On Wednesday 6 May, the City of Novi Sad hosted delegation of young ambassadors of Israeli culture. The delegation consisted of successful students and pupils dedicated to promotion of Israeli tradition and culture abroad, to development of cultural connections between young people from Serbia and Israel, and to further development of relations between these two countries.

The Cultural Centre of Novi Sad organised a reception for the young ambassadors, where Sunčica Marković, Deputy General Manager of the Cultural Centre, greeted guests on behalf of the Cultural Centre, Vuk Radulović and Vladimir Radmanović presented work and projects of the institution, and Dr Gordana Todorić talked about the Novi Sad Raid, project ‘Freezing Silence Speaks’ and culture of remembering.

The guests were especially interested in the candidacy of Novi Sad for the European Capital of Culture in 2021. Members of the Organisation team Novi Sad 2021 presented realised and planned projects, and further steps in preparation. The young ambassadors discussed, with the members of the team, the role of young people in the candidacy process and the role of the project in creating future culture audience. The president of the Ambassador Club from Israel, Mr Yitzhak Eldan, said that this visit strengthens relations between Serbia and Israel.

– Pupils and students who visited Novi Sad will see and get to know the culture of this city, as well as their peers. In cooperation with the Embassy of Israel we plan to organise similar visit in Israel, where Serbian pupils and students will come to our country and get to know our culture – said Eldan, adding that with this visit Israel wants to support Novi Sad in the candidacy for the European Capital of Culture.

After the visit to the Cultural Centre of Novi Sad, young people from Israel visited the City Hall where they were greeted by the Assistant Mayor Miroje Jovanović. He welcomed them, adding that Novi Sad will always maintains relationship with Israel. Mr Jovanović stressed that he is especially happy to have young people from Israel as guests of Novi Sad.

– Normally, I deal with legal issues and I am not in charge of greeting foreign delegations. However, when I heard that delegation from Israel is visiting, I insisted to be the host. This is because I have been especially fond of young Israeli people, ever since I saw the TV report on young people who study in shelters in not so distant past and who successfully meet their student obligations. Maybe this report was about some of you – said Jovanović.

While answering students’ questions, Assistant Mayor said that Novi Sad is unique due to its multi-ethnicity and that it is good example of successful inter-ethnic cooperation. He stressed that Novi Sad, for the first time in a long period, records the positive natural population growth and said that this and other economic indicators undoubtedly show positive results of work of city administration.

– What we are especially proud of is the efficient program of help for young people and youth organisations, and I can say that significant funds are allocated to these purposes. This is why, I believe that we will have positive results in the following period in terms of decreasing number of young people who leave the territory of our municipality – he added.

The City officials expressed, once again, their dedication to developing international cultural connections and stressed the importance of the candidacy of Novi Sad for the European Capital of Culture, as one of the most important project of the city in this year.

Young Israeli pupils and students met with the students of ‘Jovan Jovanović Zmaj’ Secondary School, after the reception in the City Hall, and they discussed culture, tradition and cooperation between these two nations. This was an opportunity for exchanging experiences and practices, meeting of young people and creating new cultural connections. The visit of young people from Israel ended by taking picture with the letters ‘Novi Sad’ and numbers ‘2021’, which symbolically represents support for the candidacy of our City for the European Capital of Culture.