Olena Zelenska: Culture, humanitarian projects increase understanding between Ukraine, Serbia
That's according to the President's Office, Ukrinform reports.
"Our cooperation is much broader and has been going on for several years. As an active participant of the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, Mrs. Vucic adheres to the main principle of our community: even soft power must be effective, especially when it comes to saving lives and restoring justice," said the spouse of the President of Ukraine.
Olena Zelenska devoted the first day of her visit to cultural diplomacy events.
Together with the first lady of Serbia, the ministers of foreign affairs of the two countries, Dmytro Kuleba and Marko Đurić, she took part in the opening of the Ukrainian bookshelf in the Belgrade library. The project has already launched over 200 shelves involving 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," said Zelenska.
The first ladies also took part in the launch of the Ukrainian audio guide in the historical Kalemegdan fortress within the framework of Olena Zelenska's project to spread the Ukrainian language at the world's most famous sites. The spouse of the President of Ukraine thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, Ukrainian Institute, and Embassy of Ukraine in Serbia for implementing the initiative.
"This is already the 84th such guide within the project on Ukrainizing the world's leading monuments. I am glad that now this ancient place with a heroic history will be able to tell its story in Ukrainian," said Zelenska.
On the same day, the first lady and foreign ministers attended the signing of an agreement on research, educational, and cultural cooperation between Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University and the University of Belgrade.
Olena Zelenska recalled that the two universities have been cooperating for almost 30 years. In particular, Serbian language and literature are studied at KNU, Ukrainian - at the Department of Ukrainian Studies, Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade. The new agreement envisages the opening of research and educational centers to study the history and culture of both countries.
The President's spouse also held a meeting with representatives from the Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Rusyn communities.
"We in Ukraine are well aware of and appreciate the active work of the Ukrainian community in Serbia. You are the bridge that connects Ukraine and Serbia, which represents Ukraine to Serbs every day. All your efforts are important: from studying to volunteering, because it strengthens all of us," emphasized Olena Zelenska.
In addition, she noted that thanks to the agreements reached between the first ladies, in 2022, Serbia handed over ambulance vehicles to medical centers in Kharkiv and Cherkasy.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba are on a visit to Serbia.
