The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, is visiting Belgrade at the invitation of the First Lady of Serbia, Tamara Vučić, to participate in a Conference on Mental Health.
“Our cooperation is much broader and has been going on for several years already. As an active participant of the First Ladies and Gentlemen's Summit Mrs. Vučić follows the main principle of our community: even soft power must be effective, especially when it comes to saving lives and restoring justice,” the wife of the President of Ukraine noted.
Olena Zelenska devoted the first day of her visit to cultural diplomacy events.
Together with the First Lady of Serbia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Marko Đurić, she took part in the opening of the Ukrainian Bookshelf in the library of Belgrade. The project already includes more than 200 bookshelves and 50,000 Ukrainian books in 47 countries.
“I believe in a civilized dialogue of cultures. Now, this, as well as joint humanitarian projects, continue to increase mutual understanding between Ukraine and Serbia,” Olena Zelenska said.
The First Ladies also attended the launch of a Ukrainian-language audio guide in the historic fortress of Kalemegdan within the framework of Olena Zelenska's project to spread the Ukrainian language in the most famous landmarks of the world. The wife of the President of Ukraine thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Ukrainian Institute, and the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Serbia for implementing the initiative.
“This is the 84th such guide within the project on the Ukrainization of the world's major landmarks. I am glad that now this ancient place with its heroic history will be able to present itself in Ukrainian,” Olena Zelenska said.
On the same day, the First Lady and both Ministers for Foreign Affairs attended the signing of an Agreement on Research, Educational and Cultural Cooperation between the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the University of Belgrade.
Olena Zelenska mentioned that these universities have already been cooperating for almost 30 years in total. In particular, there are Serbian language and literature studies at the National University of Kyiv, and Ukrainian ones at the Ukrainian Language, Literature and Culture Department of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade. The new agreement provides for the opening of scientific and educational centers for studying the history and culture of both countries.
The President's wife also met with representatives of Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Rusyn communities.
“In Ukraine, we know very well and appreciate the active work of the Ukrainian community in Serbia. You are the bridge that connects Ukraine and Serbia, representing Ukraine to Serbians every day. All of your activities are important: from education to volunteer work, because it strengthens all of us,” Olena Zelenska emphasized.
In addition, she pointed out that due to the agreements between the First Ladies in 2022, Serbia donated ambulances to Ukraine — to the Kharkiv and Cherkasy Emergency Medical Centers.
