Stephen Wordsworth

Want to Save €600 Million?

I made the opening speech on 31 March at a conference to mark the conclusion of a two-year project we have been running, with the NGO Transparency Serbia, to help the Serbian authorities improve their public procurement procedures.

It might sound dull, but it matters.  Every year, the Serbian public sector buys about €4 billion worth of goods and services.  The rough rule of thumb from other countries is that better planned public procurement procedures, with increased transparency, competition and control and reduced opportunities for malpractice and corruption, can save 10% - 15% of the total bill.  That's €400 million - €600 million, of Serbian taxpayers' money.  That's worth saving, particularly now.  

In addition to the work that we have funded directly through Transparency Serbia, we have also worked with the European Commission and the OSCE, organising events such as an exchange visit last year by representatives of the Serbian Public Procurement Office to the UK Office of Government Commerce and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.  Serbian Government representatives who were at the meeting stressed the importance of carrying on with this work.  We hope to be able to continue our support in the future in some way too. 

'Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 14:04 01 April 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[1]

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream...

I was invited to go today (4 March) to the Red Star Rowing Club on Ada Ciganlija in Belgrade by the Club's President, Dragoljub Kavran, and Director, Dusan Kovacevic.  I hadn't been before, and didn't know much about it, but I was interested to hear that they are sending a team to a race in London soon, and wanted to find out more.  I rowed in an 'eight' when I was a student at University for a few months - I have still got a photo somewhere to prove it! 

Anyway, I had a good tour around, and it turns out that 'Red Star' is now a lot more than just a rowing club - to raise funds for their rowing, they have a child care centre there too, a fitness centre, an indoor football pitch, a restaurant and other things, all open to the wider public.  I was glad I went - and hope they do well in London.

Posted at 16:19 04 March 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Crime Busters

I took a visitor from London - the International Director of the United Kingdom's Serious Organised Crime Agency, Mr Rob Wainwright - to the Interior Ministry yesterday afternoon, to meet the Minister of the Interior, Mr Ivica Dacic, and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding.  This will further enhance the capabilities of both countries to exchange information and to cooperate to increase the risk to criminals who choose to commit organised crime in Serbia, the UK and beyond. 

Photo: FoNet News Agency

It is an unfortunate fact of life that British and Serbian criminals work across the world in such areas as drug trafficking, illegal immigration, the illicit firearms trade and other forms of organised criminality.  If we are to fight their activities successfully, we must work very closely together.  By its nature, it's not the sort of work we can talk about much in public, but this was a chance for a brief moment in front of the cameras. 

Posted at 13:32 03 March 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[4]

A Day in Novi Sad

On 3 February we organised a trip to Novi Sad to catch up on developments. It's always a pleasure to go there - there's a real feeling of positive dynamism now, of people working together with a common objective of promoting the region and doing a good job for the ordinary people.

I had a number of meetings, including with the Speaker of Vojvodina Provincial Assembly, and I gave an interview to the local newspaper, Dnevnik. Naturally I was interested in hearing about the progress of the Vojvodina Statute.

Everyone dismissed out of hand the scare stories put around by the right wing parties that this is in some way a first step towards 'separatism'. Vojvodina politicians are now doing 'outreach' visits to other parts of Serbia to put the facts across clearly. Coming from the United Kingdom, which has devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, each with its own powers, it was interesting to hear how Serbia's politicians are trying to balance the wish of local people to have more say in their own affairs against the need to respect and promote the role of the central institutions.

Maybe some people reading this will have their own views on this?

Posted at 14:56 07 February 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[6]

Roberts Burns Ceilidh Belgrade 2009 - Update

The figures are through, and we raised almost 64,000 Euros for Save the Children's work in Serbia - up from 46,000 Euros in 2008.  This is a great result and reflects very well on all the hard work put in by the organising committee, and on the generosity of the Platinum and Gold sponsors and of all the others who bought a ticket or supported us in so many ways. 

Thank you to them all!

Posted at 14:40 07 February 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

The Peace Chapel

I visited Sremski Karlovci yesterday evening for the 310th anniversary of the signature of the Treaty of Karlowitz - Karlovački Mir. 

The Treaty, in 1699, brought an end to the 'War of the Holy League'.  The Ottoman Turks, who had been besieging Vienna only a few years before, had been defeated at the Battle of Senta in northern Serbia in 1697, and were finally brought to agree peace.  Under the terms of the Treaty, they gave up most of Hungary, Transylvania and Slavonia to Austria, while the district of Podolia, in modern-day Ukraine, returned to Poland.  Most of Dalmatia was handed to Venice, along with the Peloponnese peninsula. 

The town authorities in Sremski Karlovci have almost completed restoring the 'Peace Chapel', which was built on the site of the tents in which the Treaty was signed.  Every year they invite a number of dignitaries to mark the anniversary, including the Ambassadors of the countries that were involved at the time.  My Austrian and Turkish colleagues were both there, with a number of others.  The British Ambassador is invited each year because Great Britain, with the Netherlands, were the two guarantor powers - we had not been involved in the actual conflict, so were acceptably 'neutral' for the Ottomans.  

The commemoration in the Peace Chapel started with speeches and a performance of a new play by a local author on the theme of peace, followed by a reception.  It was a relaxed occasion; the long-term effects of the conflicts of that period are still with us in some ways, but the message from these events was that the time for conflict is over, and that only peace can deliver what people really need.

Posted at 13:19 27 January 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[4]

Second (Anniversary) Impressions

I realised the other day that I had just gone past the second anniversary of my presentation of credentials to President Tadic.  It made me stop and think about my first two years in Serbia - not the policy issues, but my more personal impressions. 

Things that came to mind included:

- the welcome I received, and still receive when I travel around.  Although we may disagree on some issues, this never seems to get in the way of personal relations.  And many people here are desperately keen to re-connect to the outside world, after all the crises of the 1990s;

- the enthusiasm and talent of Serbia's young people.  If the circumstances can be created to allow all this potential to be unleashed, Serbia should be able to move ahead very quickly.  And I have almost stopped being surprised at how many young people, who have never left Serbia, speak fluent English.  This should be a great asset for attracting outside business investment;
 

- the very real hardship that many people are still having to cope with, and the sense of loss and disappointment among older people in particular, who look back nostalgically to the days of the old Yugoslavia.  I can understand that very well;
 

- the natural beauty.  Most people in Western Europe only know about Belgrade, if that.  Almost no-one has heard of Zlatibor, or Kopaonik, or Stara Planina, or the Ibar Valley, or Tara.  Now I have, and I share my photos with my friends and families at home, who are amazed too;

- the history.  Everyone knows that the Balkans has too much of it, and trying to understand it is a lifetime's work for foreigner.  But I'm a bit of a 'history nut', so I'm very happy wandering around palaces and old castles, not just the obvious ones at Kalamegdan or Petrovaradin, but others like Smederevo, or Maglic in the Ibar valley (it was a bit of a scramble to get to it, but well worth it).  The churches and monasteries are fascinating too; and the Roman remains at Felix Romuliana and elsewhere.  How many people outside this region even know they all exist?  There's a lot of untapped tourism potential here;

- the food.  There's far too much of it, especially the meat.  I was brought up by parents who had gone through World War 2, and was taught not to leave anything on my plate.  If I did that in Serbia I'd weigh over 100 kilos by now.  But it's hard to break the habit of a lifetime.  And some of the things you have here are exceptional - kajmak, ajvar - and, again, largely unknown in Western Europe;
 

- the drink.  The first time I was given a plastic Coke bottle full of a clear spirit I treated it with deep mistrust.  I had, after all, just come from Russia, where every year there are reports of people who kill themselves or go blind from drinking spirits they have made at home.  But I soon learned that this is a different world altogether in Serbia, where people are passionate about the quality of what they make.  Now I have a shelf at home of unlabelled bottles of liquids of various colours, all of which are gradually going down.  I can't remember when I last needed to buy any rakija for myself;
 

- the music.  I have come to the conclusion that Serbian brass bands are a taste I am probably not going to be able to acquire.  But the sound is something I certainly won't forget;
 

- big events, like Eurovision and the Rolling Stones concert.  I grew up when the Rolling Stones were first becoming famous, and I know most of their songs, but I had never seen them live until I came to Belgrade;

- the passion for sport, football in particular.  To the despair of my media team in the Embassy, I was brought up in South Wales, where everyone plays rugby (I did too) and I never developed an interest in ordinary football.  I keep being asked here which football team I support, and have to confess that I don't really support any of them.  Nobody here understands that.  I get pitying looks.  But then people here do play rugby too, and both varieties - Rugby Union and Rugby League.  That's another thing that Not Many People Know About Serbia.

I wonder what I'll add to the list in two years time?

Posted at 11:29 17 January 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[3]