1. Welcome and presentation of the Annual Report and activities over the last year – SCGB President, Petar Janković – see attached full document.
Special guest speech: Minister for Diaspora Mr Srdjan Srećković.
2. 2010 strategy - SCGB Vice president, Dr Miloš Stefanović – see attached full document.
3. Treasurer’s report - SCGB Treasurer, Ivan Miletić – see attached full document.
4. Election of the officers of the Serbian Council of Great Britain:
• President candidate Petar Janković (voted in with 19 votes of 25 total paid and present members)
• Vice President candidate Dr Miloš Stefanović (voted in with 19 votes of 25 total paid and present members)
• Secretary candidate Jelena Krzanicki (voted in with 19 votes of 25 paid and present members)
• Treasurer candidate Ivan Miletić (voted in with 19 votes of 25 paid and present members)
5. Election of the General Committee members:
• Candidate George Tokos (voted in with19 votes of 25 paid and present members)
• Candidate Maja Momčilović-Jordan (voted in in absentia with 19 votes of 25 paid and present members)
• Candidate Marta Janković (voted in with19 votes of 25 paid and present members)
• Candidate Olga Stanojlović (voted in with 19 votes of 25 paid and present members)
• Candidate Aleksandra Šarić (voted in in absentia with 19 votes of 25 paid and present members)
• All above candidates sent in their written candidatures by the deadline of February 1, 2010.
The Members were informed that in the course of 2010 a number of amendments may be proposed to certain voting provisions in the Constitution of the Council. Such amendments are deemed necessary in order to clarify and improve the voting procedure. The proposed amendments would be circulated to all Members in advance and their consent would be sought for any changes to become effective.
6. There was no other business.
End of formal meeting was at 18:00h.
Thank you for giving me the honour to preside over this, the seventh, Annual General Meeting of the Serbian Council of Great Britain and thanks to all of you, the members of the Council as well as our guests, for finding the time to be present at this meeting. This year I have the exceptional pleasure to be able to welcome our honoured guests from Belgrade, Mr Srdjan Sreckovic, the Minister for Diaspora, and Ms Aleksandra Kojic, Secretary of the Ministry for Diaspora. From the time they took up these important posts, they and their colleagues in Belgrade, have introduced a new spirit into the activities of the Ministry and by doing so they have broadened and deepened the collaboration of the Ministry with our Council as well as with other Serbian diaspora organizations. We are truly grateful to them for their notable efforts. At the end of this speech I will ask Mr Sreckovic to tell us a little more about the activities of the ministry during the past year. I would also like to welcome Mr Milan Varadinovic, Consul General at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in London, the representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church Saint Sava in London, Father Milun Kostic and the representatives of other Serbian diaspora organisations who are present at this meeting.
The Serbian Council was exceptionally active in 2009 during which it started a series of projects, the last one being the celebration of the Serbian week in Great Britain which our Council initiated in association with two other leading Serbian organizations: the Serbian Society and the Serbian City Club, with the full support of the Serbian Embassy in London and the Ministry for diaspora in Belgrade. The celebration started with the Saint Sava liturgy and academy held in the Hammersmith town hall on 31st of January, and will end with the concert you will be able to hear following this meeting.
In addition to Serbian week, in the course of last year the Council organized several visits of its representatives to Belgrade where they had the opportunity to meet and have talks with the representatives of the Ministry for diaspora that, as a result of these talks, made two generous donations for two of our projects. In addition, some representatives of the Council paid a visit to Bor where they had a meeting with Vlade Divac, the President of the Serbian Olympic Committee, we opened a Serbian language school in Cambridge, entertained a delegation of businessmen from Nis who visited several cities in this country, we organized several visits to this country for the members of the Olympic Committee of Serbia with whom the Council has been cooperating in securing training facilities for the London Olympic games in 2012 and the opening of a Serbian house and the accommodation of journalists and other visitors from Serbia during the games.
Last autumn, in association with the Serbian Society, the Council put on a most entertaining theatrical performance at the Polish centre POSK in London. We have made efforts to introduce Serbian language into the curriculum of educational establishments in Britain and, at the initiative of the Ambassador of Serbia Dr Dejan Popovic, the representatives of our Council held talks concerning the exhumation and the transfer of the remains of Slobodan Jovanovic from London to Belgrade which will be carried out in collaboration with the Serbian Church Saint Sava and the Serbian academy of sciences.
Our representatives were able to attend the meeting of young leaders of the diaspora in Belgrade and we have continued with the circulation of our monthly bulletin that we are sending to several thousand addresses of our members as well as other members of our community whose addresses we possess.
I do not wish to take up more of your time because we have a rich programme today, but I would like to ask Milos Stefanovic, our Vice President, and other members of the General Committee to tell you more about the activities in which they were involved directly at the end of Mr Sreckovic’s speech.
But before I ask Mr Sreckovic to address you I must appeal yet again, to all our existing and past members of the Serbian Council to continue to give us their support by paying regularly their annual membership fees, by giving us their donations and by taking part in our work because the future of this Council lies solely in your hands.
Serbian Council of Great Britain (SCGB) continues to deliver on 4 cornerstones of our Programme developed over the past 2-3 years:
1/ INCLUSIVITY
- Reaching out to all segments of our community in the UK, geographically and demographically
(a) Feb'08 Protests in front of Downing St (20 members organised the protests and petition writing, 800-1,000 protesters participated)
(b) Jan'09 Serbian Week in Britain (events in London and Leeds)
(c) Jul’09 Sponsored a new school for Serbian children in Cambridge
(d) Nov’09 Promoted Serbian Olympic Committee in Leeds / Yorkshire
- Key future projects:
Visits to our communities in Oxford, Reading, Southend, Leicester, etc
Membership Drive (PRIORITY)
2/ PARTNERSHIP
- Working together with other diaspora organisations in the UK, our Church and the Embassy
- Past examples:
(a) Sept'08 Visited the NATO HQ in Brussels
(b) Jan'09 Serbian Week in Britain (worked together with Serbian Society, Serbian City Club and British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce)
(c) Concerts and fund raising together with Serbian Society
- Key future projects:
Serbian language as a GCSE option
Humanitarian Organisation Divac: Concerts and other fund-raising events for refugees in Serbia
3/ REPRESENTATION IN THE UK
- Raising the profile of British Serbs in front of the British Institutions and Media
- Past examples:
(a) Feb'08 Protests covered by BBC, Radio 4, etc
(b) Jan'09 Serbian Week in Britain: established a strong relationship with MPs (20 MPs attended our Presentation), FCO and the UK Embassy in Belgrade
- Key future projects:
Stronger links with the media through letter writing and roundtable discussions (PR subcommittee)
Serbian Week in Britain as a traditional event
- Strengthening our links with Serbia, its Institutions (Ministry of Diaspora) and Media
- Past examples:
(a) Lobbied to increase the number of eligible voters in diaspora for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2008 (an increase by 50,000 globally)
(b) Lobbied the Ministry of Diaspora on the new Law on Diaspora and Law on Restitution, together with other Serbian diaspora organisation (Serbian Unity Congress)
- Key future projects:
Co-financing Serbian schools in the UK (Ministry of Diaspora, Serbian Society)
Humanitarian aid (HOD, Blythswood Care, Toys, etc)
CONCLUSION:
We are on the move, with clear aims and projects. Please join us, tell your friends and family to join us - we need your support in any way possible to validate our existence and purpose.
Income
Since January 1st 2009 we have received payments as follows:
| Ministry of Diaspora | £1,882.00 |
| Membership | £1,430.00 |
| Events (Theatre presentation) | £1,941.00 |
| Other events | £940.99 |
| Total £6.193.99 | |
Expenditure
Since January 1st 2009 we have had expenses as follows:
| Events (Concert Trio Anima) | £250.00 |
| Events (Expenses Leeds/Anima) | £2,673.32 |
| Events (AGM 2009) | £300.00 |
| Events (Polish Centre total) | £953.68 |
| Theatre presentation | £1225.93 |
| School opening donation – Oxford | £400.00 |
| Events (Total) | Total £5,802.93 |
| Bank / Utilities Charge | £48.36 |
| Postal Services | £738.32 |
| Various Services | £268.78 |
| Transport | £365.48 |
| Events (Total) | Total £7,223.87 |
Balance
| The balance on January 1st 2009 | £5,160.99 |
| Income less expenditure | (£1,029.88) |
| Balance as of December 31sr 2009 | Total £4,131.11 |
Budget
The budget for the year is yet to be determined
by the GO but the following costs have been
established from previous years experience and
should be allowed for as foreseeable costs :
| AMG | £300 |
| Travel/Transportation | £250 |
| Printing costs, magazine etc. | £1000 |
| Total £1550 | |
The membership as of December 31st 2009 stands at 50 fully paid up members.
Yearly overview:
| 2005 | 26 |
| 2006 | 52 |
| 2007 | 80 |
| 2008 | 55 |
| 2009 | 50 |
| Members Total | 171 |
| Potential new members | 40 |
Ivan Miletić 6 February 2010