Offisielt besøk til Serbia: Tale ved Scandinavia institute (engelsk)

State Secretary,
Dear students,
Dobro jutro svima!

God morgen, alle sammen! (I guess quite a few of you understand some Norwegian)

It is a great pleasure for me to be in Serbia; this is actually my first visit to the beautiful city of Belgrade.

The main purpose of my visit is to open a new module in Telenor’s mobile bank. I am very happy that this also gave me the opportunity to meet with you here at the Scandinavian Institute.

The mobile bank brings new technology to banking in Serbia. This technology, which has not yet been introduced outside your country, will also make it possible for Serbian companies to contribute to future technological advances in global banking.

Mobile banking is just one example of how quickly our world is changing. Innovative technology offers opportunities for people with bright ideas and an understanding of its potential.

This focus on opportunities is also a central element in Norwegian assistance to Serbia, much of which aims to further entrepreneurship. For more than 10 years, Norway has supported entrepreneurship programmes in Serbia and in the wider region, mostly for young people and schools. We believe that entrepreneurship is a key to further economic development. It can also be a way to meet the challenge of youth unemployment.

In Norway, we have increased our efforts to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit and competence of young people. Entrepreneurship is now part of the standard curriculum in Norwegian schools. These efforts have yielded results. Almost 30 % of all young people who have participated in some form of student enterprise have later established their own business.

The spirit of entrepreneurship is also important if we want to support and strengthen civil society. Each of us has a responsibility to contribute to the society we live in, perhaps by engaging in political activity, by supporting minority groups or marginalised groups, by increasing environmental awareness, or by building bridges to other ethnic or religious groups.

The Norwegian Government allocates more than 2,5 million Euro annually to civil society organisations in Serbia. This support is not based on political considerations. The only requirement is that the organisation’s activity should encourage public participation in developing a democratic Serbia as it moves towards EU membership. For instance, among those who receive support, are organisations working with Lesbian, Gay, Bi- and Transsexual issues, Human Rights-questions, rule of law and church and Roma organisations, to name but a few. Strong societies nurture diversity and gain strength from pluralism and tolerance.

Since I am here together with the State Secretary of Youth and Sports, I would like to mention one project we have implemented in cooperation with his ministry. Thanks to this project, more than 70 communities in Serbia now have mini-pitches. Providing basic arenas for sports and play is both a good way of promoting an active lifestyle for young people and a good way of creating meeting places for youth from different backgrounds.

I have spent some time now outlining what I wanted to convey to you. Now, over to you: I look forward to hearing your views on the future, as you are the architects and builders of tomorrow’s Serbia. I would like to learn about how you perceive your situation in Serbia today, what your thoughts are on the future of our country, and how you hope to contribute to Serbia’s development. I am also curious to know why so many students in Serbia are studying Norwegian, and I would be interested to hear about how young people in Serbia view Norway.

Thank you.