REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Official name: The Republic of Serbia. It contains two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija.

Area: 88,361 km²

Climate: Temperate continental climate, with a gradual transition between the four seasons of the year .

Population: 7,498.001 (the latest 2002. census, excluding Kosovo-Metohija)

Language: The official language is Serbian and the script in official use is Cyrillic, while Latin script is also used. In the areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, the languages and scripts of the minorities are in official use, as provided by law.

Capital: Belgrade (Beograd), with a population of 1,6 millions, is the administrative, economic and cultural centre of Serbia.

Religion: The main religion in Serbia is Christian Ortodox. There are also other religious communities in Serbia: Islamic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and other.

Government: Democratic republic. The president and the parliament are elected every four years in general election. Current president od Serbia is Boris Tadic.

Time zone: Serbia lies in the central European time zone CET (GMT+1 hour). The summer daylight saving time is from the end of March to the end of October (GMT+2 hours).

Currency: The official currency is the dinar (DIN) and 1 dinar consists of 100 para.
Coins: 50 para, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 dinars
Paper bills: 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 5000 dinars

Currency exchange is performed by all the banks, all the post offices and exchange offices

Exchange rate:
1 EUR = 80 din
1 USD = 51 din

All details about Serbia, you can find on www.serbia.travel

THE AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE OF VOJVODINA

The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is a form of territorial autonomy in the Republic of Serbia. It is situated in the northern part of Serbia,which is the southern part of Pannonian Plain, where the lower sections of three large rivers – Danube, Sava and Tisa converge. Vojvodina covers an area of 21,506 square kilometers, approximately one quarter of Serbia. Its largest city and administrative, economic, and cultural center of the province is Novi Sad.

POPULATION
According to the 2001. census, the population of Vojvodina is 2,013.889 inhabitants. More than a half are Serbs – 1.143,723, followed by 339.491 Hungarians, 74,088 Croats, 63,545 Slovaks, 44.838 Montenegrins, 38,809 Romanians, 17,652 Ruthenians, and smaller number of Moslems, Ukraninians, Bunjevci, Sokci, Macedonians, Albaninas, Slovenes, Romanies and others – alltogehter 26 nations, national minorities and ethnic groups. The Statute of AP Vojvodina stipilates that the official languages, besides Serbian, are Hungarian, Slovak, Rumanian, Ruthenian and Croatian.

ECONOMY
Vojvodina is the most developed part of the Unity of Serbia and Crna Gora, particulary in terms of agriculture and food-procesing industries, metalworking and chemical industry, building materials, textile and other industries. Agriculture accounts for 30 % and industry for 36 % in the GNP of Vojvodina.

EDUCATION
There is a broad network of pre-school institutions, elementary and secondary schools, high schools and faculties. In addition to elementary education system in Serbian language, the members of minority communities have the opportunity to be educated in their mother tongues. – Out of the total of 342 elementary schools with 196 department schools, 118 offer education in Hungarian, 19 in Slovak, 32 in Rumanian and 3 in Ruthenian.
-There are 113 secondary schools, 29 of them offer education in Hungarian, 2 in Slovak, 2 in Rumanian and 1 in Ruthenian language. – The University of Novi Sad includes 13 faculties. Some of them – Teacher Training, Faculty of Philosophy, Economics and Civil Engineering – organize education in minority languages.

THE MEDIA
Newspapers and magazines are published in seven languages. More than 200 newspapers and wide range of different magazines and reviews are published in Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, Croatian, Rumanian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian and Romans language. The budget of the Province is partly financing daily newspapers in Serbian (Dnevnik) and in Hungarian (Magyar Szó) and weeklies (Hlas ¾udu), Rumanian (Libertatea) and Ruthanian (Ruske slovo), as well as periodicals edited twice a month in Serbian (Poljoprivrednik) and in Hungarian (7 NAP). A number of children’s and youth magazines in minority languages are budget financed.

The Novi Sad Television is broadcasting programs in six languages. Radio programs of Novi Sad Radio Station are being transmitted in minority languages, too. In addition, also 60 radio stations transmit programs covering regional or local communities.

TOURISM
The natural attractions and cultural monuments of the Province provide good basis for varied and special tourist offer. Two million hectares of hunting grounds, 1700 kilometers of river and canal banks are availabile tofishermen. There are mineral and thermal springs, national parks and well-developed infrastructure, with hotel facilities that can accommodate 10,000 tourists.
The monasteries of Fruška gora, (Krušedol, Hopovo, Ravanica), constructed in period from 15 th to 17th century in beautiful Serbian-Byzantine architecture, are located on the gentle slopes of this small mountain.
Modern health and recreation centers have been built around thermal springs at Kanjiža, Prigrevica, Vrdnik and others.
Church of Monastery Krušedol. Monastery Krušedol was built by bishop Maksim Brankoviæ in 1496, and tresaured most valuable pieces of serbian sacral art from 16th to 18th century.

CULTURE
Vojvodina has a long tradition in culture. The oldest cultural institution, Matica srpska, was founded in 1826. The Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad is the first professional theatre in the country, founded in 1861. In addition, there are about a dozen professional theatres, two of which perform in Hungarian – The Novi Sad Theatre and National Theatre in Subotica, while the Slovaks, Rumaninas and Ruthenians have semiprofessional theatres. More than four hundred amateur art and culture societies cultivate folk dance and music of all nations and ethnic groups living in these parts. The galleries and showrooms throughout Vojvodina organize several hundred exibitions every year. The province is also famous for its art colonies of primitive (naive) painters – at Kovačica, Uzdin and Šid.

PUBLISHING
About a dozen largest publishing houses edit annually more than 1,000 titles in Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, Rumanian and Ruthenian languages respectively, with the circulation of about three million copies. The biggest publishing houses are: “Dnevnik”, “Forum”, “Kultura-Obzor”, “Libertatea”, “Ruske slovo”, “Svetovi”. Some of the private publishers, like Publishing and Storebook “Stojanović” and IA “Prometej” have also achieved high reputation.

The Library of Matica Srpska is the central library of Vojvodina and includes publishing enterprises producing books in a number of foreign languages.

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