EURACTIV SERBIA

GALA DINNER ON OCCASION OF EURACTIV LAUNCH: Adria Media Group opens new business chapter

Foto: Nemanja Nikolić, Nenad Kostić

Adria Media Group has become an exclusive partner of the Euractiv network for Serbia. This was the occasion for a gala dinner, held at Belgrade’s Hyatt Regency hotel for over 250 invitees from the world of politics, diplomacy, and business, which marked the opening of a new chapter in the biggest digital media company’s business.

The importance of Euractiv for our country is best seen in the fact that numerous guests accepted the invitation to the gala dinner, some of whom include the Prime Minister of the Government of Serbia Ana Brnabić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić, Minister of European Integration Tanja Miščević, Minister of Information and Telecommunications Mihailo Jovanović, Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Janković, and Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data Milan Marinović, as well as representatives of the opposition political parties, the civilian sector, and international organizations and companies.

In addition to Ambassador and Head of EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Emanuele Giaufret, among the attendees were also Head of the Council of Europe Belgrade Office Tobias Flessenkemper, H.E. Christopher Hill, Ambassador of the United States, H.E. Annika Ben David, Ambassador of Sweden, H.E. Jørn Eugene Gjelstad, Ambassador of Norway, H.E. Luca Gori, Ambassador of Italy, H.E. Volodymyr Tolkach, Ambassador of Ukraine, H.E. Theodorus Antonius Reintjes, Ambassador of The Netherlands, H.E. Tomáš Kuchta, Ambassador of the Czech Republic, H.E. Urs Schmid, Ambassador of Switzerland, H.E. Raúl Bartolomé Molina, Ambassador of Spain, H.E. Yahel Vilan, Ambassador of Israel, H.E. Rafał Paweł Perl, Ambassador of Poland, UN Resident Coordinator in Serbia Françoise Jacob, UNHCR Representative Stefanie Krause-Arnold, as well as numerous other representatives of the diplomatic corps in Serbia.

In the part of the programme titled Euractiv Talks, Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabić and H.E. Emanuele Giaufret, Ambassador and Head of EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, exchanged views on the importance of the collaboration between Serbia and the European Union.

The Prime Minister welcomed the start of Euractiv’s operation and said:

“I am looking forward to our collaboration, especially regarding the European Integration of Serbia. What is distinctly important is the fact that Euractiv makes it possible to explain in an accessible way what European Integration is, allowing people to understand what impact it has on their lives. This isn’t easy at all, as we the politicians haven’t managed to do so well.”

Ambassador Giaufret expressed his good luck wishes for successful activities.

“It is very important work. We can all see how the new reality affects our choices. The EU enlargement process is gaining speed again, and this shows a renewed interest in the EU,” the Ambassador noted, pointing out that over 70 percent of investments come to Serbia from the European Union.

Igor Žeželj, President of Adria Media Group, gave a speech in which he said that the vision of the biggest digital media company in the region was becoming a reality.

“Four years ago to the day, we defined our vision of becoming the biggest digital media company, and we are succeeding in achieving this. We compare well with all the companies of this type in the region, and we keep growing. We are especially proud of the people who work at our company and their professional development. We are thankful to our partners for putting their trust in us, to the Government of Serbia for providing a safe business environment, to the representatives of other countries and international institutions for understanding our love for our country, but also to our competitors, which keep us on our toes. We wish success to Euractiv in its work,” the President of Adria Media Group said.

Sarantis Michalopoulos, the editor of Euractiv’s portal from Brussels, pointed out the influence of this media network on the citizens’ lives.

“We would like to provide all the EU-related news to the Euractiv readership. We tackle the complex language of the European institutions in order to explain to our readers in the best possible way how the EU policies affect their lives. We wish to connect the cities in Europe and to make sure that people in Serbia know what is happening all across Europe,” Michalopoulos concluded.

Bojana Zimonjić Jelisavac, Editor-in-Chief of the Mondo+ system, who heads Euractiv Serbia, noted that this portal would report in a factual, constructive, and transparent fashion.

“We will endeavour to implement all the professional standards of the Euro-network at Euractiv Serbia as well,” Zimonjić Jelisavac maintained.

The topic relating to the relationship between Serbia and the European Union are important to all the decision-makers in the country. The fact that the key people from all social spheres, representatives of various institutions, the most successful companies, chambers of commerce, and non-governmental organizations and associations attended the event held on the occasion of launching Euractiv testifies to this.

Danica Krstić and Vasil Hadžimanov were special music guests at this prestigious occasion, and TV personalities Silvija Slamnig and Slaviša Veselinović hosted the event.

(Kurir.rs / Euractiv)