A welcome from Her Excellency, Amb Aleksandra Joksimovic
The ties between Serbia and Ireland go beyond the framework of diplomatic relations, whose 45th anniversary will be marked in 2022. They are deeper than it seems. The positive perception of Ireland and the Irish, as a friendly people, despite the pronounced geographical distance, is based on historical facts about the presence of Celtic tribes on the territory of today’s Serbia. Our capital, Belgrade, is one of the oldest cities in Europe thanks to the Celts who founded it in the 3rd century BC under the name Singidun (the word dūn (on) means a settlement or fortress and is preserved in the name of London – Lundūn). Serbia does not forget the Irish comrades in the WWI, the heroism of the 10th Irish Division that guarded the retreat of the Serbian army during the withdrawal in 1915, as well as the Irish origin of Flora Sands, the first female officer in the Serbian army.
Hidden but no less important are the threads that connect the cultures of our two countries. Prominent Irish playwright and Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) considered Cyrillic the most perfect alphabet in the world. In his will, he bequeathed the then amount of almost 370 thousand pounds to anyone who managed to reform and simplify the English alphabet to be modeled after Vuk’s rule “one letter, one voice”. Serbia is woven into the work of Rebecca West “Black Lamb and the Gray Falcon”, and Ireland in the melodies of the Serbian band Orthodox Celts for almost three decades.
As Ambassador, I shall do my best in enhancing overall bilateral relations between Serbia and Ireland thus bringing two nations as close as possible.
HE Ms Aleksandra Joksimovic, Serbian Ambasador in the UK
Our economic cooperation is modest in scope but of great potential. Therefore, we expect that with its activities, the Irish-Serbian Chamber of Commerce will facilitate communication between business entities in Serbia and Ireland and thus contribute to the recognition of potential and ultimately to a more significant improvement of trade and investment cooperation. At the same time, we strongly welcome the presence of Irish companies in Serbia, but also Serbian ones in Ireland, and we are convinced that, by sharing the positive experiences of our business, they will attract the interest of other companies for our two markets.
