davutoglu had the main sayproF. dr darKotanaSkoVić,leading Belgrade Orientalist and theformer Ambassador to TurkeyVery contradictory information has been circulating themedia and political corridors recently. The informationpertains to a new initiative for the unification and reconciliationof the two opposing Islamic communities (hereinafterreferred to as IZ) in Serbia – the first one having headquartersin Belgrade, with Reisu-l-ulema Adem Zilkić at its helm, and thesecond, called the Islamic Community in Serbia, based in NoviPazar, with Mufti Muamer Zukorlić at the helm. This initiative waslaunched by Turkey in October with a series of meetings withSarajevo Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Cerić and the two Bosniak ministersin the Serbian Government – Rasim Ljajić and SulejmanUgljanin taking place. It wasn’t clear whether Mufti Zukorlićparticipated in the meetings since the very beginning, whileReisu-l-ulema Zilkić confirmed that nobody had consulted himabout anything. A Bosniak member of Bosnia & Herzegovina’sPresidency, Bakir Izetbegović also played a role in the talks, althoughhe did everything in his power to refute a visibly calculatedstatement that he and Serbian President Boris Tadić weresupposed to sign an agreement on the unification of Islamic communitiesin Serbia. Of course, President Tadić also vehementlydenied those claims. When it comes to the Turkish side, thenew head of Turkish Religious Affairs, Mehmet Görmez, and thecountry’s entrepreneurial foreign minister and the chief architectof the current Turkish neo-Osmanic foreign affairsdoctrine Ahmet Davutoglu had the main say.Even Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan investedhis authority in supporting the initiative, whichhe personally endorsed. Based on what some participantsof the meetings and interested parties, mainlyfrom Islamic circles in Sarajevo, said, as well asdifferent information that was publicly leaked, it was impossibleto have a clear and reliable picture of what happened withthe attempt to find a solution for the institutional crisis that theIslamic Community in Serbia has been going through. Accordingto the opinion of many, the crisis has lasted for too long and isdamaging to both the Muslims themselves and the overall socialand economic atmosphere in Sandžak. The crisis has been indirectlyharming a harmonious political atmosphere, which Serbiadesperately needs in dealing with the Kosovo problem and duringa delicate phase in the European integration process. It wasexpected that Minister Davutoglu would come to Belgrade immediatelyafter the launch of the initiative and present the topSerbian officials with the ideas and concrete solutions containedwithin a 14-point-document that was supposed to clarify everything.However, due to the deteriorating situation at the Turkish/Kurdish front, Davutoglu was forced to postpone his visit for thelast week of October. Following his working visit and contactshe had, it seems that only Serbian authorities viewed the initiativeas interesting and would devote their full attention to it. Still,some things are clear even without actually going into the detailsof the document.First of all, the way the Turkish initiative has been launchedand the profile of the people who have been involved in it sincethe very beginning, validate what was known for a very long timeand that is that the conflict between the two IZs is mainly of politicalrather than a religious nature. Therefore, it is not realisticto expect that the solution will be found through an agreementbetween two religious heads and on religious grounds. After all,bearing in mind a series of historical and contemporary circumstancesin the former Yugoslavia, the issues that concern the relationsand disputes between churches and religious communitiesare predominantly of a political nature and not religious.The issues that concern the relations anddisputes between churches and religiouscommunities are predominantly of a politicalnature and not religiousThe only persons who participated in the first round of talks inTurkey and who could be considered religious leaders are Reisul-ulemaCerić and Mehmet Görmez, who has been wrongly presentedin Serbia as ‘The chief of the Turkish Islamic Community’.After all, Mustafa Cerić is much more involved in politics than religion,and Görmez is no autonomous leader of the Islamic communityin the secular state of Turkey, but rather a representative,of sorts, of the ‘Ministry for Islam’ which is governed by theTurkish Government. The institution that he heads was founded30 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

y Atatürk in order for the state to control the Islamic religion.Compared to Atatürk’s time, the “only” difference is that this controlis no longer exercised by the Kemalists, but political Islamistswho won overall power at the country’s democratic elections.The second conclusion, which we can come to without knowingall the details of the initiative, is the validation of the fact,that has recently been subjected torelativization, that, out of all the importantfactors in the Islamic world,Turkey has, by far, the biggest influenceon Balkan Muslims, includingBosniaks, both in Bosnia &Herzegovina and Sandžak. Aware ofthis fact and in line with the doctrineof ‘strategic depth’ (= ‘geographicaldepth’ + ‘historical depth’), whichwas devised by Ahmet Davutoglu,the successor to the Ottoman Empirehas been systematically trying to usethis comparative advantage too. Theend goal of any Turkish initiativeis consolidating Islamic communitiesin the Balkans and exercisingthe biggest influence possible ontheir functioning. This, of course,does not mean that Serbia cannothave short-term political and social benefits from the initiative.Removing the source of internal tensions is, in principle, a goodthing for any state providing that a basis for bigger systematicproblems in the future is not created through some thoughtlessand asymmetric compromise.Judging by everything we have heard so far about the Turkishinitiative, it seems that the IZs in Serbia are still treated as onlythe Bosniak Islamic Community, and not the community of allMuslims that live here. Albanian Muslims from South Serbia havebeen left behind, as have many Roma people, Goranci and Muslimbelievers of other origin rather than Balkan. Such persistent ‘nationalization’of the Islamic community in Serbia and its acceptanceas a para-political party of the Bosniak minority with, as ofrecently, pan-Bosniak ideas, is a limiting factor in any attempt todepoliticize it.Further more, it is safe to say that the immediate goals ofthe Turkish initiative, albeit somewhat simplified, are the following– number one, removing Mufti Zukorlić from the public eyesince his destructive behaviour toward official Belgrade and theother Islamic community has caused his loose credibility evenamongst people who were willing to support him. His misguidedrequest for Muslims to boycott the census was “the straw thatbroke camel’s back” and was seen as the last move in the Mufti’spolitical adventurism. The Mufti should be temporarily withdrawnand used for some future tasks.Number two, this new initiative is aimed at depoliticizing IZsin Serbia, which, speaking in a politically objective manner, theincreasingly Islamic Turkey wants to use to demonstrate its advocacyof the secular state, which, in principle, is acceptable toSerbia too, as well as to most Muslims who live here and who arenot staunchly Islamic. The third aim of this operation is the dissolutionor termination of the Council of the Islamic Communityin Serbia, with Reisu-l-ulema Zilkić at its helm, and establishinga new organizational scheme for the Muslims living in Serbia andmaybe for those in Bosnia.The latter aim could be veryproblematic. The essence of the disputebetween the two IZs is the factthat Zukorlić has been refusing toaccept official Belgrade as the organizational-administrativecentre,but keeps on insisting on subordinationto the Sarajevo Islamic Council.Zilkić, on the other hand, was adamantlyagainst the idea, which led tothe formation of the Islamic Councilin Belgrade in 2007. The politicalimplications of both formats are veryThe end goal of any Turkish initiative isconsolidating Islamic communities in theBalkans and exercising the biggest influencepossible on their functioningobvious. There is nodoubt that this issomething that theBelgrade authoritieswill also seriouslytake into account. ■cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 31

interviewKayoko Yamasaki, professor, poet and translatorIn TheLand OfGoodReaders■ By Sonja Ćirić“When, due to civil wars, theformer Yugoslavia began todisintegrate, I saw the need toinform other people of thatthrough poetry“This autumn, the Belgrade International Convention ofWriters, which is the most important event organizedby the Association of Serbian Writers, awarded Japanesepoet Kayoko Yamasaki with ’The Morava Charter’ forher exceptional contribution in translating Serbian literature. Thiswas the reason why we decidedto interview Mrs. Yamasaki,now a Belgrade citizen.Kayoko Yamasaki is a Japanesestudies professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Philology, a poetand a translator. She was born in Japan, where she studied andgraduated Slavic studies (Serbian language) at Hokkaido University.She got her PhD from the Belgrade Faculty of Philology, andhas been living in Belgrade for the past 30 years. She came to thispart of the world after being awarded a scholarship by the SocialistFederal Republic of Yugoslavia’s authorities. Her first place of residencein Yugoslavia was Sarajevo, in 1979, where she specializedI asked myself what the world would look likefrom a perspective of a small language thatresembles a miniature window to the worldin the history of Yugoslav literature with ProfessorRadovan Vučković as her mentor. After that, she leftfor Ljubljana to study oral ballads. Her poetry waspublished both in Japan and Serbia. Mrs. Yamasakihas also translated several Serbian novels into Japanese, namelyDanilo Kiš’s ’Early Sorrows’, ’The Encyclopaedia of the Dead’,and ‘Garden, Ashes’, as well as poems of Laza Kostić, VladislavPetković Dis, Desanka Maksimović, Miloš Crnjanski, MomčiloNastasijević and others. Also, she translated, into Serbian, thepoems of Tanikawa Shuntaroand Shiraishi Kazuko, andwrote several books of essaysand studies. Apart from ’TheMorava Charter’, she is therecipient of the Serbian PEN Centre award for foreign languagetranslators. Mrs. Yamasaki’s co-workers and friends from Belgradecall her simply Kaja.■ How do you feel in Belgrade?- I feel best when I am among people, and Belgrade makes thatpossible for me. For instance, one day, I was walking past theMoskva Hotel and I could see somebody waving at me. It was32 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Stevan Raičković! Could you imagine a great poet such as StevanRaičković waving at you in the street?! Or I would be walkingdown Knez Mihailo Street, and I see a famous Serbian writer, DragoslavMihajlović, walking his dog. He stops and chats with meas if we are the best of friends. Those kinds of things happen inBelgrade! I love when people are open, warm and want to heardifferent opinions. In smaller places in Serbia, that is even morepronounced. I remember an older married couple picking walnutsunderneath this huge walnut tree in Sićevo. I didn’t knowthese people, but we chatted like we’ve known each other forever.■ You have probably been asked this many times, but why, outof all the languages in the world, did you decide to learn Serbianand why did you swap Japan for Belgrade? Bearing in mindthe level of curiosity from the people that have just met you isunderstandable, would you be so kind as to indulge the CorDreaders with a reply?- The time was appropriate forsomething like that. In Japan, followingthe subduing of the studentupheaval, the young peoplewere still left with the question ofwhere their civilization was headingand what was the purpose oflife. Today, from this perspective,that curiosity looks like ethereallife strength and the driving forcefilled with inquisitiveness. At thetime when I was a student, my entiregeneration probably felt thatway too. That was a time when wewere enchanted with Russian literature,which was one of the rolemodels for the then Japanese culture.And that is not surprising – The Slavicsoul has the same intuitiveness as Easterntradition – it is focused on spiritualityand this is where it looks for inspiration, rather than in thematerial world. In such an atmosphere, I asked myself what theworld would look like from the perspective of a small languagethat resembles a miniature window to the world. Back then, I feltvery poetic and my instincts were right – my interest in the Serbianlanguage soon resulted in some very interesting and excitingdiscoveries. And that is the explanation as to why I chose theSerbian language, out of all world languages. I stayed in Belgrade,i.e. the former Yugoslavia, because I fell in love with your poetry.■ Do you still think that our poetry is worth falling in love with,and moving from Japan?- I am in love with your poetry, especially today when times arerough for anybody with ideals and who is keen on keeping thatfeeling alive. On top of that, these times are not only difficult, butoften coax you into thinking that nothing makes sense any longer.People often think that they are powerless and that our lives aretailored by others. In a situation like that, it is poetry that givesyou hope amidst this horrible drama, and it gives you the strengthto stop thinking that a horrid power is actually ruling the world.Poetry even gives us strength to believe that there is still some purposeand joy to this life. This is how I view Serbian poetry, as wellas any poetry in the world. Poetry has that power to enter yourdarkest parts and shine light into them. When a person is in trouble,it is enough for them to think of a proverb or a verse, of a wisesaying by Stevan Raičković or Dis, and they are immediately invigoratedand filled with spiritual strength. Japanese poet TanikawaShuntaro (Kayoko Yamasaki has translated his collection of poems’Child on the Stairs’ into Serbian language – author’s remark) saidthat poetry provides spirituality to the people of this millennium.A friend of mine recently told me that there were two beautifulthings in life - to be eternally young and to be anonymous.I cannot be young forever, but I can certainly be anonymous■ In your opinion, and speaking in terms of quality, how is Japaneseliterature accepted in Serbia?- I think that the situation is the same wherever you look. Thanksto marketing, your popularity inother countries can grow muchfaster than before. It often happensthat the quality of one country’s literatureis based on its most famouswriter. However, in my capacity asa translator and a university professor,I have been trying to puttogether a list of writers that truthfullycapture the spirit of Japan. Iknow that the road to reaching abig number of readers is different,but I think that the road I am takingis better. I already have severalyoung translators that I am veryproud of. The people who are engagedin Japanese studies are given a great chance to showcasewonderful writers whose work would probably never be translatedinto Serbian. For example, at the same time as you had BoraStanković, we, in Japan, had a writer called Natsume Soseki whowrote about virtually the same things as Stanković, but in the Japaneseway. Or, take your ballads, for example. ’Omer and Merima’was the first ballad that I fell in love with here. Danilo Kiš likedit very much too. Japanese literature is full of stories about tragiclove. The way literature is translated is exceptionally important,since it connects people.■ Therefore, we could say that you are a combination of a translatorand an ambassador. For instance, you mediate betweenSerbs and Japanese and are helping them to get to know eachother and grow closer.- No, I am not an ambassador of any sort. I am not an institution.Actually, I am ashamed when somebody says something like that.I feel awkward just like if I were given a dress which didn’t fit mecordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 33

or the colour didn’t suit me. A friend of mine recently told me thatthere were two beautiful things in life - to be eternally young andto be anonymous. I cannot be young forever, but I can certainlybe anonymous.■ Whether you agree or not, nobody in Japan would ever hearabout Laza Kostić or other Serbian poets if you did not translatetheir work.- No, that is not the case. Somebody else would translate them...However, all right, I see your point. I am very glad to serve asa link between people who live far apart from each other. I amMy main goal is to help my students todevelop spiritually with the help of nationalcollective memories of other culturesso happy to see that my translation of poems written by MilošCrnjanski, Desanka Maksimović, Stevan Raičković, MomčiloNastasijević and Vojislav Karanović have been included in the’Love Poetry’ anthology. You know, poetry always reaches the landof good readers and your audience. It is a God gift to any writer,and any human for that matter, to have somebody listening toyou. Since, if nobody’s listening, why write in the first place?! Thatis why I say that a sincere reader is a real God’s gift to any writer.■ There is a beautiful story about you and the poetry of DesankaMaksimović.- When I got a scholarship from the SFRJ authorities, one of thefirst Japanese – Serbian translators, Kazuo Tanaka gave me two poemswritten by Desanka Maksimović - “A Bloody Fairy Tale” and“Tremble”- as a gift. He told me: “If you learn these two poems byheart during your flight, you will love them forever.” At that time,I did not even dream about writing poetry or translating it. After14 years of living in Belgrade, I suddenly felt the urge to translate.I took two sheets of paper with Desanka’s poems and translatedthem in one go.■ It is very difficult, if not almost impossible, to write poetry ina language that is not your mother tongue. However, you havebeen writing poems in both Serbian and Japanese. Why did youstart writing poems in Serbian?- When, due to the civil wars, the former Yugoslavia began to disintegrate,I had an instinctive need to inform other people of thatthrough poetry since I thought that they would find solace in poetry.Up until that point, I was very cautious. I thought that, withso many wonderful poets around me, it would be better for meto translate rather than write. But, when I felt the need to talkabout what had been happening in the Balkans, I thought that thebest way to do that was with poetry. At first, I wrote in Japaneseand had those poems published. I was young and I didn’tsee my position as that dramatic. But, to be severed fromyour national culture and to create at the same time is avery painful process. The feeling of having to write in Serbianas a foreigner in this country helped me a great dealin that. Poetry is a very precise art form. When you writea poem, you are not too sure whether your words are theright ones for a very long time. However, that feeling ofinsecurity gave me enough strength to be persistent. Itis so important in poetry to let yourself go and open up.And, when you start feeling that a poem is opening youup, that is a sign that your language has become open too,that it has become shapeless and airy. My great mentor,the late Srba Mitrović, always said that writing poetrywas not worthwhile. I would like to continue on that andsay – but we still do write poetry. I am confident that hewould agree with me. But, let me say just one more thingabout writing... Sometimes I translate more, sometimesI write more. I visit several islands in the process – one day, I amon my own island, the next on somebody else’s. There are dayswhen I don’t write at all. Sometimes it is important not to writeand to consume life more. You keep on living and poetry findsyou eventually, and once it finds you, you need to write it down.It is the same thing with loneliness. Writing poetry does not comemechanically.■ What is the most important thing that you are trying to conveyto your students?- Many people might not agree with me, but my main goal isto help my students to develop spiritually with the help of nationalcollective memories of other cultures. It is really not crucialhow many grammatical units they will learn, but it is importantfor them to form their personality by getting to knowother cultures so that they can enrich their own. A culture thatis closed will fail. It will suffocate itself. Hence, national literatureis very important.■ Are you currently translating?- I would like to put together a collection of Serbian poems thatI would translate in Japanese and Japanese poems that I wouldtranslate into Serbian. I would like them to be in one book. Mylife-long dream is to translate Miloš Crnjanski’s “The Journal ofČarnojević“. I do hope that I will have enough time to fulfil thisdream of mine. ■34 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

nov 2011 BUsinEss LEaDEr’s mEEtinG PointPage 40Goran Janković,Director and Proprietor of Inmold Company from Požegaglobalization advantagesPage 41DiMitraki ZiPoVski,CFO of Energoprojekt Holding a.d.loyalty enhances the CompanyPage 44 Page 49Bill Gross,CEO of UberMediaChime.in pays you to post“Go iNtErNatioNal”greek Companies areStaying in Serbia

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BusinessDialogueInnovationsSometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit themquickly and get on with improving your other innovations. — Steve Jobs01Piraeus bankFighting against global warmingPiraeus bank has supported the action “Ice cube in Belville” initiated bymagazine National Geographic SerbiaThe SMS competition, regarding theestimation about how much time intotal it would take for an ice cube tomelt, had the aim of drawing publicattention to what is happening on theice caps and Earth poles and to supportthe fight against global warming.The main prize of a 1000 euro paymentcard was for the contestant who got closest to the meltingtime provided by the Bank.“Ice Cube Meltdown” started in Belville on the 12th October2011 in the presence of representatives of the Ministry ofEnvironment, City of Belgrade and Novi Beograd municipality, aswell representatives of Piraeus bank. Disclosure and meltdown followedan interesting program, celebrity guests and the launchingof a number of Eco-workshops in which Serbia’s youngest citizenscould learn about the causes and consequences of global warming.03 Mercedes-Benz04The world’s mostvaluable premiumautomotive brandMercedes-Benzcontinues to beregarded as theworld’s mostvaluable premiumautomotivebrand. In thelatest rankingby respected brand consultancy InterbrandZintzmeyer & Lux, ‘Best Global Brands 2011’,the three-pointed star brand again tooktwelfth place – as it did last year – and istherefore the most valuable European brand.Its brand equity has risen to US $27.455 billion,an increase of 9 percent compared to2010. Mercedes-Benz’s brand equity hastherefore risen continuously since 2009.The study’s authors attribute this successto customer satisfaction with the brand,which is higher than that of all other automotivebrands. What’s more, the model initiativelaunched two years ago is enabling Mercedes-Benz to successfully respond to the market’sdemand for ground-breaking, sustainabletransport solutions.Interbrand conducts the ‘Best GlobalBrands’ study every year. Leading CEOs regardit as the benchmark for measuring the valueof international brands. The study identifiesthe 100 most valuable brands in the world.Organicfood fromStaraPlaninathe new Mercedes-Benz M-ClassPotatoes, onions, beans, green beans, zucchini and, more recently, theJerusalem artichoke and plum grown in the fields of Stara Planina foundtheir way to the French and Russian marketsThe fruits and vegetables are produced by the Arbinje farmers’ cooperativefrom Pirot, which helps the farmers with setting up productionand export to the EU market. For example, a farmer from the villageof Dojkinci exported 4.5 tons of organic potatoes to France.Director of the Arbinje farmers’ cooperative, Nebojša Veličkovićsays that the cooperative was founded four years ago with the aimof engaging in organic production in Pirot County.“We have twenty or so farmers in the county that are certified. In the village of Pokrovenik, theyare rearing pigs (Mangulicas) and there is a plan to raise sheep and goats too. Via a joint French– Serbian company, we are selling organically grown potatoes and onions, which are exported toFrance, and we have concluded a contract with another company stipulating the processing and conservingof fruit and vegetables to be shipped to Russia. There is a great demand for these productsdespite their price being 15% to 30% higher than normal. We have a secure market, particularly in biggercountries,” says Nebojša Veličković.05Farmerscooperativebankruptcy022,099 companies declare bankruptcyThis year alone, 8,893 companies, which bankaccounts have been frozen for two consecutiveyears, qualified for automatic bankruptcy.2,099 companies in Serbia have declared bankruptcywith the number growing day-by-day.This year alone, 8,893 companies, which bankaccounts have been frozen for two consecutiveyears, qualified for automatic bankruptcy. Insome cases, the bankruptcy procedure has alreadybeen instigated or finalized, while othershave had creditors wanting at least some ofRefinement meets efficiencyThe third generation Mercedes-Benz M-Class scores particularlyhighly on outstanding energy efficiency,and on average the newmodel range consumes 25 percentless fuel than the previous models.One true champion in termsof fuel consumption is the ML 250BlueTEC 4MATIC, which boastsan NEDC consumption of just 6.0l/100 km (158 g CO2/km) and hasa range of up to 1500 kilometreson a full tank. Further strengthsof the premium SUV with permanentall-wheel drive include exceptionalsafety and well-balanced ridecomfort as well as excellent drivingdynamics both on and off theroad. What’s more, the ML featuresan array of new chassis developmentsand innovative dynamic handlingcontrol systems which furtherenhance both driving enjoymentand handling safety. A characteristicbody design and a variable interiorwith a high wellness factor addto the richness of the driving experiencein the new M-Class.With the M-Class, it’s alwaysbeen a case of combining the comfortand luxury of a saloon car withthe off-road characteristics and theemotiveness of an SUV. The factthat the new M-Class is as fuel-efficientas the economical saloon carsdisplaying the Mercedes star makesthe all-wheel-drive model evenmore desirable. A range of state-ofthe-artengines, a class-leading cdfigure (drag coefficient) of 0.32 andextensive BlueEFFICIENCY measureslay the foundations for outstandingenergy efficiency.their claims settled through regular bankruptcyprocedures.According to the data collated by theBankruptcy Supervision Agency, the averagetime to conclude bankruptcy proceduresin Serbia is 21 months. It sounds unbelievablethat some bankruptcies were launchedover 15 years ago; such is the case of theBelgrade-based Sportsman Company, whichdeclared bankruptcy back in 1996, in linewith the old law.38 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Bosnia joinsthe projectBosnia and Herzegovina has decidedto join the project of Serbia, Sloveniaand Croatia setting up a joint companycalled Cargo 10, with Montenegro,Bulgaria and Macedonia alsoannouncing their interests in joiningAlthough the company is still not set up in a legal and formal sense,it became operational on 4th October 2010, when the first freighttrain carrying wood briquettes, intended for the Italian market, leftParaćin for Sežana in Slovenia.The aim of Cargo 10 is to cut back on the time needed to transportthe goods from Ljubljana to Istanbul, which will result in the highercompetitiveness of railways over other modes of transport likeCorridor 4, which runs across Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.Due to its obligations to adhere to EU legislation, SlovenianRailways Company has objected to the legal form of the current articlesof incorporation of Cargo 10, in part that concerns anti-monopolylegislation. The sides are currently trying to harmonize the documentsand subsequently adopt them.07Goods travellingfaster across bordersPost Export service will be launched in ten or so days and will enablebusinesses to export their goods with only one document required.In the words of Serbian Post Office’s CEO, Goran Ćirić,small companies will find the price of the service affordable. Thevalue of the goods in question should not exceed 1,000 euro’s andbe a maximum of 30 kilogrammes in weight.“The analysis has shown that there are 300,000 small businessesin Serbia, i.e. small and medium enterprises. Our idea was to encouragetheir export activities primarily through removing numerousobstacles and administration procedures. The point of thisproject is to simplify and automate the whole process. The PostOffice has been collaborating with the Ministry of Finance, theCustoms Administration, the Business Registry Agency and theTax Administration on this project,” says Goran Ćirić.08CommunicationThe average working person spends less than 30seconds a day in meaningful communication withtheir children.06Public enterprise Serbian Post OfficeBritish American TobaccoCargo 10Small companies will now be able to shiptheir products to their foreign buyers thanksto an expedited and simplified procedureintroduced by the Serbian Post OfficeCigarettes cheaper 5 - 10 dinarsBritish American Tobacco Vranje a.d. has decreased the retail price ofits “Viceroy” cigarette brand by 5 - 10 dinars per pack. The new priceof a pack of Viceroy Full will be RSD95, Viceroy Charcoal will costRSD100 and Viceroy Charcoal 100’s will cost RSD105.“The decision to decrease cigarette prices is the result of an inadequateexcise structure, which we have been pointing out all this year,and which has led to consumers’ downtrading,” said Srdjan Lazovic,Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs in BAT. British AmericanTobacco has been present in Serbia for 15 years, and in 2003 it joinedthe tobacco industry in Vranje, where leading BAT brands, LuckyStrike, Pall Mall, Kent and Viceroy are produced today.MilošĐurković,new President ofAmChamMarkoJovanović,new ManagingDirector of Ilirikadzu BeogradSnežanaJovićević,Director Generalof BelgradePharmaciesNinaBulatović,new Chairwomanof the ManagementCommittee at KPMGd.o.o. BelgradeElmerGeisler, newGeneral Manager ofPorsche SCG d.o.oPlacements & Postingsappointments@cma.rswww.cordmagazine.com/corporate/appointments.htmlSince 2010, Mr Đurković has been the managing director of HewlettPackard Serbia following more than 16 years working in the IT industryin Serbia and neighbouring countries. He was the general manager ofIBM Serbia, as well as the head of the Representative Office of CISCOSystems, in charge of the markets of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedoniaand Albania. His previous positions included a number of managingand sales jobs in several companies and institutions in Serbia.Mr Đurković graduated from the University of Belgrade Facultyof Electrical Engineering. He was member of the Managing Boardof NALED and still is member of Association of Serbian CorporateDirectors and member of the Managing Board of the Rowing Club“Red Star”. He is married and a father of two children.Marko Jovanović got his Masters Degree from the BocconiUniversity, Milan, majoring in finance and banking. He graduated in2002 also from an Italian university, majoring in international finances.He began his career at Lehman Brothers in London, and, in 2005, hegot a job in Delta Bank’s tresury. In 2007, he was appointed partner inAtlas Group and was engaged in setting up an investment fund managementcompany. In 2009, he went back to the Delta Investmentscompany for investment fund management in the capacity of a portfoliomanager. Following the successful acquisition of Delta Investmentfunds, Ilirika DZU takes the leading position at the investment fundmarket. In early September 2011, Jovanović was appointed directorof Ilirika DZU a.d. Beograd.Following a decision made by Belgrade City authorities, SnežanaJovićević was appointed the new director general of Apoteke Beograd(Belgrade Pharmacies). Born in Bileća in 1957, she finished elementaryschool and a gymnasium in Sremski Karlovci. She graduatedfrom Belgrade Faculty of Pharmacy in 1984. She has 25 years of experience,with 20 years of experience working in Belgrade Pharmaciesalone, as a pharmaceutical engineer. In the period from 2001 to 2010,she was the general manager of the latter pharmacy.In June 2010, she was appointed the general manager of LipovLad pharmacy followed by director general of Belgrade Pharmacies.Ms. Jovićević is a member of the Belgrade Pharmacies’ ExpertCouncil and is not politically affiliated.Nina Bulatović has over 31 years of professional experience, withthe last fifteen years spent as a partner in two out of the four most eminentaudit and consultancy companies.Following her graduation from the Belgrade Faculty ofEconomics, she got a job at the Social Accounting Serviceswhere she managed to get promoted to a managerial position.Subsequently, she went to work for the Payment and FinancialSupervision Services. In 1996, she became a partner at Coopers& Lybrand d.o.o. Beograd, and after Coopers & Lybrand and PriceWaterhouse merged into PricewaterhouseCoopers d.o.o. Beograd,Nina Bulatović remained at her managerial position until 2001. Hernext job was at KPMG d.o.o.As of 1st October 2011, apart from Manolito Vujičić, PorscheSCG d.o.o. has another general manager – Elmer Geisler. Mr. Geislerstudied economics at the Leopold Franzes University, Innsbruck, andat the Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. He graduated in 2002and has extensive experience working for Porsche Group where hegot a job in 2000. Mr. Geisler started his career at Audi’s MarketingDepartment, and, in 2003, he moved to Porsche Inter Auto. The sameyear he was given an opportunity to manage dealerships in the U.S.From 2005 to October this year, he was regional director for EastEuropean countries namely the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary,Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 39

corporateGlobalization AdvantagesThe company due to lower input costs has more favourable pricesthan its European counterparts, technically wise, it does not lag behindthe best companies in the branchGoran Janković,Director and Proprietor of Inmold Company from PožegaPrivately-owned company Inmoldis designing, building and makingtools and equipment used inthe production of plastic parts for thefood and chemical processing industry,electrical industry, automobile industryand consumer products. The companyis engaged in advanced technology,and, due to lower input costs, it alsohas more favourable prices than itsEuropean counterparts. Technically wise,it does not lag behind the best companiesin the branch. “Inmold is a reliable partnerwith good post-sale service and support,”the company’s founder and proprietorGoran Janković explains. He is a mechanicalengineer and was the top graduateof the Belgrade Faculty of MechanicalEngineering in 1987. Janković was bornin the village of Rečice, near Požega, inCentral Serbia, which is also his placeof residence. His company is based inPožega. “The tools that we make are ofsmall dimensions, so they can be shippedto any part of the world at affordablecosts. And with today’s effortless communicationand information exchange, locationis no longer a limiting factor in ouroperations,” Janković outlines. The furthestcountry that his tools were shippedto was Canada, at the request of a clientfrom Japan who placed in order.INFO: www.inmold-ltd.com■ Inmold is not your first experiencein running a private business. Whyand when did you decide to take onsuch risk?- I followed in the footsteps of my parents,who instilled in me the belief thatyou can succeed in life only by workinghard and I have been using this approachto everything I needed to do. In 1994, Icame to realize that once the financiallystrong public company Prvi Partizanfrom Užice was disintegrating. I neverhad an intention of leaving Serbia and myhometown, but I also had to find a wayto feed my family of six and put four childrenthrough school. I set up a companycalled ATM Sevojno with two partners ofmine, which wasalso engaged intool production.I was the generalmanager in thecompany. Duringour golden years,we had 150 employeesand 8 million euros in revenue.In late 2006, we made an agreement toleave the business and I embarked on anew business venture by myself.■ Do you have enough orders duringthis time of economic downturn?- Our capacities are fully employed. Wework in three shifts, with two shifts being24/7 and, during the third, we usuallydo the work that engages automaticmachines and our employees usually justsupervise. The lesser part of our currentproduction is for the Serbian market, andwe have quite a few renowned clients likeFarmakom MB from Šabac. We are workingfor foreign companies, which have theirequipment installed here. We are also doingmore work for Austrian and Sloveniancompanies, a bit less for German andItalian companies, and do business withseveral Romanian companies.■ As we can see in your case, locationis not a limiting factor in your business.In what way do you recruit youremployees?- Realistically speaking, we are ’producing’our employees ourselves and theyare usually local. Inmold’s business requireshighly qualified labour, mostly oftechnical education. The company has 53employees – 15 mechanical engineersand the rest are technicians. The averageage of our employees is very interestingOur capacities are fully employed. We workin three shifts, with two shifts being 24/7and, during the third, we usually do the workthat engages automatic machines and ouremployees usually just supervise– all of them are very young and most ofthem came to work for us straight fromschool, with no work experience whatsoever.That wasn’t easy at all since, withthe knowledge they acquired at school,they could offer very little in terms ofwork and even that wasn’t entirely applicable.We have gone through a prettypainstaking process of additional trainingand education. We have hired expertsfrom various areas who helped us in successfullydoing our job in Inmold. We havebeen working hard since the very beginningand, today, our employees are independentworkers. Actually, their trainingis still pending – they are attending seminarsand fairs in the country and abroadand they are continuously learning. ■40 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Destination“Serbia is a more attractive investment destination than Slovenia due to better incentives for investors in terms of jobcreation and tax cuts.” — Franjo Bobinac, President of “Gorenje”.Dimitraki Zipovski, CFO of Energoprojekt Holding a.d.Loyalty Enhancesthe CompanyEnergoprojekt’s biggest advantage is having along-standing presence on foreign marketsPeople are the biggest company value, and, in our case, ourpeople are extremely loyal to the company and this loyaltyoften runs across generations – says Dimitraki Zipovski,CFO of Energoprojekt Holding shareholding company. For instance,his father has worked in Energoprojekt for 42 years anddidn’t have a day of sick leave. According to Zipovski, loyalty isalso reflected in the context of the attitude that people have towardtheir work. “I think that such continuity has substantiallyhelped Energoprojekt to survive and develop despite the crisiswhich has hit the construction sector,” Zipovski underlines.■ Preservation of professional and human resources and loyaltyare certainly valuable. In your opinion, what other thingshelped you in staying afloat and even develop during the timeof the crisis?- Energoprojekt’s biggest advantage is having a long-standingpresence on foreign markets. There are countries where Energoprojektis more recognizable than the Republic of Serbia.Kazakhstan, Uganda, Peru, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana,Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are just some of thecountries where we have built and are implementing a substantialnumber of infrastructural and other projects.Economy and bridgeAlthough he runs the finances of a bigcompany, Zipovski still finds time for otherthings he loves, as he puts it. As a student,in mid-1990, he managed a bridge cluband brought in many diplomats, businessmenand public figures in Belgrade to play. Atthat time, he took 4th place at the EuropeanChampionship amongst very stiff competition■ During these turbulent times, what is your line of thought inmanaging finances of a big company that operates in the sectorthat has been hit the hardest by the crisis?- When implementing projects, we are always trying to optimizeproject & financial structures by meeting the objectives for maximizinginvestments in an adequate way, while, at the same time,minimizing various financial risks, including foreign currency.Financial institutions have recognized Energoprojekt as a reliablepartner, and this long-standing collaboration and solid trusthave had an effect on curtailing the costs of financial sources,which, in the end, affect the company’s end results.■ Could you tell us about the results that Energoprojekt accomplishedthis year?- Energoprojekt is a complex system. Apart from the mothercompany, it consists of nine subsidiary companies with over100 foreign companies and foreign operations. Only 42% of ourrevenue comes from construction. For example, in 2010, we tookthe 127th place on the global list of consultants judging by therevenue generated abroad. In the first nine months of this year,we contracted projects worth 180 million euros, and we expectthis figure to grow to nearly 300 million euros by the end of theyear. We also expect the overall 2011 total revenue to be around250 million euros, which exceeds our plans.We also expect the overall 2011 totalrevenue to be around 250 million euros,which exceeds our plans■ It has been often claimed that the state planned to sell itsstake in Energoprojekt, but these claims have died down.- The state owns a third of Energoprojekt and there are indicationsthat the company is not going to be sold as long as theinfrastructural process is pending. The reason for this could befound in the state’s need to own a part of a company that canguarantee required quality and meet deadlines in implementationof large-scale infrastructure projects in Serbia which shouldbegin in the near future. ■of professional bridge players. Even today, heplays both for the bridge club and the nationalbridge team with a lot of success.Sometimes he is not so sure that choosingeconomy over professional bridge was theright thing to do. “In sports, including bridge,the result is a real reflection of knowledgeand invested effort, while in business that isnot always the case,” he says. Generationsof students of Belgrade Faculty of Economicshave been studying from a text book called’Business Plan – A Guide to Creating’ which hewrote with Dr Blagoje Paunović. As a memberof the project team, he participated in writingover 30 projects for the Faculty of Economics’Science & Research Centre.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 41

BusinessDialoguePolitics“There are no new issues in economic theory with Europe and the euro... the difficult thingis the politics.” — Thomas Sargent, who with Christopher Sims captured the year’s NobelPrize for economics.01BulgariaMedia Monopoly WatchdogBulgaria's monopoly watchdog,the Commission for Protection ofCompetition (CPC), has imposed afine worth BGN 30 000 (€ 15,500)on leading cable operator Blizoofor deliberately advertising amisleading TV packageA CPC investigation has shown that Blizoo advertised a packageincluding “more than 150 TV channels,” while, in reality, therewere just 112 channels.The fine imposed on the cable operator constitutes a mere0.03% of the company’s net profit for 2010. The fine is so insignificantbecause Blizoo has only advertised the misleading productvia leaflets and on the Internet, thus affecting a relatively smalleramount of customers.If the violation was more serious, the monopoly watchdogcould have fined the company with 2% of its annual net profit, theDnevnik daily points out.The brand Blizoo was born after Bulgaria’s top cable providersEurocom and CableTel merged last year.Sweden-based private equity firm EQT acquired two ofBulgaria’s major cable TV and Internet operators in a EUR 210mdeal at the end of October 2009 and merged them in mid-May2010 to form the country’s biggest cable operator.03 Macedonia04 SloveniaReduced ForeignInvestmentThe total amount of foreign investmentsin Macedonia, according to theNational Bank, since the beginning ofthe year, reached 167 million euros,while the Macedonian Governmenthad planned that this year they wouldamount to 500 million euros.Political instability, isolation ofthe country from the EU and NATOand poor road and rail infrastructureare only part of the problem to getpotential investors. The absence ofthe expected influx of investments ismost likely due to the judiciary, corruption,difficult access to capital andbureaucratic problems. According todata from the National Bank, foreigninvestments in Macedonia, in 2010,amounted to 160 million euros and400 million euros, in 2007.High Prices -Low DemandThe prices of flats in Slovenia remainrelatively high, especiallywhen it comes to new apartments.Even the Ljubljana Housing Fundhas been forced to increase its offeron properties seized by banksas collateral when a number of developersfailed to meet their financialobligations.Prices of new housing inSlovenia edged 0.5 percent higherin the second quarter of 2011,the third consecutive increase despitea lower number of transactions.Compared to the same quarterin 2010 prices were 9.9 percenthigher and 11 percent higher thanthe same period in 2009. Prices ofexisting flats in Slovenia also increased– by 4.2 percent in thesecond quarter of 2011 comparedto the preceding quarter. The averageprice per square metre stoodat EUR 1,800 in the second quarterof 2011, compared to EUR 1,727 inthe preceding quarter.02CroatiaCroatia meets all tourism goalsCroatia has successfullyaccomplished all of its goalsfor this year's tourism season,Croatian Minister of TourismDamir Bajs said“We defended our market share inEurope and were twice as good asour competitors; we brought backthe domestic guest; and most importantly,we prolonged the touristseason,” Bajs said at the openingof the Croatian Tourism Days heldfrom 19 to 22 October in Sibenik.Tourism’s share of the country’sgross domestic product (GDP) grew1.7 percent this year. The sector alsotook in 14 percent more employeesthan last year, Bajs added.World Tourism Organization(UNWTO)’s Executive SecretaryMarcio Favilla de Paul saidCroatia’s success this year overshadowedworldwide trends.05Stimulate domestic savings”Romania's central bank will not rush to cut interestrates,” Deputy Governor Cristian Popa said“The tourism trade in the worldgrew four per cent this year, inEurope 6.6 percent and in Croatia12 percent. That means that Croatiahas double the growth of Europeand triple that of the world,” Favillade Paul said.He expects a billion tourist arrivalsnext year around the world, a significantshare of them going to Croatiathat has established itself in recentyears as a recognisable and importantdestination, daily 24 Sata writes.Inflation in Romania slowed sharply to 3.5 percentyear-on-year in September, the lowest annual ratesince the fall of communism in 1989, entering thebank’s target band of 3 percent plus or minus one percentagepoint.CristianPopa,Deputy GovernorRomania’s borrowing costs are the highest in centralEurope at 6.25 percent but the central bank has had to intervene to supportthe leu currency in the past month and analysts say that has stayedits hand in cutting rates. “It is important to keep inflationary expectationswell anchored. I think that a country whose current account deficitwas substantial before the (global financial) crisis... and is still hoveringaround 4 percent needs to stimulate domestic savings. And this also requiresappropriate levels of interest rate on deposits,” said Cristian Popa.06RomaniaBosnia and herzegovinaHope For Return to LibyaBosnian Ambassador to Libya, Ferhat Seta saidthat as months of fighting in Libya came to anend and as government institutions were beingformed on all levels, contacts between thetwo countries were developing afresh. Libya isthe most important foreign market for BosnianFerhat Seta construction companies, which have lost 110 millioneuros as a result of fighting in the country between supportersand foes of the now defeated former leader Muammar Gaddafi.42 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

70% of business and professional people usea “to do” list on a regular basis to administertheir “have to’s”.Montenegroto joinRussianCustomsUnionThe customs union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will expandto include Montenegro and Serbia, Russia’s Minister for EmergencySituations, Sergei Shoigu, has saidMontenegro and Serbia are the only states in the region whichMoscow has free trade agreements with, the minister said inPodgorica on Wednesday.“This will be an additional incentive for investment because,apart from the existing market, that of the Customs Union will also beopened,” Shoigu said during a meeting with Montenegrin EconomyMinister Vladimir Kavarić.During the meeting, Shoigu and Kavarić also discussed problemsin the Podgorica Aluminum Combine, in which the Montenegringovernment and the company of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaskaeach own one third.It was indicated that “the issue of all issues” is the long-term supplyof electricity to the company, on which the fate of the aluminumfactory depends.According to some media reports, Shoigu arrived in Podgorica inorder to request subsidies for electricity from the Montenegrin government.The state’s aid in this form for the factory expires in spring 2012.08Greece"To-do" list07Hellenikon puts on saleMontenegroGreece is behind target on its divestment plan and must speedit up amid adverse market conditions to keep getting bailout aidfrom the IMF and its eurozone partners.“Beggining of Novembr we will announce a public tender forthe state lottery. Then, more announcements will follow at abouttwo-week intervals,” Kostas Mitropoulos, CEO of the HellenicRepublic Asset Development Fund (HRAF), told Reuters in an interview.“We will invite expressions of interest for the Hellenikonairport redevelopment, followed by the DEPA-DESFA gas companyprivatisation tender and the sale of real estate, which will becontingent on market conditions,” he said.Hellenikon is the site of the capital’s old airport near the city’scoastline, 170 acres ofland which the governmentwants to develop into amixed residential, tourismand business complex.Under the terms ofthe EU/IMF bailout plan,Athens must raise 50 billioneuros by 2015 fromselling stakes in state firmsand other assets to help topay down a debt mountainexpected to hit 162 percentof GDP this year.Dr Dudvarski-Ilić (53) was born in Belgrade where she completedelementary school, gymnasium and the Faculty of Medicine, graduatingwith an average grade of 9.07. She did her medical residency in Belgradeand passed the state exam in 1983. She’s been working at the ClinicalCentre of Serbia’s Institute of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosissince May 1985. Dr Dudvarski-Ilić completed her specialization in 1989,and Masters studies in pulmonology in 1990. She got her PhD in 2008.Dr Aleksandra Dr Dudvarski-Ilić was appointed assistant professor at the DepartmentDudvarski-Ilić, of Internal Medicine of the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of MedicineNew director of thein 1999 and subsequently, in 2010, she was appointed as docent at thePulmology Clinic at thesame Department. She wrote and co-wrote 152 papers published in bothClinical Centre of Serbiaforeign and domestic medical journals.Doc. Dr Nađa P.Marić Bojović,New Director of thePsychiatric Clinic atthe Clinical Centre ofSerbiaProfessorDr Petar M.Seferović,new director of theCardiology Clinic at theClinical Centre of SerbiaPlacements & Postingsappointments@cma.rswww.cordmagazine.com/corporate/appointments.htmlDr Marić graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Medicine in 1993.She got her Masters Degree in 1998 and PhD in 2003. She is the headof the Department for Scientific and Research Work and Early PsychiatricInterventions, a docent at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Medicine,Secretary General of the Serbian Psychiatric Association and a member ofthe Education Committee of the European Psychiatric Association. Dr Marićhas based her scientific work on interdisciplinary cooperation within theframework of nation-wide implemented projects of the Ministry of Science.For her research Dr Marić was awarded by the European PsychiatricAssociation in 2004, and in 2005, by the World Psychiatric Association. Shewrote and co-wrote over 30 science and research papers which were publishedin the most renowned medical journals all over the world.Professor Dr Petar M. Seferović (60), was born in Belgrade, wherehe completed his gymnasium education and in 1976 he graduatedfrom the Belgrade Faculty of Medicine. He got his Masters Degree in1981, and completed his specialization in internal medicine in 1982. DrSeferović obtained his PhD in 1990. From 1990 to 1992, he was the headof the Department of Admissions, Polyclinic and One Day Admission Unitat the Cardiology Clinic of the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases at theClinical Centre of Serbia. From 1994 to 2011, he was the head of the 2ndCardiology Unit at the Cardiology Clinic of the Institute for CardiovascularDiseases at the Clinical Centre of Serbia. In 2011, he was appointed anassistant education director of the Clinical Centre of Serbia. He is marriedto Dr Dragica Seferović and has one child – daughter Jelena.Dr Bumbaširević was born in Belgrade, where she graduatedfrom the Faculty of Medicine in 1982, and completed her specializationin anaesthesiology and reanimatology in 1989. She got her PhDdegree from the Belgrade Faculty of Medicine in 1993. She is an associateprofessor and a docent at the Belgrade Faculty of Medicine.Before she was appointed head of the Anaesthesiology Clinic, DrBumbaširević was head of the Central Intensive Care Unit at the ERDr Vesna of the Clinical Centre of Serbia. Dr Bumbaširević has published overBumbaširević,140 papers in leading foreign and domestic medical journals, wrotenew director of the15 chapters in medical textbooks and a book called “Septic-endotoxicAnesthesiology Clinicat the Clinical Centre shock and multi-organ dysfunction”. She is fluent in English, Italianof Serbiaand French, is married and has two children.Duško Vujošević (42) trained almost all Serbian basketball teams. Inhis extensive career, as the coach of BC Partizan he won 10 state championshiptitles, 5 national cups, 4 championship titles in the regional ABALeague and the Radivoje Korać Cup (in 1989). He was also the coach ofthe Yugoslav junior basketball team when they won the European championshiptitle (1988). As a coach to the Yugoslav junior team he won theEuropean championship in Vrbas (1988) and 4th place at the World JuniorDuškoChampionship (1991). Vujošević was mentor and coach to a brilliant generationof players like Danilović, Đorđević, Divac, Paspalj... In 2003, he was theVujošević,new President of coach of the national Serbian and Montenegrin team that won 6th place atthe Partizan Sport the European Championship, while, in 2007, he coached the MontenegrinAssociation Assembly national basketball team into making it to the European Divison “A“.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 43

BusinessDialogue'Entrepreneur'My son is now an ‘entrepreneur’. That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job.—Ted Turner, media mogul and philanthropistneW SoCial netWorkChime.In PaysYou to PostWhile Facebook has earned billions of dollarsselling ads next to the content uploaded bytheir 800 million members, users haven’t seena dime from their postsIt’s an arrangement that extends across many of theweb’s largest social networking sites -- and one serialentrepreneur Bill Gross plans to change.Gross, the CEO of UberMedia, which owns severalpopular social networking apps, launched a new socialmedia site late Ocober, Chime.in, that will effectively payits users to contribute.Share with Chime.in and Chime.in will share withyou. The site, which allows individuals topost photos, links, videos and text in twothousand character “chimes,” will give users50 percent of the revenue it earns fromselling advertising on their profile pages.Individuals or brands that sell that realestate themselves can keep all of the proceedsfrom the ads.“This is a firing shot in social media,” said Gross“Finally, the interests of the content creators arealigned with the interests of the publisher becausethey get something for their hard work.”Most new social networking sites try to lure usersaway from rivals with the promise of better perksand more advanced features, but Chime.in is usingcool hard cash to ensure people have a stake in investingtime into the site and driving viewers its way.This fiscal incentive seeks to address the problem thatplagues every new social media site: how to attractusers before a critical mass has already joined.“We’re relying on the crowd sourced efforts ofmillions of people who are interested in driving trafficto our place,” said Gross of the startup’s growthstrategy. “We’re going to have great communitiescurated by really strong people and they’ll be drivingtraffic to us. We won’t have to [drive traffic] becausethey’ll have an economic self-interest.”In an effort to improve the quality of its videos,YouTube has implemented a similar revenue-sharingstrategy that rewards users who upload popular content.Though paying people to post is hardly a sure bet, Grossmaintains that money will actually improve the quality ofthe content on Chime.in.“When money is involved, you will get a level ofseriousness that is not there when there is no money involved,”he said.Chime.in also offers a solution for brands that haveyet to figure out how to leverage their Facebook “likes”or Twitter followers to improve their bottom line. So far,Disney, E! Entertainment, Universal Pictures and BravoTV have signed up with Chime.in to create brandedpages they could eventually use to turn a profit.“Celebrities, movie studios, TV shows and publishingcompanies will want to make pages here because unlikewith a page on Facebook, they can achieve monetizationadjacent to the content itself, not only through a link,” saidGross. “Not everyone follows a link posted on Facebook.”Gross claims that Chime.in -- which he calls an “interestnetwork,” not a social network -- further improves on existingsocial media sites by offering a design that weeds out“noise” and shows only relevant content.The site allows users to tag their chimes with up to fiveChime.in supports iOS, Android, and Blackberry forits mobile apps and allows you to compose Chimes,reply to Chimes, upload photos, browse yourChimeline and view profiles44 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

BusinessDialogueKeeping KosovoAccording to a study by the Belgrade Centre for Practical Politics, Serbia’s 8 million citizens spend 16euros every second to keep Kosovo in the country’s fold. The website, www.kolikokostakosovo.info,puts the total cost since 1999 — the end of the Kosovo war — at above six billion euros.01FinanceGoldman Sachs posts $393m lossGoldman reports surprise loss of $393m. Lloyd Blankfein, the chiefexecutive of Goldman, said trading had been affected by volatile marketsThe investment bank reported a$393m loss for the third quarter ofthe year, compared to a profit of$1.9bn in the same period last year.Though much smaller than therecord $2.12bn loss Goldman recordedduring the depths of the financialcrisis, the red ink is a majorblow to a bank that’s traditionallybeen one of the most envied andsmartest performers on Wall Street.“Our results were significantlyimpacted by the environment andwe were disappointed to recorda loss in the quarter,” said LloydBlankfein, the chairman and chiefexecutive, in a statement.Goldman, which is alreadyLloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldmancutting 1,000 jobs, has allocated$10bn – 44% of net revenue of$22.8bn - in the first nine monthsof the year to compensate staff,including bonuses that are paidat the end of the year. That compareswith $13.1bn in the first ninemonths of last year.02BANKINGStall of GrowthBank of England policymakersare preparing for UK growthto almost grind to a halt andhave discussed pumping evenmore electronic money into theeconomy than the £75bn theyagreed on last monthThe policymakers discussed injecting as much as £100bn (€114.5bn) of fresh money as they considered the threats to UK growthfrom the global economy, sovereign debt problems and stalledhousehold spending.Minutes from the meeting said: “In the United Kingdom, thepath of output had been affected by a number of temporary factors,but the available indicators suggested that the underlyingrate of growth had moderated and would be close to zero in thefourth quarter.”The Bank announced plans to restart quantitative easing (QE)– sometimes called QE2 - injecting more money than most in themarkets were expecting, as the governor, Sir Mervyn King, warnedthat Britain was in the grip of the world’s worst-ever financial crisis.03TradeAustralian Beefgoes to BrazilAustralian beef exports to Brazilduring the first nine months of2011 jumped 381% year-on-year,to 969 tonnesThe main Australian product exportedto Brazil so far in 2011has been rump, accounting for81% of the total or 782 tonnes.Out of this total, 370 tonnes hasbeen full rump, with 366 tonnes ofrump cap - one of the highest valuedcuts in Brazil. Other productsshipped included chuck (11%)and striploin (3%).A huge middle class populationthat has grown significantlyin recent years has driven an increasein Brazilian protein consumption,which has led to highbeef prices in the domestic market.This has provided opportunitiesfor imports of high quality beefand lamb from Uruguay, Argentinaand Australia across the higherend foodservice segme.04Olympus: Paid $687 million to financial adviserJapanese camera and precision instruments maker Olympus Corp. saidmid of October, it paid a whopping $687 million to financial advisers for itspurchase of a UK companyIt was confirmation of a key allegation made by CEO Michael Woodford,who was fired on the 18th Ocotober after questioning the payment andother deals. The total payment is equal to more than a third of the $2 billionthat Olympus paid in 2008 for Gyrus Group Plc. Fees to financial advisersare normally just a fraction of that level. The company’s statement contradictsits chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who a day earlier said the paymentwas about 30 billion yen ($390 million).Tsuyoshi Kikukawa andOlympus Corp. should investigate payments made to advisers inMichael Woodfordconnection with an acquisition, according to an external auditor’s report. The company may face scrutinyby regulatory and prosecuting authorities because of potential offenses, including false accounting,financial assistance and breaches of directors’ duties by the board, according to an Oct ‘11 report byPricewaterhouseCoopers. The report was commissioned by Michael Woodford. Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawasaid the board fired Woodford, a 30-year veteran of the Japanese company, because he “wouldn’t listen.”05DisputeSportsHeineken supports Rugby World Cup 2015Dutch brewer Heineken has announced it is renewing its sponsorship of theRugby World Cup (RWC), to cover the next tournament in England in 2015.The firm has been backing rugby union, both the RWC and European clubtrophy, the Heineken Cup, for 16 years. The 2011 event hosted by NewZealand ended on October the 30th, and according to Mastercard, the finalweekend will generate $62.8m (€36.4m) for the regional economy! Meanwhile, tournament organiserRugby New Zealand 2011 said it has achieved its revenue. Revenue from ticket sales has surpassed theNZ$268.5 million (€155.2 million) target set by RNZ 2011 more than two years ago.The Rugby World Cup in England 2015 will mark Heineken’s 20-year involvement in the sport.“England 2015 will see Heineken focusing increasingly on digital initiatives to support their sponsorship,”said a spokesman. For Heineken it will be their fifth partnership with the event, having been abacker in 1995, 2003, 2007, and 2011.46 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

BusinessmanWell, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman.– George Soros, Hungarian-American business magnate.06 Tourism07 MEDIAHotel pricesplunge in ViennaInternational holiday platformTrivago, which manages theTrivago Hotel Price Index (THPI),announced that a double room inVienna costs 133 euros this month,down by seven percent comparedto last month. The averagehotel price for all of the 50 citiesacross the continent in 35 locationsdropped at exactly the same rate.The October price declinecould help Vienna in achievinga new annual overnight stayrecord. Around 1.18 million overnightstays were counted by thecity’s hotels in August – morethan ever before that monthsince statistics have been kepton the issue. Vienna’s tourism industrystrongly benefited fromincreased interest by Chineseholidaymakers (up 50 percentcompared to August 2010) andRussians (up 21 percent).09NewsInternational tocut up to 200staffNews International is to axeup to 200 editorial jobs at TheTimes and The Sunday TimesnewspapersThe business, which is owned byRupert Murdoch’s News Corporationand also publishes The Sun, is reiningin costs to help mitigate a 25%rise in the price of newsprint, a fallin advertising and slow progress inattracting new advertising revenuesto its iPad edition.Around 100 jobs will go fromThe Times newspaper, amountingto one in seven staff. The SundayTimes will lose up to 20 permanentstaff and a third of all casuals, expectedto add up to 50 to 100 joblosses in total. The Sun will not beaffected by the cut backs.salesSold $550 millionworth of cotton intwo daysUzbekistan is reporting sales of some$550 million worth of cotton and textilesat the two-day International Cotton andTextile Fair held in TashkentSome 330 companies from 38 countries reportedly sent representativesto the fair and those representatives bought a reported 600,000 tons ofUzbek cotton and textile products in mid October.The major purchasers at the fair were China’s Xinjiang Group ofAgricultural Resources and Tianzhan Cotton Exchange, Elma Yarn ofBangladesh, Vinotex of Vietnam, Toeshima of Japan, Arta Tejarat Zamin ofIran, Falcon of Turkey, Miad General Trading of the United Arab Emirates,Tirotex of Moldova, Russia’s TransSpecProm, and Bellegprom of Belarus .However, many international companies stayed away from the fair.More than 60 worldwide companies have announced a boycott of Uzbekcotton, which rights groups say is often picked by children in violation ofchild-labour laws.The campaign against purchasing Uzbek cotton has seen increasedsupport among western companies in recent years with well-knownbrands such as Burberry, Levi’s, H&M, and others publicly vowing toavoid knowingly buy it.08AccountingWatchdog orders auditors’ inquiryBritain's top accountants are to have their own books scrutinisedafter the consumer watchdog today referred the business of checkingcompanies' figures for a full-scale competition inquiryThe Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it had been concerned for some timethat the audit market is highly concentrated with low levels of switching andsubstantial barriers to entry.The watchdog estimates that in 2010 the “big four” firms, PwC, KPMG,Deloitte and Ernst & Young, earned 99% of audit fees paid by FTSE 100companies, while between 2002 and 2010 only 2.3% of FTSE 100 firmschanged their auditor.The industry was also heavily criticised last year by a House of Lordscommittee over conflicts of interest and the quality of published accounts inthe run-up to the credit crunch.The decision to refer the industry to the Competition Commission, whichwas widely expected, followed meetings with the accountants, customersand regulatory bodies, the OFT said.The watchdogestimates that in2010 the "big four"firms, PwC, KPMG,Deloitte and Ernst &Young, earned 99%of audit fees paid byFTSE 100 companiesJohn Fingleton, OFT chiefexecutive, said: “Voluntary and industry-led efforts to increase competitionand choice in this market have proved unsuccessful. Following extensiveconsultation, we have concluded that a reference to the CompetitionCommission is appropriate.”Pressure on the “big four” accountancy firms has also been mounting inEurope, where the European Commission recently suggested a bar on auditorsproviding consulting services to audit clients.The OFT added that one of the issues it had considered was the potentialfor overlap with the work going on in Europe, but had concluded therewere enough UK-specific concerns to warrant a Competition Commission investigation.The inquiry could run for two years, although the Commission will aim tocomplete its investigations in 18 months or less, today’s statement said.The large accountancy firms argued today that the market for large auditwork is competitive already.David Sproul, UK chief executive at Deloitte, said: “We believe the auditmarket is highly competitive and is an important contributor to UK growth.”He added that any changes to the market that come out of the inquirymust not hurt audit quality, the UK’s growth prospects or the country’s appealas a business location.Ernst & Young also said competition for audit work was “alive and well”but said it supported increased choice and a wider range of audit firms tochoose from for the largest companies.BDO, one of the smaller firms that stands to benefit from more workmoving away for the “big four”, welcomed the OFT’s move and said it hadlong argued that market concentration should be addressed.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 47

BusinessDialogueNow we are 7 bn!Global food production will have to rise by about 70% between now and 2050 to feed 9 billion. But if thepopulation stays flat, food production would have to rise by only a quarter — World Bank.Rankings on the ease of doing business DB2012Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1 – 183. A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means theregulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. This index averages the country’s percentilerankings on 10 topics, made up of a variety of indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies arebenchmarked to June 2011.DB2012 DB2011 DB2012 DB2012 DB2011 DB2012 DB2012 DB2011 DB2012Rank Rank/ Economy Reforms Rank Rank/ Economy Reforms Rank Rank/ Economy Reforms1 . Singapore 0 62. Poland 2 123. Uganda 12. Hong Kong, China 2 63. Ghana 0 124. Swaziland 13. New Zealand 1 64. Czech Republic 2 125. BiH 24. United States 0 65. Dominica 0 126. Brazil 15. Denmark 1 66. Azerbaijan 0 127. Tanzania 16. Norway 0 67. Kuwait 0 128. Honduras 27. United Kingdom 1 68. Trinidad & Tobago 0 129. Indonesia 18. Korea, Rep. 3 69. Belarus 3 130. Ecuador 09. Iceland 2 70. Kyrgyz Republic 0 131. West Bank & Gaza 010. Ireland 0 71. Turkey 2 132. India 111. Finland 1 72. Romania 2 133. Nigeria 012. Saudi Arabia 1 73. Grenada 0 134. Syrian Arab Republic 113. Canada 1 74. Solomon Islands 4 135. Sudan 014. Sweden 0 75. St. Vincent & the Grenadines 0 136. Philippines 115. Australia 1 76. Vanuatu 3 137. Madagascar 216. Georgia 4 77. Fiji 0 138. Cambodia 117. Thailand 1 78. Namibia 1 139. Mozambique 018. Malaysia 3 79. Maldives 0 140. Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 019. Germany 0 80. Croatia 1 141. Sierra Leone 420. Japan 0 81. Moldova 4 142. Bhutan 221. Latvia 4 82. Albania 1 143. Lesotho 122. Macedonia, FYR 4 83. Brunei Darussalam 1 144. Iran, Islamic Rep. 023. Mauritius 0 84. Zambia 0 145. Malawi 224. Estonia 0 85. Bahamas 0 146. Mali 225. Taiwan, China 2 86. Mongolia 1 147. Tajikistan 126. Switzerland 2 87. Italy 1 148. Algeria 127. Lithuania 2 88. Jamaica 0 149. Gambia 328. Belgium 2 89. Sri Lanka 2 150. Burkina Faso 329. France 1 90. Uruguay 2 151. Liberia 330. Portugal 2 91. China 0 152. Ukraine 431. Netherlands 0 92. Serbia 2 153. Bolivia 032. Austria 1 93. Belize 1 154. Senegal 433. UAE 2 94. Morocco 3 155. Equatorial Guinea 134. Israel 2 95. St. Kitts and Nevis 1 156. Gabon 135. South Africa 3 96. Jordan 2 157. Comoros 136. Qatar 2 97. Guatemala 0 158. Suriname 037. Slovenia 3 98. Vietnam 1 159. Mauritania 138. Bahrain 0 99. Yemen, Rep 1 160. Afghanistan 139. Chile 3 100. Greece 2 161. Cameroon 240. Cyprus 1 101. Papua New Guinea 0 162. Togo 241. Peru 3 102. Paraguay 2 163. São Tomé and Príncipe 442. Colombia 3 103. Seychelles 2 164. Iraq 043. Puerto Rico (U.S.) 2 104. Lebanon 1 165. Lao PDR 044. Spain 1 105. Pakistan 0 166. Uzbekistan 145. Rwanda 3 106. Marshall Islands 0 167. Côte d’Ivoire 346. Tunisia 0 107. Nepal 1 168. Timor-Leste 247. Kazakhstan 1 108. Dominican Rep. 1 169. Burundi 448. Slovak Republic 1 109. Kenya 1 170. Djibouti 149. Oman 3 110. Egypt, Arab Rep. 0 171. Zimbabwe 050. Luxembourg 0 111. Ethiopia 0 172. Angola 251. Hungary 0 112. El Salvador 1 173. Niger 152. St. Lucia 0 113. Argentina 0 174. Haiti 053. Mexico 3 114. Guyana 1 175. Benin 254. Botswana 0 115. Kiribati 0 176. Guinea-Bissau 255. Armenia 5 116. Palau 0 177. Venezuela, RB 056. Montenegro 3 117. Kosovo 0 178. Congo, Dem. Rep 357. Antigua and Barbuda 0 118. Nicaragua 3 179. Guinea 158. Tonga 3 119. Cape Verde 3 180. Eritrea 059. Bulgaria 2 120. Russian Federation 4 181. Congo, Rep. 160. Samoa 0 121. Costa Rica 2 182. Central African Rep 361. Panama 1 122. Bangladesh 0 183. Chad 248 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

“Go International”Greek Companiesare Staying in SerbiaIn the framework of the ”Go International”campaign, a business forum called “BilateralTrade & Regional Synergy between Greeceand Serbia” took place in Belgrade, on the24th and 25th OctoberThe forum was organized under the patronage of the GreekForeign Ministry and supported by the Serbian Chamber ofCommerce and Greek – Serbian Business Council.In collaboration with the three leading Greek business associations(PSE, SEVE and SEK), EFG Eurobank Belgrade has organizedthis important event. The forum’s aim was to promote and developbusiness contacts and cooperation between Greek / Cypriot companiesand similar enterprises in Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Slovenia,Croatia, Hungary and Russia with the goal of advancing the regionaltrading potential.Greece is one of the biggest investors in Serbia, with over 2.2 billioneuros worth of investments made – Serbian Economy and RegionalDevelopment Minister, Nebojša Ćirić said at the Forum and addedthat not a single Greek company has withdrawn from Serbia yet.“Greek banks in Serbia have around a 15% market share, andGreece is an important factor in the Serbian economy,” Ćirić saidto journalists gathered at the “Bilateral Trade & Regional Synergybetween Greece and Serbia” forum that was organized by EurobankEFG and was held in Belgrade over a period of two days.He pointed out that 100 Greek companies and 150, which arepartners to Serbian companies are operational in Serbia, and thatthey had a total of 25,000 employees here.According to the economy minister, his ministry gave its supportto the two-day-conference in Belgrade which assembled companiesand businessmen from neighbouring countries with theaim of establishing direct contacts between them and banks withthe purpose of launching a regional initiative for enhancing investmentvolume in Serbia.Ćirić outlined that Serbian authorities were carefully monitoringthe Greek sovereign debt crisis, since many Greek banks areoperational in Serbia, and added that the amount of placementsand loans granted to Serbian businesses and citizens by these bankshasn’t changed and that he was certain that it wouldn’t change inthe future either.“For now, not a single Greek company has withdrawn fromSerbia. The only thing that can happen is for the companies whoFilippos Karamanolis (left), President of the Executive Board of Eurobank EFGSerbia, Demetri Dolis, Deputy Greek Foreign Minister, Gikas A. Hardouvelis,Chief Economist and Head of Economic Research at Eurobank EFG Group, GiorgioPradelli, General Manager of the International Activities Division, TeodorosKarakasis, Deputy General Director, Foreign affairs Eurobank EFG Groupplanned expansion to postpone that for better times,” the Ministerexplains.Chairman of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS), MilošBugarin pointed out that, in the last eight months, foreign trade betweenSerbia and Greece grew by 13%, with Serbian exports growingby 16% and imports by 10%.“This year’s deficit will be much lower than the one from 2008,which means that, crisis aside, compatible economies always find away to advance their collaboration even during difficult times,” Bugarinsaid.Chairman of EFG Bank’s Managing Board in Serbia, FilipposKaramanolis pointed out that Serbia was important to Greece due toGreek banks in Serbia have around a 15%market share, and Greece is an importantfactor in the Serbian economythe country’s bright economic future, the EU membership aspirationsand an unlimited approach to the Russian market.He also underlined that Eurobank EFG was amongst the top fivebanks in Serbia and the 12th biggest foreign investor in the country.Greek Deputy Foreign Minister, Dimitri Dollis said that, for quitesome time, Serbia had been a stable partner to Greece, adding thatGreece strongly supported Serbia’s EU aspirations.He also relayed a message from Greek Prime Minister GiorgosPapandreou while reminding of the prime minister’s efforts in makingthe Balkan countries a part of the EU, as well as his statementthat it was important for Serbia to understand that once the countrycompleted structural and economic reforms, it deserved the right tobecome a member of the EU family. ■cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 49

afterworkGerman Economic Delegation in SerbiaOktoberfest 2011The German Economic Delegation in Serbia organized thesecond “Oktoberfest” in Serbia, in the premises of Mercedes-Benz in New Belgrade. This cheerful event was attended byover 1000 guests from the world’s economy, which is doublefrom the previous year. The event was opened by GermanAmbassador to Serbia H.E. Volfram Mas, President of theAssociation and Ernst Bode.Volfram Mas (2nd left) and Ernst BodeJones Lang LaSalle d.o.o BelgradeClient PartyFollowing the global mergerof two leading real estateadvisors, the local Belgradeoffice of King Sturge d.o.o.Belgrade, officially changedits name into Jones LangLaSalle d.o.o Belgrade. Atthe Client Party, held onRige od Fere raft on the29th of September, JonesLang LaSalle company celebratedthe tenth anniversaryof the successful workon Serbian market with colleaguesand friends.bmrCelebrating 25 yearsAustrian-Serbian company BMR fromSabac and Italian company SIM fromSyracuse, 30th September, presenteda consortium engaged in the businessof making and installation of pipelineswithin a large project of modernizationof NIS Oil Refinery Pancevo. Marked atthe same time was the 25th anniversaryof BMR Group. Promotion was attendedby the Minister of Agriculture and Tradein the Government of Serbia Dusan Petrovic, Italian Ambassador to Serbia ArmandoVarikjo, Gvido Kaporale, CEO and owner of the SIM, director and general manager ofBMR Aleksandar Jaksic, Peter Despotovic and numerous other guests from the public,cultural and political life of Belgrade and Sabac.50 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

featureThe 10 world’s most powerful womanEvery year, Forbes releases a list of the world’s most powerful woman, influential in everything from politics to technology toculture. The list includes obvious choices, such as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but also includes unexpected choices,such as Lady Gaga (No. 11 this year). Here are the 10 most powerful women:1. Angela Merkel, German ChancellorChancellor Merkel is not only the most powerfulwoman in the world, according to Forbes, butthe sixth most powerful person when men areincluded on the list. She is head of Europe’s “onereal global economy” and the “undisputed” leaderof the European Union during one of the EU’s most turbulentperiods. As the leader of the only European country with a boomingeconomy, her support has been critical to stabilizing the union’sdebt and keeping it unified, and bailing out other countries.2. Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of StateMrs. Clinton’s global stature has steadily climbedthe last couple years. This year alone, she movedfrom the No. 5 spot on Forbes’ list to No. 2, andshe is No. 20 on the list that includes both genders.Clinton’s year has been a busy one, betweenWikiLeaks and the Arab world’s uprisings, her handling of the situations,while sometimes criticized, have received mostly praise.3. Dilma Roussef, President of BrazilMs. Rousseff may be Brazil’s first female president,but her election in 2010 was not a surprise.She had long been the obvious successorto former President Lula da Silva, for whom sheserved as chief of staff. Brazil is South America’slargest economy and as its head, Rousseff’s decisions may causefinancial ripples around the world.4. Indra Nooyi, CEO, Pepsi Co.Ms. Nooyi is head of Pepsi Co., the U.S.’ largestfood company and one of the largest in theworld. Pepsi Co. generated about $60 billion(€43.1 billion) in revenue last year. Nooyi willmore than double the company’s nutritionalportfolio by 2020 and has devoted significant funding to developa zero-calorie soda as good as current products.5. Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook11% of the world’s population is now on Facebook,where Ms. Sandberg is second-in-command.Her position at the top of the companyhas made her not only the world’s fifth mostpowerful woman, but the most powerful womanin the technology world. The total value of Facebook is notyet public, but experts estimate it could be as high as $100 billion(€71 billion).6. Melinda Gates, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Bill andMelinda Gates FoundationMrs. Gates and her husband, Bill, are at the headof the world’s wealthiest private foundation,which invests in a wide variety of charitableprojects targeting poverty, public health, and education.In 2010 alone, the foundation donated $2.5 billion (€1.7billion) to various projects.7. Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian NationalCongress PartyMs. Gandhi is not just one of the world’s mostpowerful women, but one of the world’s mostpowerful people. Gandhi was re-elected to anunprecedented fourth term as head of the IndianNational Congress Party, which won national elections in both2004 and 2009. In light of India’s emergence in the last coupleyears as a burgeoning economic power, she’s become more importantthan ever.8. Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United StatesMrs. Obama is enjoying much better approvalratings than her husband, Forbes reports - hershovered at around 70%, while President BarackObama’s are below 40%. She has used her highprofile image to champion her pet cause of endingchildhood obesity and this year, in tandem with the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture, she unveiled MyPlate, which revampsthe way people assess the nutritional standards of a meal.9. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of theInternational Monetary FundMs. Lagarde, appointed the IMF managing directorin June, is the first woman to hold the position.She’ll be presiding over the IMF at a challengingtime – the organization has had to bailout numerous countries in the wake of the 2008 financial crisisand may have to do so again.10. Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft FoodsMs. Rosenfeld is the head of the world’s second-largestfood maker. The company brought in close to$50 billion (€35.9 billion) in revenue in 2010, spurredby some of Rosenfeld’s risky business moves thatturned out to be good ones, such as acquiring Cadburyin 2010. Warren Buffet called the move “dumb,” according toForbes, but Rosenfeld boosted revenues by 25 % that quarter.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 51

faces& places27. 09. 2011At a ceremony at the business centre of Grand Motors, the U.S.Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Mary Warlick, handed over the keys tosix vehicles for the emergency room, a gift of the European U.S. ArmyCommand, equipped by Grand Motors. The vehicles were donated to theMilitary Medical Academy, Clinical Centre Dr Dragisa Misovic, Institutefor Mother and Child in Belgrade, the City hospital in Krusevac and theEmergency Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.29. 09. 2011On the occasion of the national day of the Peoples Republic of China,New Chinese Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Zhang Wanxue organized areception for the representatives of Serbian media.28.09.2011On the occasion of the French-speaking group of ambassadors in Serbia,outstanding names in the Serbian and international music scene including:Sanja Kerkez-Tomasev, Dubravka Arsic, Janko Sinadinović, GjorgjijeCuckovski, John Tomašev and Dragoljub Bajic and others gatheredat the residence of the French Embassy. Professor Miljaković Oliveraand her students donated their fees to the "Home for the high school anduniversity students”.29. 09. 2011The American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia has marked its 10thanniversary with media representatives, and presented the mostsignificant accomplishments in the last decade. In addition, the newPresident of AmCham in Serbia, Mr Miloš Đurković, CEO of HewlettPackard Serbia, was elected. The event was attended by SerbianPresident Boris Tadić.52 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

30. 09. 2011A summit of 100 business leaders in Southeast Europe -“The agreementfor a new era” - organized in Arandjelovac, brought together businessleaders from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,Macedonia and Montenegro. The summit was attended by SerbianPresident Boris Tadić.03. 10. 2011.On the occasion of the 21st Anniversary of the unification of Germany, at theresidence of the German Ambassador, a party was organized attended bymembers of the diplomatic core and the highest representatives of Serbianpolitical, business and public life.German Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Wolfram Maas and Serbian PrimeMinister Mirko Cvetković, cut the birthday cake.10.10.2011.In Belgrade on the 10th October the "Week of Iraqi culture" officiallystarted. It was opened by the Ambassador of Iraq, and Iraqi culture, toSerbia, H.E. Dr. Falah A. Abdulsada, in the House of the Serbian ArmyMinister, Dragan Sutanovac, where he received gifts which marked thetraditional friendship between the two countries.11. 10. 2011.Their Royal Highnesses, Crown Prince Alexander and Princess Katherine,attended a charity luncheon organized by the charity “Lifeline New York”,which operates under the patronage of HRH Princess Katherine, in therestaurant "Le Serko" in New York, to help orphans in Serbia. The Royalcouple with opera singer Jadranka Jovanovic (right).Minister Dragan Sutanovac and Mr. Alexander Konuzin RussianAmbassador to Serbia.11. 10. 2011.The Embassy of Sweden and the Museum of Science and Technology openedan exhibition in Belgrade under the title “Creative Women - Innovation inSweden” by presenting the project “Creative Society - creative ideas”. Guestswere addressed by H.E. Christer Asp, Swedish Ambassador to Serbia. Theexhibition was opened by Predrag Markovic, Serbian Minister of Culture andAnnika Rimbaud, CEO of the Swedish Institute.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 53

faces& places12. 10. 2011.On the occasion of the National Day of Spain, Ambassador Inigo dePalacio Espana organized a reception attended by many guests in thepolitical, business, diplomatic and public life of Serbia.Italian Ambassador Mr. Armando Varikio (left), Spanish AmbassadorMr. Espana and members of the Spanish Embasy.14. 10. 2011.Vik Jensen (right), from The Young Diplomats Association (YDA) welcomesstaff from the Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the"Welcome to Belgrade Cocktail", held at Belgrade Art Hotel on the 28thSeptember, an annual event held by The YDA to welcome new diplomatic staffto Belgrade and Serbia.12. 10. 2011.On the ocasionof the "SerbianBusiness AngelsNetwork" inSerbia, theSerbian BritishBusiness Cluborganized apresentation forthe members ofSerbian businesssociety.HM BritishAmbassadorMichaelDavenport(left), MarkHarrison fromHarrisonsSolicitorsand JamesThornley fromKPMG.Mark Harrison (left), Vladimir Milovanovic fromEnergoprojekt and Srdjan Šaper, McCann Grupa.Nina Bulatović, KPMG and Branislav Novčić, aim.18. 10. 2011.Marking the 66th anniversary of the Indonesian Army, the Embassy of theRepublic of Indonesia and the offices of the Indonesian military attaché inBelgrade organized a shooting tournament at the shooting club "Partizan".The participants of the tournament were members of the diplomatic corps,representatives of foreign military attaches accredited to Serbia, andrepresentatives of the Serbian Government and military industry.20. 10. 2011.On the occasion of the National Day of Hungary, the Hungarian Ambassador toBelgrade, H.E. Oszkar Nikowitz (middle), organized a reception at the HyattHotel, Belgrade, which was attended by members of the diplomatic corps andrepresentatives of political parties, business and public life in Serbia.54 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

25. 10. 2011.On the occasion of the National Day of the Czech Republic, the Ambasadorof Czech Republic H.E. Ms. Hana Hubačkova has organized a reception.20. 10. 2011.At a reception at the Embassy of France, the French Ambassador to Serbia,Francois-Xavier Denio, Ambassador of the EU Delegation in Serbia, VincentDegert and Serbian Defence Minister, Dragan Sutanovac, welcomed twoofficers and new crewmembers of the future frigate "Floreal". They will be thefirst members of the Serbian Army in a European Union peacekeeping mission.German Ambasador H.E. Wolfram Mass (left), Norwegian AmbassadorH.E. Nils Ragner Kamsvaag and French Ambassador H.E. Francois-Xavier Denio.24. 10. 2011.On the 24th October, in the ceremonial hall of the University of Belgrade,Ambassador of Japan to Serbia H.E. Toshio Tsunozai (right) and Rector ofBelgrade University Prof. Dr. Branko Kovačević invited guests to attendthe lecture, “In Search for Peace: Europe, Asia and Japan“ by Mr. YasushiAkashi, senior Japanese diplomat.H.E. Hana Hubačkova (left) and U.S. Ambassador H.E. Marry Warlick.26. 10. 2011.On the 26th of October, the Ambassador of the People’s Democratic ofAlgeria to Serbia, H.E. Abdelkader Mesdoua, invited select members ofthe Serbian press to a working lunch, at the Algerian Embassy in Belgrade,in order to establish connections and provide an opportunity for an informaldiscussion. Guests left content and full of praise for their “Excellent” host.18. 10. 2011.The Serbian Association of Managers together with Karanovic & Nikolicorganized a working breakfast for the new Company Law. JelenaVuckovic, Partner, outlined the dramatic changes introduced by theCompany Law on the 4th June this year, and provided an overview ofthe new obligations placed on companies, as well as the timeframe withinwhich all companies are to harmonize their operations in order to be inline with the new law.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 55

musicBelgrade Philharmonic OrchestraFridays at Eight■ By Sonja ĆirićThey say it is the pillar of Serbian culturalreality and our best export productLocal journalists say that there is always someting towrite about the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra evenwhen there isn’t anything news worthy to report. Foreignmedia say that the orchestra is the one of the leadingEuropean orchestras (The Independent), Serbia’scult orchestra (The Financial Times), themost successful cultural institution inSerbia, (Jutarnji List) and the most powerfulPR weapon of Serbia (Kvällsposten,Malmö). Local cultural experts and publicsay that the Belgrade Philharmonic is one of the most importantpillars of Serbian cultural life, while foreign critics are talkingabout the Orchestra in superlatives.The Orchestra was founded 88 years ago, and, in the last tenyears, has been the leading national ensemble. Each of its 98 musiciansshould be credited for that, as should its conductor IvanThis year’s concert season beganwith the news that almost allupcoming concerts are sold outTasovac, the youngest and, according to many, the most successfuldirector of the Belgrade Philharmonic ever. During the last fewseasons, the orhcestra has collaborated with renowned conductorsand soloists like Zubin Mehta, Sara Chang, Krzysztof Penderecki,Sir Neville Marriner, Ivry Gitlis, Barry Douglas, Sol Gabetta etc.Also, in the last few years, the Orchestra had outstanding tourperformances and guest appearances in Italy, Austria, Sweden,France, and Slovenia. It took part in the Ravello Festival, performedin Strasbourg at a celebration apropos Serbia’s presidencyover the Council of Europe, while its tourin Sweden was the longest tour of anyphilharmonic orchestra in that country.In Belgrade, you can listen to the orchestraat the central hall of the Ilija M.Kolarac Endowment every Friday, at 8 o’clock.LATEST NEWS: This year’s concert season began with thenews that almost all upcoming concerts are sold out. That is no coincidencesince the same thing has happened in the past few years.This year’s interest for tickets was probably sparked following theOrchestra’s huge success in Dubrovnik last summer, where, on the56 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

27th August, it performed with Zubin Mehta at the opening of theJulian Rachlin & Friends Festival. The Držić Poljana was packedand the Belgrade Philharmonic performed an overture and ariasfrom Mozart’s opera The Marriageof Figaro, Mendelssohn’s ViolinConcerto and Brahms’ Second Symphony.Croatian media called theBelgrade Philharmonics’ concert‘the Festival’s biggest sensation’.“Zubin Mehta conducted theBelgrade Philharmonic Orchestra four times in the last tenyears, and the last concert was held in February,” PR of theBelgrade Philharmonic, Nevena Šinka says. “The entire proceedsfrom the two galas were donated to the Belgrade PhilharmonicFoundation Zubin Mehta. The famous conductorhas been the Foundation’s honorary president for the pastfive years. He spoke about his dream of building a brand newconcert hall for the Belgrade Philharmonic and said that “Anorchestra of such high quality is the best ambassador of Serbia’sculture.”In September, the three regional philharmonic orchestras– Slovenian, Zagreb and Belgrade – launched the projectcalled Pika-Točka-Tačka, which is the first culture projectof such scale. The project had been instigated by the directorsof the three national philharmonic orchestras and isendorsed by the respective countries’ presidents, prime ministers,culture ministers, mayors and the U.S. embassies. As of next year,the Slovenian, Zagreb and Belgrade philharmonic orchestras willhave a special subscription programme - Pika-Točka-Tačka, during■ Photo by R. GordonThe Zubin Mehta Foundation announcedthat the acclaimed architect SantiagoCalatrava would design the building thatwould house the Belgrade Philharmonicwhich they are going to hold five concerts with the same conductors,soloists and programmes. Each orchestra will perform in itshometown with its chief conductor, as well as give guest performancesin the other two cities. During these guest performances,the Belgrade Philharmonic will be directed by Muhai Tang, theZagreb Philharmonic by Dmitri Kitayenko, and the SlovenianPhilharmonic by Emmanuel Villaume. At the remaining two concerts,the Slovenian, Zagreb and Belgrade philharmonics will bedirected by American conductors Andrew Grams and JonathanSchiffman. Nevena Šinka says that “this unique programme hasbeen carefully selected based on the subscribers ’preferences andexperiences of all three orchestras.” They will be performing theworks of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Ravel, Rachmaninoff,Mendelssohn, Stravinsky, Saint-Saëns, Copland, Glass, Hansonand Schoenfield. Four world-class pianists - Andrei Gavrilov, AlexeiVolodin, Andrew von Oeyen and Andreas Boyde - and violoncellistMonika Leskovar, will participate in the project.This September saw the beginning of a concert cycle called’Five New Years’ with the Philharmonic celebrating New Year accordingto the Hebrew, Islamic, Gregorian, Julian and Chinesecalendar. Bearing in mind the huge popularity of these concertslast year, the Philharmonic has decided to include this New Year’sCycle in the regular concert season in the future. The Zubin MehtaFoundation has received support from the EU for this five-concertcycle.Chairman of the Foundation’s Managing Board, Igor Jeclsays that they got the inspiration for the project from differentcultures and traditions celebrating the New Year according to calendarsdifferent to the Gregorian. He adds that New Year celebrationsin those cultures is very often recognized as an important elementof the cultural, religious andeven national identity.In October, the Belgrade Philharmonicshas had three premieresthat will be also presented at thetwo-week tour of 13 towns in ItalySantiago Calatrava’s, drawing dedicated to the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestrain December. Our renowned violinist Stefan Milenković willperform the works of Wagner, Paganini, Saint-Saens and Lisztwith conductor Charles Olivieri Munroe from Canada. At thesame time, the media reported about a contract signed with Opuscordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 57

3 agency that will organize a U.S. tour for the Belgrade Philharmonic,which will take place in early 2014. The Philharmonic willperform at the most prestigious concert halls of New York, Washington,Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.FOUNDATION: The Belgrade Philharmonic Zubin MehtaFoundation was formed in 2004 with the aim of “Purchasing goodquality instruments for the orchestra and providing funds for hiringfamous conductors,” as Ivan Tasovac put it. The Foundation’smain goals are finding the location and drafting the project forthe new concert hall, developing cultural projects in cooperationwith philharmonics from neighbouring countries, as well as promotingclassical music amongst younger generations. Zubin Mehtahas conducted the Belgrade Philharmonic on three occasionswithout charging a fee. To illustrate just how close Mehta is withthe Belgrade Philharmonic, let us justsay that, apart from his concert fees,he transferred the copyright to his autobiographyto the Foundation as hispublisher.“The Foundation’s aim is to setZubin Mehta, Conductorup a long-term strategic collaboration with domestic and foreigncompanies, and with international institutions and citizens themselves.We want us and our partners to improve through this partnership,as, aside from all modesty, we want Serbia to benefit fromit too,” Ivan Tasovac said.CONDUCTOR GUEST APPEARANCE: Chinese conductorMuhai Tang will be the Belgrade Philharmonic Chief Conductorduring the 2010 / 2011 season. “I am enjoying the first season verymuch. We have worked really well together and have already hadseveral truly unforgettable evenings. We also need to work on adifferent style and level of performance. We should start to workhard on the international tour,” Muhai Tang said about his firstconcert season in BelgradeAs of next season, the famed Austrian – Iranian conductorAlexander Rahbari will perform as a guest conductor. “That practicallymeans that, as of next season, the Belgrade Philharmonicwill have the privilege of working with yet another music authoritywho adds to the orchestra’s quality – maestro Rahbari – inaddition to chief conductor Muhai Tang. Since his first encounterwith the orchestra, maestro Rahbari has managed to form atrusted relationship with the musicians. The result of this was fourfantastic concerts in the last nine months. To top it all, Rahabariwas appointed the standing guest conductor,” Nevena Šinka adds.The three regional philharmonic orchestras –Slovenian, Zagreb and Belgrade – launched theproject called Pika-Točka-Tačka, which is thefirst culture project of such scaleMuhai Tang, ConductorAs one of the close followers of Hans Swarowsky and the formerassistant to Karajan, maestro Rahbari worked with over 120 orchestras.During his first guest appearance with the Belgrade Philharmonic,he formed a special bond with the orchestra, calling it“Young, fresh and motivated.” It is worthy to note that Rahbariconducts without using any partitur.THE BUILDING: In February, the Zubin Mehta Foundationannounced that the acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava woulddesign the new building that would house the Belgrade Philharmonic.Despite the current hall being an appealing concert venue,with excellent soundproofing, it only has 201 seats, which is whyit is usually used for chamber and solo concerts, rehearsals andaudio-video recordings. The Belgrade Philharmonic holds its concertsin the Kolarac University Hall, which is the only real concerthall in Belgrade. “Itis of utmost importancefor this project to beimplemented,” architectCalatrava said duringhis stay in Belgrade. “Itis so important becauseof the young and ambitious peoplewho make the Belgrade Philharmonicand are working on aproject which is immensely importantboth for the city and thecountry. Building a new concerthall for the Belgrade Philharmonicundoubtedly implies investingin new generations. The project,that is realized on the DanubeRiver banks, is also very important,since the river is one of Europe’s most significant culturaltrails. The link that will be established with Central Europe, i.e.Germany, Austria and Hungary, will make Belgrade the culturalcapital of the Balkan area,” Calatrava added.VOICE FROM THE ORCHESTRA: The Belgrade Philharmonicwould not be what it is today if it weren’t for musicians of exceptionalvirtuosity. The head of the violoncello section and a memberof the Philharmonic’s Managing Board, Aleksandar Latković saysthat he is “Playing with musicians who can be compared to cats –while juggling the most demanding works of classical music, theyalways manage to land on their feet.” “My inspirational colleaguesare sinking their teeth into the most demanding symphonic masterpiecesthis season like Gustav Mahler’s Fifth, Sixth and NinthSymphony. Their sharp senses react to the slightest tremble of thesoul of the soloists they are accompanying. Regardless of whichconductor or soloist stands before them, whether renowned ornew, they play every piece like it was composed only them, even inthe case of the most performed masterpieces of Beethoven, Tchaikovskyand Brahms. Since 2003, when I joined this rejuvenatedgroup of artists ready to quickly adapt and become soul mates toevery guest virtuoso, I have become a part of tradition – each Friday,at 8 o’clock, in the packed Kolarac Hall, we are serving a productwhich freshness is guaranteed,” Latković says. ■58 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

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featurewhat jobs left behind and what happens nextApple NotSo Sweet■ By Max williamsSteve Jobs, the Silicon Valleyentrepreneur who reinvented the world’scomputing, music and mobile phoneindustries and changed the daily habitsof millions around the globe, died on05/10/11, at the age of 56. His death afteryears-long battle with pancreatic cancersparked an immediate outpouring oftributes as business rivals, world leadersand admirers alike lamented the tragedyof his premature ending and celebratedhis monumental achievementsFacebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wroteon his Facebook page: “Steve, thank you for being amentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that whatyou build can change the world. I will miss you.”U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement,“The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greatertribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the worldlearned of his passing on a device he invented.”“For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’sbeen an insanely great honour,” said Microsoft’s Bill Gates.Apple faces challenges in the absence of the man who wasits chief product designer, marketing guru and salesman nonpareil.Phones running Google’s Android software are gainingshares in the smartphone market, and there are questions overwhat the next big thing is in Apple’s product line.Steve Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s,when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain awide following and he did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh.The rebel streak that’s central to his persona got him tossed outof the company in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a fewyears began the rollout of products - the iPod, the MacBook andthe iPad - that again upended the established order in majorindustries. Jobs’ death came just one day after Cook presenteda new iPhone at the kind of gala event that became Jobs’ trademark.Perhaps coincidentally, the new device got lukewarmreviews, with many saying that it wasn’t a big enough improvementover the existing version of the iPhone 4.“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most importanttool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the bigchoices in life,” Jobs said during a Stanford commencementceremony in 2005.Jobs transformed the music industry with iPod players and60 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

RivalsSamsung produces the closestcompetitors by sales. The two companiesare scrapping for the top position.SuccessJobs reinvented the music business model.iTunes became the most successful musicretailer on the planet.FutureThe California-based company recordedrevenues of €20.4bn - short of manyanalysts expectations.the iTunes online shop, where people could buy digitized musicand guided Apple from the brink of financial ruin to a loftyplace amongst the world’s most valuable companies before hisdeath. However, thinking of Jobs merely as the man behind Apple’sresurrection would be on par with thinking of Elvis Presleyas just a man that made cool music. As did Elvis, Jobs alteredthe rhythm of modern life. “His legacy goes way beyond Apple,”Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said after Jobs ceded thecompany helm to chief operating officer Tim Cook in Augustfor health reasons.Jobs reinvented the music business model. Not only didhe have a consumer electronics hit with iPod, but iTunes becamethe most successful music retailer on the planet. Withthe launch of the iPhone, Jobs set in motiona shift to mobile computing on handheldgadgets that Internet giants such as Googleand Facebook have embraced as the future.He also had marketing magic so potent thatpeople camp out in the streets to be the firstto get their hands on Apple’s new creations.“Apple no longer has someone as creativeand ambitious as Jobs that they can rely on,”said Simon Liu, of Polaris Group’s fund unit.Apple faces challenges in the absence ofthe man who was its chief product designer,marketing guru and salesman nonpareilIn a sign of stiffening competition, Amazon.com took the wrapsoff its Kindle Fire tablet that analysts said poses a serious threatto the dominance of the two-year-old iPad. In Asia, the fortunesof Samsung are more closely tied to Apple. Analysts have saidSamsung is one of the best-placed companies to deliver somethingfresh and exciting to rival Apple. Samsung produces theclosest competitor by sales to Apple’s iPad tablet – the Galaxytablet. The two companies are scrapping for the top position inthe smartphone market, having overtaken Nokia, the marketleader for the past decade, in the second quarter of 2011.Apple is also Samsung’s biggest customer through the saleof mobile chips and display screens. The relationship and rivalryhas helped Samsung become a top global brand over the pastdecade with a stock market value of around €118 billion - stillmodest compared with Apple’s €349 billion. However, the relationshiphas also produced tensions over mobile devices. Thetwo companies have sued each other in 10 countries involvingmore than 20 cases since April.“Steve Jobs was particularly passionate about the enforcementof Apple’s intellectual property,” said Florian Mueller,an intellectual property expert. “From a strategic point of view,Mr Jobs’ successor doesn’t have a choice other than to fightequally hard.”Jobs had few kind words for his competitors. Rivals were“flummoxed” by the iPad, he declared in March. “They wentback to the drawing boards. They tore up their designs becausethey weren’t competitive,” Jobs said. Lee Seung-woo, technologyanalyst at Shinyoung Securities, said Apple had transformed theindustry, but its influence would wane without Jobs at the helmof the company. “Under Jobs, Apple consolidated segmented ITsectors into one big consumer market and claimed so many victims,”Lee said. “Without Jobs, Apple’s rivals now have sometime to step up and majors such as Google, Samsung, MicrosoftJobs guided Apple fromthe brink of financial ruinto a lofty place amongstthe most valuablecompanies in the worldbefore his deathand Facebook will try to fillthe gap.” Jan Dawson, chieftelecoms analyst at researchconsultancy Ovum, saidApple would do well in theshort term as the companywould roll out productsJobs had a hand in. “Thequestion is whether it cancontinue to launch iconicand successful productswithout him... In the longerterm, Apple risks becominga more ordinary companywithout him.”Howard Stringer, the CEO of Sony Corp said: “The digitalage has lost its leading light, but Steve’s innovation and creativitywill inspire dreamers and thinkers for generations.”Apple recently posted their first set of financial results sincethe death of co-founder Steve Jobs. The California-based companyrecorded revenues of €20.4bn (£18bn) - short of manyanalysts expectations. Most analysts, however, agree that thisis a mere temporary blip and that Apple will continue, for theforeseeable future, to remain the financial powerhouse it hasbecome thanks to Steve Jobs. The ‘Mac Daddy’ is dead. Longlive the king. ■cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 61

culturecalendarCONCERTSMONTSERRAT CABALLEBelgrade Arena,06 November @ 20.00The Spanishopera diva MontserratCaballe will performin Belgrade Arenaon 6th November aspart of her farewelltour. Famous Spanish conductor Jose Colladowill accompany Ms Caballe on tour, while HarisDzinović and Snežana Savičić Sekulić will bespecial guests on Belgrade concert.This is the last chance to hear live MontserratCaballe because at the beginning of the yearshe announced it is time to retire after this tour,after turning 80. During this tour she will performat all the places where she used to have concertsin the past.Ms Caballe said about the tour “I think itwill be a very nice way of rounding off musicalcareer spanning 56 years”.Event not to be missed.TORSTEN GOODS QUARTETSerbian National Theatre Novi Sad,16 November @ 20.00Torsten Goods, guitaristand singer of German-Irish descent, voted byinternational critics asemerging new force inthe jazz scene will heldhis first concert in NoviSad on 16th November. Torsten and his quartetwill open the Jazz Festival in Novi Sad. This concertwas made possible by Goethe Institut.CLASSICAL MUSICBELGRADE PHILHARMONICORCHESTRAKolarac Foundation Hall,4 November @ 20.00Conductor: AndrewGreamsSolist: Andrei Gavrilov,pianoProgram: Stravinski,Sen Sans, HensonDIVNA LJUBOJEVIĆ and MELODYKolarac Foundation Hall,5 November @ 20.00„Smile of Eternity onthe Face of the Time“Guests: Orchestra ofthe School of MusicalTalets – Ćuprija withprofessor VladimirNikolićFIDDLE EVENINGKolarac Foundation Hall,November @ 20.00Events organised by Fiddle Association StudentNIKOLAI LUGANSKYKolarac Foundation Hall,8 November @ 20.00Piano concerto performedby NikolaiLugansky will beheld on 8th Novemberin KolaracFoundation Hall.Program: Sopen Nokturnoop.15. no.1, Barkarola Prelid op.45, Skercono.4 Nokturno op.27 no.2, Ballad no.4 F, LisztVallee d’Oberman, Jeu d’eaux a la villa d’EsteSposaliyio, Transcedental Etide no.12, no.10PIANO CONCERT OF STUDENTSFROM BELGRADE UNIVERSITYOF MUSICKolarac Foundation Hall,9 November @ 18.00Concert is organised by Center for Music and theentrance is free.STRING ORCHESTRA ST.GEORGEKolarac Foundation Hall,10 November @ 20.00St George StringOrchestra will be accompaniedby Jože Kotaron clarinet and LevPups on saxophone.Concert id organisedby Jugokoncert.BELGRADE PHILHARMONICORCHESTRAKolarac Foundation Hall,11 November @ 20.00Conductor: Daniel RajskinSolist: Julien Stekel, violonchelloProgram: Ljadov, Dvorszak, ŠostakovičPRINCESSES AND HEROESBelgrade Arena, 18-20 NovemberThrough artistic skating and gracefulacrobatics, Disney on Ice presents“Princesses and Heroes” depicting thewonderful moments of seven Disneyprincesses and their princes. From 18th to20th November in Belgrade Arena, TinkerBell will take visitors through the inspiringstories of Ariel, the beauty, Cinderella,Tiana, Jasmine and Snow White.Performances will have held asfollows: Friday 18 November at 19:00;Saturday 19th November at 12:00, 15:30,19:00; Sunday 20th November at 12:00,15:30, 19:00CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF ZEMUNKolarac Foundation Hall, 13 November@ 11.00STRING ORCHESTRA ST.GEORGEKolarac Foundation Hall, 15 November@ 20.00Solist: Roman Simović, violinProgram: BeethowenMaster of the trumpet and the first trumpetof the world, Dejan Petrović, will held hisfirst solo concert at the Centre Sava on10th November. After a number of awardswon at the Trumpet Festival in Guča, as wellas at the various trumpet councils aroundthe world, Dejan Petrović made last year afurther step in his career. He published CD“Breathe Deep”, containing14 tracks, including the song“American” which became ahit not only in Serbia, but alsooutside our borders. Petrović’sBig Bend that accompanyhim on concerts is made oftwelve excellent musicians,most of which came from thetrumpet school of Dejans’BELGRADE PHILHARMONICORCHESTRAKolaracFoundation Hall,18 November@ 20.00Conductor: Muhai TangProgram: Mokranjac,MalerBESTER QUARTETKolarac Foundation Hall,22 November @ 20.00Concert is organised by Music Center in associationwith Polish Embassy. Performers: JaroslavBester, accordion; Oleg Diiak, accordion, clarinet;Mikolaj Pospješalski, cotrabassBELGRADE PHILHARMONICORCHESTRAKolarac Foundation Hall,25 November @ 20.00Conductor: Muhai TangSolist: Aveng Sibei,flute and Milica Pašić,harph.Program: Mozart, MalerPIANO DUETKolarac Foundation Hall,27 November @ 11.00Pianists OliveraJovanović and MajaMihić will perform inKolarac FoundationHall on 27th Novemberas a part of Chambermusic cycle.THEATREDEJAN PETROVIĆBIG BAND Sava Center,10 November @ 20.00late father Mića Petrović, andthe rest of the band amplifiedguitars and drums.In addition to many ofDejan Petrović’s big hitssuch as “American”, “Mećavnik rumba”(music from the film “Promise Me” byEmir Kusturica), “Coton”, “BalkanChe”,“Dubočanka”, he will perform interpretationsof traditional folk songs like “Nanasaid”, “Stop, stop Ibar water”, “Kolo” andmany more. Surprise guests are promisedas well as good music and entertainment.GLORIATerazije Theatre, 1 November @ 20.00One of the essentialelements of themusical Gloria isoriginal music writtenby acknowledgedSerbian composerKornelije Kovač. Theuse of colour reminiscent of the Mediterran asthe setting of this unusual love story betweenpriest and nun.2050 – One day in NovemberBitef Theatre,19 November@ 20.00Theatre play by authorLorenz Hippe ‘2050-One day in November’(2050 – ein Tag imNovember) will take place in Belgrades BitefTheatre on 19th November. It is organizedby Goethe Institut and will be performed inSerbian language.62 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

culturenewsBALLETKo To Tamo PevaNational Theatre, 1 November@19.30DANCETANGO FESIVALKolaracFoundation Hall,3 November@ 20.00Tango Festival to beheld in Kolarac Foundation Hall on 3rd Novemberis prganised by the Tango Association.ART110 YEARS OF ETHNOGRAPHYMUSEUMEthnographic Museum,throughout NovemberCelebrationg 110 yearssince the opening ofEthnigraphic Museumin Belgrade, threeexhibitions wereopened simulatiouslyin this museum of longtradition - Child Costume, In search of textile andClothers in Serbia during 20th Century.FILM10th FESTIVAL OF ITALIANCONTEMPORARY FILM,JugoslovenskaKinoteka,23 -27NovemberTenth Festival ofContemporary ItalianFilms will offer thisyear the best selection of Italian film production,representing Belgrade audience alsomovies that competed on Venice and Cane FilmFestivals. This Festival of Italian ConteporaryFilm was made possible by colaborationbetween Italian Cultural Centre and ItalianFederation of Kino Clubs.Oktoberfest in BelgradeMercedes Benz Show Room30 September-1 OctoberTurkish Film FestivalMuseum of Yugoslav Film Archive19-22 OctoberThe first Turkish Film Festival inBelgrade was open on Wendsday19th of October at the Museumof Yugoslav Film Archive with thescreening of a romantic drama entitledLove in Another Language (BaşkaDilde Aşk ).From 19th until 22nd October,the Turkish cinema lovers wereable to enjoy the magic of contemporaryTurkish artists. The programincluded seven movie worksof Turkish directors lksen Basarir,Yüksel Aksu, Abdullah Oguz, ÇaganIrmak, Yusuf Kurçenli, Reha Erdemand Nuri Bilge Ceylan.Blues Stock FestivalDom Omladine20-21 OctoberThis year’s Blues Stock Festival celebratedtwo important jubilees: thirtyyears of Belgrade blues scene and thefestival’s tenth anniversary.From the first VoxStock in 2002until Blues Stock Festival 2011 wehave enjoyed the performances ofthe representatives of blues scenesof Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Croatia,Hungary, Romania, Greece, Spain,France, Germany, the Netherlands,Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain,Russia, a few performers from the cradleof blues – the USA as well as almostall active Serbian blues musicians.This year, during two festivalevenings there were performancesby the legends of Serbianblues - Blues Trio, Raw Hide, PointBlank, Di Luna Blues Band, BlueFamily and from the younger generation:Nenad Zlatanović (fromTexas Flood). Also guests from theUSA and Germany performed -TerryEvans with his bend and TodorTodorovic’s Blues Company.PAINTING AND GRAPHICSSingidunum Gallery18-20 OctoberULUPUDSs (Association of AppliedArtists and Designers of Serbia) exhibitionof paintings and graphic is heldsince 2007 in over thirty cities inBalkan Congressof MagiciansDečiji KulturniCentar8-9 OctoberThe eighth Balkancongress of magicianwas held inBelgrade on 8thand 9th of Octoberwhere more than50 magicians from Bulgaria, Bosnia andHerzegovina, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey,Croatia and Serbia performed.They competed in the manipulation,general magic, comedy magic,close-up magic, card magic and illusion.Magicians from Japan, Hungary andPoland will also perform as guests.In addition, seminars were organizedfor the presentation of new tricks andtips. Potential new magicians were alsoable to buy props with instructions forperforming tricks.Serbia. The idea behind exhibition isthat the audiences outside Belgradealso get the opportunity to see thelatest annual works of ULUPUDSmember’s paintings and graphics.For the past three years, the exhibitionhas become a representative,an educational show on display to allpupils and students in a particularcity. Also, since year 2008, the audiencesin all the cities were asked tochoose the work they most like. Thisis one of the largest art jury of over6000 members each year.From 18th to 20th October thisexhibition was held at SingidunumGallery in Belgrade.56th BELGRADE BOOK FAIRBelgrade Fair22 – 30 OctoberThe Guest of Honour for 2011, titlefor the first time at the Belgrade BookFair – the title that has been reservedfor countries alone, is the Portugueselanguage. Instead of simply bringingone country into the spotlight, the focushas been shifted to language itself.Portuguese is the sixth most spokenlanguage worldwide, used by about200 million people in eight Lusophonecountries. In addition to an elaborateexhibition of books in Portuguese, visitorswill be presented a large numberof literary works translated from thislanguage especially for this occasion.Moreover, many major contemporaryauthors from Portuguese-speakingcountries have accepted the invitationto be the guests of this year’sBelgrade Book Fair.The 56th International BelgradeBook Fair will host a joint presentationof four cultural institutes from EU countriesin Belgrade – the Austrian CulturalForum, Centre culturel français, Goethe-Institut, and Instituto Cervantes.NEW YEAR’S BAZAARTLADA Art GalleryGerman Ambassador Wolfram Maasopened the second “Oktoberfest”,which took part in Belgrade on 30thSeptember and 1st October.“German businessmen who arecoming here, easily get to know Serbianway of enjoying the life and withthe Oktoberfest, we want to show howwe in Germany spend our after worktime and how we have fun,” Maas toldreporters during the opening.He pointed out that the “Oktoberfest” is agood way to complete the economy developmentand collaboration between Serbia andGermany in that field. According to HE Maas,these relationships become even better ifpeople know each other.During two days of this event, organizerswelcomed around 1,200 guests, mostly businesspeople and served 2,000 liters of beer.The venue of this event was show roomspace of Mercedes-Benz in New Belgrade.27 November @12.00A newly opened LADA Art Galleryinvites you to the first New Year’sBazaart and to the special presentationof abstract works of art by severalyoung and talented Serbian contemporaryartists. The Bazaart will lastthroughout December 2011.www.galerijalada.rscordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 63

estaurantWinner Winner Any DinnerWinner Winner■ By Max WilliamSGrand Casino has builta reputation on highquality. There is no betterway in the region tolose considerable amounts of money,unless you are a naturally giftedmoney making machine likemyself, in such pleasant surroundings.Arriving at the restaurant, situatedin New Belgrade at HotelJugoslavia, my date, Rakel,There is a mix of cuisine from acrossthe world at Diva, and the only troubleI had was in deciding what to eatand I were slightly disappointed.I would be lyingif I said I was a regular casinogoer, but I have seenenough films and TV seriesto know that there should be a door attendant to greet you.However, this slight oversight by Grand Casino was the onlyerror that particularly annoyed me.I am now a member of casino. Only certain eateries in thecasino require one to be a member, but both my date and Iknew that she was planning to lose a considerable amount ofher trust fund and thus it wasn’t a major hassle to go throughthe form and photograph process. For some strange reason, ormaybe because I have fantasies of being James Bond, I likedthe security aspect of it all. I like that it makes you feel apart ofsomething exclusive, although anyone who looks relatively decentand is over-18 can become a member of the casino.What everyone cannot do on the other hand is eat at Divarestaurant. Diva, refurbished in October, is the best restaurantin the casino and, in my opinion, by some distance. AlthoughSceptical. Yes, thatis the right word forwhat I expected from arestaurant in a casino. If Iwas reviewing a restaurantin Las Vegas I would beless so, but one in theBalkans... I was scepticalto say the least. Onreflection, my doubts werecompletely unfounded.The following review isin no way influenced myRain Man like abilities atthe blackjack tables in thecasino after my mealthis comparisonis exclusivelybased on theway it looks. Asuspended ceiling,warm coloursand the unorthodox layout are very elegantly done andcame as a real surprise. I had been expecting something morevulgar, but the design team have got the decor spot on.Given the choice of sitting on the comfortable looking sofasor at a table, we chose the latter option. I find it slightly odd thatyou would want to dine sat on a sofa – I am not eating at home– but I do understand that for a snack and a cocktail or twoit makes sense. The gold and frosted glass tabletop could lookgaudy in a different setting, but at Diva, being in a casino after64 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

all, it looked the part. As did the cuttlery and everything else onthe table, particularly my date. Correction, plate. At around 9.30pm you would expect a restaurant to be well occupied. Divawas not. At 10.00 pm though, it was close to bursting point. Theswing music that had welcomed us was replaced by a, thankfully,good live band. Every chair, and sofa, was filled.For an aperitif, we had aglass of delicious sparkling wine,brought to us by what turned outto be our exceptional waiter forthe evening. Relaxed and mightilysurprised by the cool atmosphere,we settled in to look over the curiousmenu. Curious is not meantin a negative context, rather it ismeant as a compliment. There isa mix of cuisine from across theworld at Diva, and the only troubleI had was in deciding whatto eat. There is the choice of tapas,pasta, meats and salads.Whilst not overly extensive,the menu is well thoughtout and the dishes complimenteach other nicely.As anyone who is a regular reader of CorD will know, I amstickler for presentation. Luckily for my nerves, and my datesears, the presentation of the meal was spot on. To start I chosetwo tapas dishes and Rakel the ravioli. My first tapas dish wasthe filet mignon with herbed butter. To say it was “well done”would be confusingly accurate. The fine strips of high qualitytenderloin were slightly rare and perfectly tender. The secondof my two dishes were the Peking duck rolls. I have had a cravingfor duck for the last few months and I was treated to oneof the best examples I have ever eaten. Generally, I do not likethe plum sauce that accompanies this dish, however chef JovicaNeskovic has nailed it. Sticky but un-glue like, a lovely colourand sweet without being overpowering, I am sure he has someChinese relatives in his family tree. My date had the raviolistuffed with prawns in lobster sauce. The two large squares offilled pasta were beautifully presented (all the dishes arrived onseparate plates to the two preset on the table) and tasted divinewith finely chopped prawns and just the right amount of sauce.My initial starvation now somewhat subdued, we waitedpatiently for the mains. The live band now in full swing, onthe permanent stage, and the bald female singer doing her owntake on the classics, we were getting in the right mood to hitthe casino floor. But not before I ate the beefsteak with glazedvegetables, croutons and a chicken spread, and my date hershrimp with ouzo and feta cheese.I like my steak medium to well done, however I am yetto encounter a chef that understands that this means I do notwant it more rare done than well done. Note to chefs: you doknow best, but I know what I want. Alas, I still have not comeacross the chef that will fulfil this wildest of requests, but I mustadmit that I was extremely happy with the circular mound of,slightly undercooked, beef. The accompanying vegetables werevery small and if I had the choice I would have added a fewmore to the plate. All that being said, it does not take awayfrom the first-rate cooking and texture of the beef.Rakels dish was equally, if not better prepared.The very large shrimps on top of theThe very large shrimps on top ofthe vivid orangey red sauce looked vivid orangey red sauce looked marvellousand tasted even better. This time I had absolutelyno criticisms andmarvellous and tasted even betterneither did she. It canbe very disappointing toorder shrimp and thenwhat gets served looksmore like a cashew nutswimming in an olympicsized pool. This isnot the case at Diva. Todrink with the meal weboth had a glass of whitewine, her the chardonnay,me the sauvignonblanc. Clearly when I orderedthe wine, I forgotI was having the steak,(please ignore this amateurishoversight on my part). Despite my stupidity, my selectionwas a good one. Serbian wines can be a bit hit and miss,hence the decision to go French, but my dates chardonnay wasone of the better Serbian wines I have tried.Diva is a restaurant that I would put up there with the bestBelgrade has to offer. Not only is the food wonderful, the atmospherefantastic and the service brilliant, there is also thechance to win back the money you have paid for a great meal.The prices at Diva are realistic for what is on offer (mains areall around the 1700 rsd mark) so you don’t need to be a highroller to eat there. What you also definitely don’t need is luck.Diva is probably the only place inside Grand Casino that is anythingbut a gamble. ■cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 65

sportRugby World Cup 2011RiskPays Off■ By Max WilliamsThe sport’s governing body also keeping all commercialrevenue including that generated from the lucrativebroadcasting and sponsorship deals. In addition,NZ spent in the region of NZ$300m (€172m) readyingitself with the construction of the Otago Stadium, a shiningexample of the results of that expenditure.Rugby New Zealand 2011(RNZ 2011), formed by the New ZealandGovernment and the New ZealandRugby Union (NZRU) in 2006to deliver the tournament, set aboutrecouping that substantial outlay with tickets sales their onlymeans of balancing the books.In many ways, England (2015 hosts) cannot hope to replicatethis tournament, even if they wanted to. The proposed scale ofRWC’15 will dwarf this one with a target of 2.8m tickets salescompared to 1.35m for RWC’11. Stadiums like the 76,000 capacityOld Trafford replacing much smaller venues such as theEven before the kickoff for the final,television advertising in the RugbyWorld Cup was being written off asa creative dead zoneThe decision byNew Zealandto bid was acalculated gamblebut one that haspaid off and willcontinue to doso in the yearsahead. A hostingfee of NZ$150m(€86.3m) waspaid to theInternationalRugby Board(IRB) just for theprivilege to stagethe event17,000-seater Rugby Park in Invercargill, NZ. The sport also suffersfrom a lower profile in England and, as a result, the organisersface a huge task to retain the inclusivity that has made thistournament so special. They inherit a World Cup richer for NewZealand’s handling of the honour.Even before the kickoff for the final on Sunday 23rd October,television advertising in the Rugby World Cup was being writtenoff as a creative dead zone. The games made fantastic television,but few TV commercials around them had been entertaining.“Ads have been interruptions that do not bring any added valuefor viewers,” said advertising commentator Martin Gillman. Thead spaces between the national anthems and haka at the start ofthe game - created by the International Rugby Board to boost revenue- had been particularly disappointing, “There’s been no senselike with the Superbowl in the UnitedStates that these prime spots should bethe showcase for advertising,” Gillmansaid. “I thought retailers would havedone something special.” Other ad peopleblamed the restrictions around theevent by the IRB. “I think some advertisers just did not want tomake the investment because of the restrictions,” said DDB Advertisingexecutive creative director Toby Talbot.“When I look at the local official sponsors for the broadcastingcoverage - Telecom, Bunnings, The Warehouse and Harvey Norman- I wonder why they bothered paying twice the normal rateto be included in the RWC package,” Gillman said. He went on66 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

to predict advertisers would think twice about big future sportspackages, because of the heavy policing and ambush campaigns.“Everyone will take stock on what happened.”Heineken though has extended its sponsorship of the RugbyWorld Cup to remain its official beer supplier and worldwidepartner for the 2015 tournament in England. The dealgives Heineken a package of worldwide rights, including useof Rugby World Cup 2015 event marks and designations inpromotional tie-ins, pouring rights instadia at all official Rugby World Cupoutlets and digital content rights to useacross social media platforms. Heinekenhas been sponsoring the Rugby WorldCup since 1995 and said its sponsorshipof the 2011 tournament in New Zealandhad been very successful. Chief commercialofficer Alexis Nasard said: “As theworld’s most international premiumbeer brand, we are delighted again to bean integral part of the world’s premierrugby tournament for 2015.”Worldwide, more than four billionpeople watched the Rugby World Cupthis year, but Heineken said digital mediahad also been an integral part of its sponsorshipcampaign. With digital content onYouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the branddoubled its followers on Twitter and gotmore than a million views on YouTube.A daunting revenue target of NZ$268.5m (€154m) was set by NZ, however it waspassed at the endof the tournament,even beforethe third placegame after the final.It is almost laughable that a World Cup as successful as thiscould still generate substantial losses in the region of NZ$40m(€23m). Revenue from ticket sales surpassed the $268.5 milliontarget set by RNZ 2011 more than two years ago. After the WorldCup fever has died down, money generated by the huge amountof visitors will offer far more significant returns.Rugby New Zealand 2011 Chairman Brian Roche said over 87percent of the available tickets had been sold during the course ofthe tournament. “Ticket revenue eclipsed, by more than 11 times,the previous largest grossing event in New Zealand’s history; the2005 British & Irish Lions. The sold-out final alone generated morethan NZ$50 million (€28.8m) in revenue, twice that of the Lions’Tour,” Roche said. “Significantly, we have achieved this against thebackdrop of a challenging economic environment and the tragicChristchurch earthquakes.”Prime Minister John Key believes the Rugby World Cup wasgood value for money. He said the loss was always expected to bearound 39 million NZ dollars (€22m), that ticket sales would coverThe decision by New Zealand to bid was acalculated gamble but one that has paid off andwill continue to do so in the years aheadthe government’s part of that tab, and the investments in stadiumsand other infrastructure has created legacy assets. He says the biggerpicture is that people are going to go home after the event andsay they had a magnificent time in New Zealand.An independent study commissioned by MasterCard duringthe tournament indicated that the event was due to deliverNZ$750 million (€433.3m) in direct economic benefits for NewZealand and over NZD$2 billion (€1.1b) in long-term benefits.Revenues from the Rugby World Cup2011 commercial programme, includingbroadcast, sponsorship and traveland hospitality in the end delivered anestimated £80 billion (€91.1 billion) netsurplus boost to the Game.The Rugby World Cup has been labelledas the third biggest sporting eventin the world by the International Rugby Board. The original predictionof the economic impact in 2005 was a NZ$408m (€235m)boost to the nation’s gross domestic product. This figure was revisedupwards in June 2006 to NZ$507m (€292m). A 2008 Deloittereport suggested a potential NZ$550m (€52m) boost to GDP.The true costs and profits of the Rugby World Cup aresomething of a mystery. There have been no publicly releasedfigures as to the total cost of the tournament by the country todate. An estimate from the New Zealand Herald in mid-2010was NZ$500m (€288.8) and that figure has steadily climbedsince then. In comparison to the world’s biggest sporting event,the FIFA World Cup, which will cost the Brazilian Governmentbillions, on everything from infrastructure to marketing,the Rugby World Cup seems something of a bargain. New Zealandmade the right decision.With Serbia, currently ranked at 68th best (or worst, dependanton how you look at it) in the world, it doesn’t seem very likely thatthe Rugby World Cup will be coming here in the near future. ■cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 67

chill outHitler Survived WWIIChatty PiranhasDespite a nasty reputation, piranhasseem to bark more often thanbite. Scientists have discovered thatthe fearsome fish use sounds to communicate- often intimidating their rivalsrather than attacking. By using underwatermicrophones, scientists recordedthe sounds the fish made when theyconfronted one another both in the wildand in laboratories. They reported thateach of these three sounds appeared tocontain a different “message”. With animals,it’s less expensive [in terms of energy]to make a lot of noise to impressthe other guys, rather than fight.” Leadresearcher Eric Parmentier, from theUniversity of Liege. Piranhas producesounds by vibrating their swim bladdersthat help regulate their buoyancy.Need for SpeedJournalist Gerrard Williams has saidhe and his co-author have found an“overwhelming amount of evidence” tosuggest Hitler died an old man in SouthAmerica. Many historians say the Nazileader died in his Berlin bunker in 1945 -but Williams claims his research, lookingat newly de-classified documents and forensictests, challenges this. “We didn’twant to re-write history, but the evidencewe’ve discovered about the escapeof Adolf Hitler is just too overwhelmingto ignore,” he said. It is allegedHitler lived in the country for 17years, until his death in 1962. Williamssaid he and Dunstan conducted intensivefield research in Argentina, includinginterviews with many eyewitnesses.Planes travelling at five times the speed of sound and passenger aircraft flying information could be a reality in the near future, a report by the Institution of MechanicalEngineers (IME) has said. Looking towards 2075 and beyond, the report talked of:• “Scramjet” planes able to fly at around five times the speed of sound (around4,000mph).• Commercial aircraft flying in a V-shaped formation to save power by taking advantageof the airflow generated by the plane in front.• The “aircraft carrier” system in which a large aircraft carries individual units that canfloat down to where the passenger needs to go.• A “flying fuel station” so future planes do not have to take off with full tanks.Killers Not So CleverThe language of psychopathic murderersprovides a window to their souls, newresearch shows. The words they use “matchtheir personalities, which reflect selfishness,detachment from their crimes andemotional flatness,” says Jeff Hancock, aprofessor of computing and information scienceat New York State’s Cornell University.He conducted the study with colleagues atthe University of British Columbia. Theirfindings appear in the journal Legal andCriminological Psychology. Psychopathswere more likely to use the past tense, suggestinga detachment from their crimes,say the researchers. They tended to be lessfluent in their speech, using more “ums”and “uhs.” Hannibal Lector may beg to differ...somewhat violently no doubt.68 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Warmer = SmallerPlants and animals are shrinking becauseof warmer temperatures and alack of water researchers have found,warning it could have profound implicationsfor food production in the not toodistant future. “The worst-case scenarios...are that food crops and animals willshrink enough to have real implicationsfor food security,” assistant professorDavid Bickford, of the National Universityof Singapore’s biological sciences department,said. Bickford trawled through fossilrecords, which showed that many speciesof plants and creatures have shrunk overtime in relation to climate change. Eachdegree of warming reduces the body sizeof marine invertebrates by 0.5 to 4% and6 to 22% of fish.ReincarnationMore people would rather come backas Audrey Hepburn than any other popularfigure if they had a second shot, anOnePoll survey for HarperCollins found.The Breakfast at Tiffany’s star provedthat beauty beats brains by leavingAlbert Einstein and Sir Winston Churchilltrailing in second and third. She also outshoneactresses Dame Elizabeth Taylorand Marilyn Monroe. The poll also foundmore people would come back as a catthan a dog. The top 10 stars in thepoll were: 1. Audrey Hepburn; 2. AlbertEinstein; 3. Sir Winston Churchill; 4.Dame Elizabeth Taylor; 5. Julius Caesar;6. Marilyn Monroe; 7. Diana, Princess ofWales; 8. Cleopatra; 9. John Lennon; 10.Florence Nightingale.Updown (Finally) SoldIt was the ultimate statement of the UK property boom. Yet, despite a slick marketingcampaign and coverage across the national press, no one bought it. For morethan six years billionaires turned their noses up at the opulence. With grounds largerthan Buckingham Palace’s and everything an oligarch or oil baron could desire,Updown Court - which developers spent at least £50 million on - just couldn’t besold, not even at the height of the housing boom and certainly not as the propertymarket fell apart. In fact, it’s taken 6 years and a massive £35 million knocked offthe asking price of £70 million, down to £35 million, before anyone was prepared topart with cash for what was billed as “the first 21st century stately home in Britain”.7,000,000,000,000& CountingJust 12 years after the arrival of the 6thbillionth individual on the planet in 1999,humanity was greeted by the 7th billiontharrival at the end of October. The world’spopulation is continuing its rapid ascent,with roughly 75 million more births thandeaths each year. The consequences of aworld crowded with over 7 billion people areenormous. And unless the world populationstabilizes during the 21st century, the consequencesfor humanity could be grim. Arising population puts enormous pressureson a planet already plunging into environmentalcatastrophe and the economic challengesare equally huge. Two centuries ago,the British thinker Thomas Robert Malthusfamously warned that of the coming problemsof excessive population growth.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 69

travelThe 10 Best Private IslandsTreasured IslandsNormally on the travel pages, CorD offers you a guide of the most interesting places to visit, a travel itinerary for the world grandtourer, the most luxurious spa destinations on earth and everyother travel offering considered relatively normal and affordable.In this issue, we have decided to cater for the select few amongst our beloved readers who have the confidence, the will andabove all the means to take on such an impressive investment. All of which comes nowhere near the gravity of being able to sayyou own your own island. For the rest of us who aren’t Bond villains, and are mere financial mortals, it makes a good read and opens thewindow to the most exclusive of clubs. Here are our ten best picks of private islands currently for sale.1/102/10Craro Island, ScotlandPlitvice Island, Croatia€69,000 €350,000This enchanting 8 acre private island islocated just off the SW coast of the Isle ofGigha, Inner Hebrides. The surrounding watersare home to seals and much bird life, withdolphins passing by regularly. The island isvirtually untouched by people, yet an importantpart of local folklore.The Isle of Gigha is a history-rich partof the Inner Hebrides, and the most southerlyof the island chain. Influenced by warmocean currents, the area around Gigha is relativelydry and temperate, and the scenicbays, green meadows and lochs are a perfectexpression of the beauty of the ScottishIsles. The 8-acre isle of Craro itself is in apristine state and waiting to be appreciatedby its future owner.Located in the backcountry of Croatia, thePlitvice Lakes are one in one of the most famousnational parks in the world. The nationalpark consists of 16 wonderful lakes separatedby natural travertine dams, which havebeen deposited by the carbonate-encrustationof moss, algae and bacteria.The only island at Plitvice Lakes NationalPark is situated in the park’s biggest lake,Lake Kozjak. The island is embedded in an incomparablywell-preserved natural environment,inhabited by brown bears, wolves, eaglesand wild cats. This amazing territory hasalso been the set for the movie “Treasure ofSilver Lake”, a film based on Karl May’s adventure-storieswith its protagonists Winnetouand Old Shatterhand.70 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

3/10Ram Island – Maine, USA€582,588Several miles from shore in the mouth ofMaine’s Machias Bay, Ram Island is unspoiledand raw, with an elemental feel to its brilliantgreen meadows and windswept hills. Viewedfrom the air, a patina of rust-hued lichenscovers the rocky shore of Ram Island in an unexpectedexplosion of colour.Ram Island is the last (north easternmost)island on the Maine Island trail. The trail goesfrom Casco Bay to Machias Bay and includesover 90 private and state owned islands.4/10Haapsalu Island, Estonia€1.2 millionThis amazing fish-shaped island is located in the Baltic Sea, 1.5km from the coastal linenear well-known resort town Haapsalu (1h drive from Tallinn), the most romantic seaside areawith its virgin nature, where the old legends and rich historical heritage meet the present.Haapsalu lagoon is perfect for those whose preference is flat-water. It also prides itself on havingthe first specially equipped kite park in Estonia.It is easy to fall in love with Haapsalu. Writers, artists, composers and musicians from differentparts of the world have discovered Haapsalu for themselves and have left their recognizableimpact on the cultural life of the town and are still creating something new on the daily basis.5/10Half Crown Island, Canada€1.27 millionThe perfect family island, just a 90-minutedrive north from Ottawa, Half Crown Islandsits on a pristine thirty-one mile lake. Thereare not shortage of private islands resorts,however it is rare to have the opportunityto purchase a unique private island resort inNorth America.Half Crown’s current owners started visitingin 1979 and rented until 1993. Whentheir predecessors got older and decidedto sell, these summer tenants immediatelysnapped up the 3.86-acre lake isle and nowspend up to five months of the year there.They describe it as the perfect antidote toHouston’s blazing summer temperatures.With its stands of spruce, cedar, maple, oakand birch, Half Crown Island’s autumn coloursare spectacular.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 71

6/10St. Athanasios Island, Greece€1.5 millionIn the Gulf of Corinth, 1.5 miles from the city of Itea and only ashort distance from Delphi, the skiing resort of Parnassos and thehistoric port of Galaxidi, lies this beautiful island. St. Athanasiosisland is a small, private island, nearly knoll, of 10,811 sq. m.Pine and olive trees are scattered all over the ground and asmall sandy beach is located on the northwestern region of theisland. The environment is natural and quiet, as far as internally,and the seawater that douses the seaboard is crystal-clearand rich in sea life.St. Athanasios island is an ideal place for calm and unique naturalliving conditions in combination with the modern conceptionof a comfortable residence.7/10Scott Island - British Columbia, Canada€3.1 millionIt’s not exactly the tropics, but this 5.26-acre island in British Columbia’sStuart Channel is not without its charms. The price tag for Scott Island includesboth a 4,500-square-foot residence and a caretaker’s cottage, bothwith wraparound decks and second floor balconies.The island is accessible by boat, sea plane or helicopter, and offers viewsof Vancouver Island and the Pacific Ocean. The large patios and decks off therear of the home enjoy outstanding water views. This is an extremely rareand exceptional offering.8/10King’s Island, Denmark€6.8 millionKing’s Island is perfect in size, structure, and location to beutilized for conferences, seminars or team-building exercises. Itcould be a jewel in the crown of a large corporation, or severalsmaller companies could unite to own it jointly.The private island purchase process for non-Danes is straightforward:The foreign buyer simply establishes a Danish company,which can in turn buy the island without any complications. Forsuch a culturally important and ideally located property, King’sIsland is priced extremely attractively and is located betweenCopenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö.72 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

9/10Petra Island - N.Y., USA€10 millionYou probably thought all private islandswere covered in coconut grovesand soft white beaches (not that we don’tlove those!), and then along comes PetraIsland. There are currently two homes onPetra Island. The smaller of the two is a1,200-square-foot cottage designed andbuilt by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1950.Petra Island has been on the market as ofFebruary 2011, but the asking price was notpublicly available for sometime. Current ownerJoseph Masarro bought the island and thecottage in 1991 for a reported €513,000.10/10Great Hans Lollik Island, U.S. Virgin Islands€32.9 millionGreat Hans Lollik Island sits just 1.5 miles north of St. Thomas in the beautiful U.S. VirginIslands. This 510-acre paradise features white sand beaches, clear turquoise waters and lushpalm forests, as well as spectacular 360-degree views from elevations as high as 713 feet(217.3 meters).The island is currently undeveloped and uninhabited, although its zoning would permit theconstruction of a small resort and up to 150 private residences, as well as independent utilitiesand a heliport. What more could you possibly need..? Lots of money!cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 73

technotalkgadgetry tHat you WaNt and proBaBly DoN’t NEEDPReSeNT& FuTuRegadget designThere is something primevally satisfying in getting your hands on a new tool. Thefollowing products are not only technically fantastic; they are beautiful from a designstandpoint. Technology is here to make life simpler, but it also, despite some opinions,can add to the ‘real-life’experience. Not many people can argue with the fact that theInternet, as possibly the best example of human advancement in technological, has helpedthe world (and its numerous connoisseurs of a quite popular genre) massively. Now you cansearch the World Wide Web from the comfort of your couch on a phone, ipod, tablet, laptop,netbook, television... the list goes on. Technology has not yet reached its peak. Take a look,on this primitive paper, of how to make your life that little bit more, shall we say, superior.■ By Max WilliamSPure TwilightPrice: €149.99The Pure Twilight is not only your standard alarm clock with DAB and FMradio, it’s also a wake-up light, helping you rise and shine using a rangeof visual and aural effects. Dreading those cold, dark winter mornings?The twilight can simulate dawn with a fake sunrise and wind chimesound effects making you feel like you’re waking in the countryside inspring rather than Belgrade in January. If you’re feeling a bit more lively,just plug in your iPod and use it as a standard dock. Hey presto: frompooped to party in seconds.LeMond RevolutionPrice: €450A realistic ride on an indoor bike trainer is harder to obtain than a cleanurine sample on the Tour de France. That's because rollers lack thefriction necessary for calf-swelling power cadences. This pro-proventrainer uses a large flywheel in place of the back wheel to match theinertia of a rolling bike. Sure enough, as you ease off the pedals you canfeel the resistence. Above everything, the design is killer.Dyson Digital Slim DC35Price: €235This vacuum is Dyson through and through. Not only does it look like the kind of thing Han Solo would use toclean up the Millennium Falcon, it has tech where it counts. The head pivots swivel through 180 degrees, so itnever loses contact with the floor, meaning you won’t miss a spot, and you can detach the long-reach wand to getat those awkward nooks and crannies. With one-button emptying, your days of getting dust everywhere as youstruggle to fill a bin bag are long gone.74 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Sharp SteamwavePrice: €285The 900 Watt AX-100SLM oven from Sharp lets yousteam your way to a healthier life, with less fat and morenutrients. A grill and microwave are also built in, so youcan choose your cooking method depending on your mood,what ingredients you have to hand and how virtuous youare feeling. The operations are touch sensitive and the LCDdisplay lets you see how long is left.Bang & Olufsen Beosound 8Price: €1000Aimed straight at the audiophiles, this system, like most gadgetry fromB&O, brings in technology and innovation, which is barely rivaled in theaudio industry. The 8 system gives its users the option to dock with eithera PC or Mac. Music on a docked or USB linked device can be controlledvia the dedicated round remote control or of course your existing Beo4or Beo6 remote controls.Google TVPrice: €450 & UpOthers may have dabbled with TV apps, but this is the real deal – full webbrowsing on your television, so you can check your email, read the news,check Twitter, watch YouTube and more from the comfort of your lounge.It’s had initial teething problems in the US, but partnering with Sony andLogitech, big things are expected when it hits Europe hard.Parrot ZIKMU SpeakersAs well as offering top music freeing via a topmountediPod dock, its own internet radio app,streaming via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and amazingsound quality, these Philippe Starck-designedspeakers look just as striking as they ever have.Price: €1150cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 75

technotalkVirtual ViewsPrice: On ApplicationSky V is the illusion of real sky, a virtual skylight displaying theessence of nature's sky events in vivid, hours-long, UltraHDsequences. Sky V is a ceiling-mounted system of precision monitorsintegrated into a faux skylight framework. Not everyone is blessedwith a pay packet big enough to have an apartment or home withstunning views but now you can have any view you want — anywhere.Dyson HotPrice: €400The Dyson Hot fan heater uses air multiplier technology for long-range heatprojection to heat any room evenly. There are no fast-spinning blades orvisible heating elements, so it’s easy to clean and lends it a “Jetsons” look.There is also an automatic cut out that switches off the unit if it’s tipped over.Hetating has never been so cool.SupreMe WardrobePrice: On ApplicationThis over-the-top, opulent, high-tech SupreME wardrobe by Italian architect VudafieriSaverino & furniture design company Saporiti is essentially a container that ispartitioned/organized into sections for various items and accessories. It is alsoequipped with a biometric and gesture recognition ‘meta mirror’ that enables theuser to enjoy a multi-media experience while dressing. Did you ever imagine that aneveryday activity such as dressing up could be so intelligent and exciting?Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 4 (85 inch) Price: €69,000It is no surprise that Bang& Olufsen's first 3D TValso happens to be one ofthe most expensive setsever produced. Perhapsit's just the size of thescreen that creates suchenveloping intensity,but a run-through of 3DBlu-ray delivers someof the most convincing3D pictures I have everseen. A fine way to spend(gulp) €69,000.76 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

Where is itHeAdINGDespite the impending global crises - floods, famine, asteroids etc. the futureis looking extremely bright in terms of design. There may be a contentiousargument to say that things designed now will not possibly look that way in thefuture, but it does give us a very good idea of the direction in design, materials andprocesses of the gadgets in the future. Cast your terminator red-eye over these soonto be in your home, and teenagers bedrooms everywhere, future beauties.Corning Glass Table & MirrorCan you imagine organizing your daily schedule with a few touches on yourbathroom mirror? Chatting with far-away relatives through interactive video onyour kitchen counter? Reading a classic novel on a whafer-thin piece of flexibleglass? Corning is not only imagining those scenarios – the company is engaged inresearch that could bring them alive in the not-too-distant future.EclipseIf every home had workspaces like the Eclipse partition system, I might notbe so terrified of becoming a work-at-home writer. Designer Marcus Currancame up with this, and the central idea behind this contraption is versatility.Its retractable hood allows for various levels of privacy and access toaccommodate to the changing work flow of one's daily job... not to mentionroom for a few shiny gadgets.Sony’s Apple Remote ControlIs there any place for innovation when it comes to the design of remotecontrols? Apparently, there is. This Sony ”apple” allows users to perform basicfunctions like changing channels, volume etc. with simple motion gestures.Once “apples” are placed on the bowl, the remote control is being recharged.Neither price nor production dates are known.Change It!Called simply “Change it!” this is basically a big wall of small triangle panels,which can be rotated to get the color of your choice. Each triangle carrieswhite, black, and rainbow shades. This design is suitable for those of us whoare easily bored, because you can change to the colour you prefer. You donot need to be confused choosing liquid paint to beautify your home interiordesign anymore.Future KitchenThe future kitchen may be almost unrecognizable by today’s ideas formodern kitchen design. The future of kitchen design will be driven bythe need to be environmentally friendly, efficient, and durable but at thesame time elegant and sophisticated. In thirty years time, the kitchenwill be so technologically advanced that it will almost be alive.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 77

fashionAutumnAutumn is possibly the most difficult time of year to dressstylishly. The main factor in the style problem is how todress appropriately cool in this tricky season. Layers arethe key so you do not over commit to either winter orsummer wear. To be well-dressed is a must for anyonewhovalues their appearance, therefore follow our autumn styleguide and blow, rain and shine the fashion faux pas away.TrenchCoatsA good choice that will never go out ofstyle. A trench coat, or trenchcoat, is a raincoatmade of a waterproof heavy-duty cottondrill or poplin, wool gabardine, or leather.Burberry basically invented the trench,and they still do it very nicely. The feelingis that a good raincoat serves as a mildweatherovercoat and you can wear it justabout any time there’s enough chill in theair. Our suggestion would be to tie the beltin front, because then it gives you a noticeablewaist (women particularly should useit), which accounts for a lot of the charm ofthe trench. You could use the buckle, butthat looks a little buttoned-up, or even anal.78 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

For those who want to add a littlemovie-star glamour to their winterwardrobe, a camel coat couldbe the answer. This sumptuouscolour suits most skin tones andis a softer alternative to black.Choose a three-quarter length,belted style if you want glamour,or opt for a classic crombie tosmarten up your office look.CamelCoatsIf you had to organize your wardrobe by season, you would probably putyour turtlenecks in the winter section. And although it is unlikely that you’llbe strolling down to the beach in a wool pullover and your boardshorts, turtleneckscan be more than just a chunky sweater for the cold winter months.Men’s turtlenecks particularly are a great item for cool days, but fine-knit luxuriousfabrics and slim-fitting styles make them equally suitable for a night atthe bar or a day on the slopes.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 79

TweedTweed is back, but take care in how you wearit. The tweed jacket can be refreshing andcool, but it needs to be done right. Tweedgets a bad rap from old school professorswho wear it with patches on the elbows. Itcan be worn with style. People tend to thinkof tweed as “country” wear, where cates sip on cognac and smoke pipe tobac-sophisticowhile wearing a fine tweed jacket, howeverIf you want to do tweed in the city atnight, you may be able to pull it off with theright fit and complementary clothes.The style for this non-committedseason should be worn in a casualway and look young. Thesecoats are to be worn over a suit,and more and more a topcoatcan be a cool thing to wear onthe weekend. If you won’t try thedouble-breasted suit, the doublebreastedcoat is a cool thing becauseonce you button it up, itkeeps you twice as warm. The importantthing for a double-breastedcoat is it has to fit, it has tofit slim and that actually keepsyou warmer because it preventsthe wind from coming up. Withtweeds, camel, cashmere andsolids the choice is yours.Double-breastedCoat80 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

These are not your typical cardigans.At the point of maturityin an adult’s wardrobe, oneshould have cardigans. This isa chance for you to buy somethingthat makes a nod to thatvarsity jacket. These are collegiate,that’s a cool thing. Itdoesn’t mean go back to university,it means you can look like acool, young, hip-thing. They addrobustness and colour. Theyare graphic and, again, slimcut.They are strong enough towear on their own. Do not hidingthese underneath a coat.Run, don’t walk, to your favourite style shop and put down some cash for a blackleather bomber jacket. The bomber jacket has just the right style: It was popularizedby fighter pilots during World War II and gave the Army-Navy a style edge(not that it was probably needed during a war, but plenty of lonely housewivesin the 50s would probably disagree). The 2011 version is any colour (ditch theIndiana Jones look though!) with just enough military details to keep the machomojo going. Women can also look unspeakably sexy in this male orientated piece.cordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 81

profileNothing is as Strong as Team SpiritWhen I was thinking about which facultyto choose in the middle of 90s, in Serbia,I was sure that I wanted to experiencesomething that little bit differentIhad been searching for opportunities in the US, but somehowI was feeling that Belgrade was the town where I shouldbe in the difficult moments. Then I heard about FON, probablythe most modern faculty of Belgrade University in thosetimes. FON was (and still is) a school that provides you with awide area business education, applying modern techniques andgiving you the opportunity to discover your specialisation duringyour time there by exploring and learning throughout yourbusiness education.After the school, I was ready to find a job in the boomingbanking industry of the post 5th of October period in Serbia.When I saw the vacancy for a job in Societe Generale I knewit was an opportunity that I must take. I started to work inthe project and organisation team of Societe Generale Serbia(SGYB at the time) in which I succeeded in gaining a managementposition. After several years of work in the developmentof the Bank from a project perspective and cooperation with myParisian peers in the Head office of Societe Generale in France,in 2008, I received an invitation to join the Head Office teamin Paris. Being just 29 and having in my head the words of myfaculty professor, Ranko Orlic, that we cannot think about leavingour country for good, but rather have the mission of goingabroad, obtaining know how that we should bring back andbuilt it in our society (said to a bunch of youngsters dreamingof an escape to a brighter future) I left with the idea to take onthe challenge, but to come back. Uncertaintyof my future position, and an opportunity ‘toswim with the sharks’ between the walls ofLa Defense made me motivated to look upat the sky, ready to explore my personal andprofessional capabilities.Three years spent within the organizationalarm of the international retail banking sectorof Societe Generale in Paris brought memany rewards, which included having the opportunityto be involved in the ‘hot topics’ of European bankingand to meet many top managers across the world. However, thebest reward was in feeling like a ‘citizen of the world’. I had theopportunity to work in half of the CE European countries (thanksto SGs huge European network), to meet many interesting people,but the bottom line for me was the personal acknowledgmentthat the Serbian educational system, business practices and lifestyleare completely in line with what is happening in Europe,Vuk koSoVaC,Director of Strategy and Marketing,Societe Generale SerbiaThree years spent within the organizational armof the international retail banking sector of SocieteGenerale in Paris brought me many rewards, whichincluded having the opportunity to be involved in the‘hot topics’ of European banking and to meet many topmanagers across the world. However, the best rewardwas in feeling like a ‘citizen of the world’though with the huge challengeand certain obligation for constantimprovement.Apart from the business side of things, the most importantaspect was the opportunity to meet new people and to establishnew friendships. Being Serbian in France gives you an opportunityto bond with people easier, bearing in mind the traditionallygood relationship between the two countries. I will never forgetthe farewell message engraved on a present that I receivedfrom my dear colleagues before my departure from Paris - Vukwill never walk alone. This strong message reflects the key valueof our group - team spirit.Moreover, the very same value defines SG Serbia Bank.Starting from September this year, I came back to Serbia, toSociete Generale as director for strategic development andmarketing. I’ve have the opportunity to manage a young and dynamicteam of marketing professionals focused on combiningtheir innovative skills, financial understanding of the bankingenvironment and of project efficiency into creative work aimedat producing new value for our clients. Each company is valuedonly in as much as it is worth in the eyes of its customers. Inour marketing team, we focus on listening to our clients, to understandtheir needs and to transform them into a meaningfulset of banking services distributed through socially responsiblebusiness behaviour. Transparency and a customer centric approachdefine the mission of our development, because we playin the same team.It is a pleasure to be back and to contribute together with thewhole of Societe Generale’s Serbia team in our role as being a referencebank for all our clients and prospects in the Serbian market. ■82 | 87 November 2011 | www.cordmagazine.com

up to-30 %HOME EXHIBITIONfrom 12.11 to 30.11.2011.NEW COLLECTION 2012promotionaldiscount forcollection 2011until December 18 thBELGRADE, Hadži Nikole Živkovića 6at the Central bus stationNOVI SAD, Bulevar Oslobođenja 31NIŠ, Bulevar Zorana Đinđića 17A famous artist once said that all goodmusic resembles something. To us, itlooks like finely designed furniture pieces.Just to prove this, we incorporated a stateof the art sound system in our sofas. Nowyou can enjoy two passions at once –experience your favorite melodiesthrough direct contact.Visit us and feel the comfort of sound.And the sound of comfort. It’s all good.www.simpo.rscordeditorial@cma.rs | 87 November 2011 | 83

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