Stephen Wordsworth

Red Dragons in Smederevo

The Welsh Rugby League team came to Smederevo to play against Serbia on 25 October, in the second round of the European Cup.  I was born and grew up in Wales, and played rugby when I was young, so naturally I was keen to see the game.  It was good to see the Welsh flag, with its red dragon, flying alongside the Serbian flag over the stadium.  Smederevo Mayor Predrag Umićević also came to enjoy the game. Rugby League is still a growing sport in Serbia; the Welsh team are all full-time professionals, while most of the Serbian team are not, so it was no surprise that Wales won.  But it was the enthusiasm of the Serbian team that stood out, together with the encouragement they are getting from other Rugby League nations and teams.  One of the Serbian team members plays professionally for an English team, Whitehaven in Cumbria, in North West England, and so Whitehaven have loaned Serbia a trainer and a physiotherapist to help them prepare for the contest.  A former international player from New Zealand is also working with the Serbian team; and there are players from England and Australia playing for Serbia because they have Serbian parents or grandparents. 

The Rugby League authorities want more countries to play; they need 40 countries to play for the game to be fully recognised internationally.  At the moment, Serbia is leading the way as the only country in the Balkans to play, so everyone wants to help the game grow here and spread in time to other countries in the region.  The Serbian team goes to Wales in two weeks' time, to play against Italy.  Whatever the result, the real benefit for the Serbian side is the international practice they are getting.  If the game goes on growing, Serbia could be a real force in Rugby League in a few years' time.

Posted at 09:51 26 October 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Pale blues in Serbia

On 22 October I hosted a reception to mark the 800th anniversary of Cambridge University.  Serbia ‘s existing Cambridge University alumni group was the ‘core’ of the evening, but we also invited some of our other Chevening scholars and (in view of the work we are doing this year to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, also a ‘Cambridge man’), some representatives of the Faculty of Biology of Belgrade University. 

To make it a bit more than ‘just another reception’, we began with a panel discussion on ‘British-Serbia Relations, Past, Present, Future’, with one of Serbia’s Cambridge graduates as Moderator.  The questions from the audience afterwards focused on Serbia’s EU integration, and the possible links between that and NATO membership and the ‘Euro-Atlantic security area’ ideas floated by Russia’s President Medvedev during his visit to Belgrade earlier in the week.   Several journalists asked for interviews afterwards, to go into some of the points in more detail. 

Our star guest for the reception that followed was Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, who studied physics at Queen’s College, Cambridge, and spoke warmly of his time there.  We presented him with a Cambridge University sweatshirt as a souvenir of the evening.  We were also delighted that Serbia's Education Minister, Zarko Obradovic, was able to attend. 

This showed that, as in many countries, Cambridge still plays an important role here, not only for the academic training it provides to those fortunate enough to be able to study there, but also through its English language examination process and its textbooks.  The language exams give many foreign students of English an essential qualification for their future working lives, and a representative of the exam system (Cambridge ESOL) was there, as was a representative of Cambridge University Press.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening, reminiscing a bit about their times as a student, but mostly debating recent events and, as people do on such occasions, putting the world to rights.

Posted at 15:12 24 October 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Respect for the past and great ideas for the future

I visited Vranje on 14/15 October with my Swedish colleague, as part of our 'Outreach' programme - a series of visits by EU Ambassadors in Belgrade to other cities in Serbia.  We usually meet local political leaders, media representatives and businesspeople, and visit schools. The purpose of the trips is to talk to local people about the issues that interest them, to listen to their views and to learn from them, and to give them an opportunity to ask us in return any questions they want about the EU, and about our governments' policies towards this region and towards Serbia in particular.

Mayor Stojicic was very generous with his time, and explained in detail the challenges he is facing, in a city where several of the main industries have closed down (an important exception is the British American Tobacco factory, the UK's biggest single investment in Serbia).  He explained what he is doing to overcome the difficulties he is facing and to attract new investment, with a clear focus in particular on environmental issues. My Swedish colleague and I agreed on the importance of this.  Cleaning up the environment is central to the task of encouraging new investment, particularly in the area of tourism where Serbia has so much to offer. It's also an important part of the EU integration process.  As my Swedish colleague pointed out, some 40 per cent of the existing EU laws and regulations which new members are expected to adopt relate to the environment.

We also visited 'Bora Stankovic' school, and met a group of around 20 students and their teachers. The students had worked hard to prepare for the meeting, with each student making a short speech, in excellent English, about what most concerned them. Many of the presentations were about the environment, and the students clearly (and rightly) felt very strongly about the subject. Their pride in their country and its natural beauty came through clearly.  On European issues, it was encouraging how many of them approached the subject on the basis of trying to set out what Serbia could offer the EU, rather than, as so often, the other way around. The answer, of course, is 'a lot' - well-educated people, a functioning administration, important cultural and scientific achievements, a central geographical location in the region and a lot of development potential. But it was also striking how several of them talked about 'Serbia' and 'Europe' as though these were two quite different places. As I said to them, Serbia is already part of 'Europe' - Serbia was Chairman of the Council of Europe in 2007, successfully hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, belongs to many European cultural, sporting, scientific and commercial organisations, and stands on the threshold of an agreement which will allow Serbian citizens to travel without visas throughout most of Europe. I understand that the EU integration process can seem frustratingly slow at times, but the important point I tried to get across to the students is that, whether the integration process takes Serbia five years or a bit longer, they will spend by far the greatest part of their lives as citizens of the EU. And from what I saw and heard, they will be a credit to their country, and to the Union.

While in Vranje, I also took the opportunity to lay a wreath at the monument to the doctors and nurses of the Scottish medical mission, who came to Vranje in 1915 to care for wounded Serbian soldiers during the typhus outbreak that year.  Mission members also worked in Kragujevac, Mladenovac and in other locations around Serbia. Sadly, some of them lost their own lives to typhus.  Their sacrifice is still remembered by local people, even after so many years. Every year I have been invited to commemorative ceremonies, including in Mladenovac last week, where I was honoured to be asked to open a new public hall which has been named after the leader of the medical team there at that time, Dr Elsie Inglis. In Vranje, many of the doctors, nurses and other staff of the local hospital turned out to pay their respects to their medical colleagues of 1915.

The EU grew out of the recognition of leading Western European countries after the Second World War that a new framework was needed, to prevent Europe from being destroyed again. It has, of course, since become much more than that - a whole new way for European countries to support each other, work together, and build a better future. In Vranje - as, I am sure, in many other places across Serbia - the local people seem to have managed to keep alive a sense of respect for the past, while combining this with some very positive ideas about their future in Europe. 

Posted at 22:23 16 October 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[1]

Completing the circle

Today we are hosting an entry written by Nick Groves, Head of the Embassy Commercial Section.

As with the UK, Serbia spends a lot of time and effort in trying to attract foreign businesses to set up their operations here. It has often been pointed out to me that British investors in Serbia are notable by their small number. In these tough economic times, it was a fair bet that the situation wouldn't change. So it was a happy task for me last week to travel down to Ljubovija on the Bosnian border to attend the opening ceremony of the Veliki Majdan mine.

Veliki Majdan is a formerly state-owned lead and zinc mine nestled in the hills above the beautiful Drina river, which separates Serbia from Bosnia. In recent times, it had fallen on hard times and had been put into liquidation, meaning that the mine had not functioned for the past several years. Three years ago, the UK-based company Mineco Ltd, bought the majority share of the mine and set about restoring it to a workable state. The first year alone was spent pumping water from the many flooded levels. The company then had to repair collapsed tunnels and replace damaged or missing equipment. Finally, after investing over €3 million, the mine is back in production.

All this is good news for Ljubovija. With over 200 employees, Veliki Majdan is the largest employer in the area. Although only in the initial stages, the mine produces 4500 tonnes of ore each month, which already matches its former level of production. And with the product being exported for use in the automotive industry, the re-opening of the mine is also good news for the wider Serbian economy.

Interestingly, the new ownership of Mineco Ltd brings the mine full circle. It was the British who first exploited Veliki Majdan at the end of the nineteenth century. The cobbled road they built from the river to the mine is still in use. I wish the new owners and the workers of Veliki Majdan every success in the future.

Posted at 16:34 12 October 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Good news for Serbia’s EU integration process

On Friday 2 October I signed a Memorandum of Understanding  between the British and Serbian Governments, under which Britain's Department of International Development (DFID) will fund a programme of assistance to help strengthen the coordination capacity of the Serbian Government's General Secretariat (the cost of the programme is around 700,000 euros).   Ms Tamara Stojcevic, General Secretary, signed for Serbia.  Prime Minister Cvetkovic and a Director of DFID from London were also there; both made short speeches, welcoming the agreement and looking forward to the implementation of the programme. 

It all sounds a bit dull, but the ability to coordinate the Government's work effectively is absolutely essential for EU integration, as much of the preparation work for EU membership is very complex and covers all the different areas of Government activity.  

Then on 3 October we got the good news that the voters of Ireland had voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty in their referendum, which removes one important obstacle and brings the day closer when that treaty will come into effect.  This is good news for countries like Serbia, as a further rejection would inevitably have caused a lot of confusion in the EU. 

Now we need to find a way to help Serbia move forward with its own integration process. I have said before that we feel that Serbia has shown real determination to resolve the issue of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, and that the EU should recognise this by moving forward now with the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement that was signed last year.

Posted at 10:00 05 October 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[2]