Aleksandra Hristov

Ekonometar and Magazin Biznis Magazines celebrated 15 years of successful publishing on Monday February 24th.

At Belgrade’s Crown Plaza Hotel, in front of a large audience, it was presented that for over a decade and a half, these magazines have been an important source of information for business people as well as anyone else interested in economy and entrepreneurship

On this occasion, the traditional awards of “Planet Business” were awarded. This year the winners are: Dragan Filipovic, General Manager of Generally Insurance, Djordjo Markedjani, Director of DDOR, Zoja Kukic, Program Director for Startup Development “Digital Serbia”, Zorica Selakovic, owner of “Dezert” company in Cacak and Goran Jovic, director of Regional Chamber of Commerce of Pcinja and Jablanica District.

Founder of these magazines, Radojka Nikolic, editor-in-chief, expressed her satisfaction that these magazines were able to survive in difficult circumstances and to have an enviable rating on the Serbian media scene in the category of economic and business press. She expressed hope that Serbia had higher rates of economic growth and emphasized that as a society we should turn more to the economy than politics.

As part of the celebration, a mini panel was held on Serbian economy before and now, led by Aleksandar Vlahovic former Minister of Economy and Privatization, and Marko Cadez the current President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, who is also the face of the latest front page.

Congratulates to Biznis Magazin and Ekonometar  Magazines for decade and a half of successful work, with the belief that it will be even more successful in the future.

Notaries of Serbia achieved remarkable results during 2019, as evidenced by the fact that during that period they issued more than 250,000 documents, in the form of records and solemnization, which implies the drawing up, verification and confirmation of real estate contracts, lifelong support and other contracts in other property relationships.

The 250,000 cases registered in the General Business Register of 197 Serbian notaries are significant not only as statistics but also as an indicator of the extent to which notaries of Serbia have contributed to the increase of legal certainty in real estate transactions and other affairs, said the President of the Serbian Chamber of Notaries Srbislav Cvejic, presenting some of the most important results of notaries in 2019.

Cvejić also said that due to the work of notaries, fraudulent real estate sales were avoided and that the number of court proceedings regarding contractual disputes was significantly reduced.

The SCN President emphasized the great support and assistance provided by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia from the outset, which continues to work on improving the technical capacity of the notary system, as well as on strengthening the position and expanding the competences and network of notaries.

Cvejic recalled that Serbia’s notaries celebrated 5 years since the introduction of notaries in the legal system in 2019, and it is clear that in that short time they were able to fulfill the most important functions – to protect the rights of parties, to speed up and control legal transactions and unburden the judiciary system. In five years, Serbia’s notaries have done more than eight million legal transactions under their jurisdiction, most of them certifications – about 7 million.

The great success of Serbian Chamber of Notaries in Serbia is that in 2019 they were able to complete as many as 367,121 certifications of documents, thus relieving the state institutions, especially during period of high school and college enrollment. In 2019, in June and July, more than 122,000 free copies of documents were notarized across Serbia, while some 245,000 documents were completed in the remaining 10 months.

In addition to the documents for the first enrollment in high schools and colleges, notaries notarized documents for the purposes of the competition for admission to dorms and student standards institutions, as well as for the competition for the use of student scholarships and loans. In addition to certification of these documents, certifications for enrollment in pre-school institutions and primary schools are also performed free of charge, as well as certification of signatures and transcripts or photocopies of documents used for social security, social protection, veterans-disabled protection and protection of civilian war invalids.

Notaries publicly certify, free of charge, documents for providing financial support for a family with children, as well as the documentation for victims of domestic violence. In addition, it is free of charge to certify the documents of unemployed persons necessary for the establishment of an employment relationship, or other rights conferred on that basis.

According to the President of the SCN, the results achieved in the last five years prove the extent to which both the public notary system in Serbia and the work of the Chamber of Notaries were developed in a short time. Cvejic emphasized the efficient work of a large number of notary offices, which were able to speed up the implementation of inheritance procedures, for which they are entrusted by the courts. “Inheritance procedures for public notaries are now effectively conducted, ending in a very short time,” Cvejic said.

The goal of the Serbian Chamber of Notaries is to further work on the advancement of the profession, and to fill more vacancies for notaries, which should be 370, for the territory of the entire Republic of Serbia. “Expanding the network of notaries is one of our priorities. We must work to ensure that public notaries are equally accessible to all citizens, “Cvejic said.

According to the president of the SCN, the Chamber has faced many challenges in the past years, the biggest one that citizens accept them as professionals, lawyers who improve legal certainty with their work. “We believe that we have made great strides in this direction so far, and we can promise that we will continue to work hard in the future and that we will strengthen our network and capacities,” Cvejic added.

The SCN also continuously provides training for notaries and notary assistants and associates, and constantly works to harmonize notary public practice. “It is extremely important for the Chamber to control the work of all notaries. We demand strict compliance with all laws and regulations by our members and sanction any violation of regulations within our ranks, “said Cvejic.

FoNet, the oldest private news agency in Serbia with the independent editorial policy, has recently published the digested version of my opinion editorial from the leading Serbian weekly Novi Magazin.

p030220.062

SRB- KIOSK – MEDIA

IN THE SERVICE OF CONFLICT

BELGRADE, February 03, 2020

The governments around the world are currently the most serious creators of the fake news and propaganda content, suggests Ms. Aleksandra Hristov, the Internationally Certified Management Consultant in the area of Strategic Communication.

Ms. Hristov, the director of Hristov Consulting, in her analysis „PR in the service of Conflict“, explains  that   the media should work in the public interest, while PR generally works in the interest of its clients. Where these interests overlap, cooperation is both necessary and possible, stated Hristov in her recent opinion editorial for Serbian weekly Novi Magazin.

However, she warned we are often confronted with the situation whereby our profession is used as  an instrument in the hands of those who have their own specific goals, and who do not hesitate to choose any means to achieve them.

As a rule, stated Hristov, those who knowingly agree to be an instrument of the special interests, without following the professional  codes, are eventually always abused and victimized by their own clients.

Whereas, the PR sector, if it does its job properly, is an ally of the media, and contributing to the safeguarding of the public interest and the development of the society as a whole.

Hristov goes on to conclude that the European Union officials very often do not see or understand how much the freedom of the media in Serbia is endangered, including the undermining of the public benefit and the democracy itself. In addition to that, the most of the principles prescribed by the laws and the codes are habitually not applied in practise, or to a lesser extent even abused. When bots, trolls and other “helpers” are added to this, it’s almost impossible to explain to the visiting foreign officials and experts what this is all about.

Referring to the existing EU Study, she notes that elements of disinformation and propaganda includes the information that is designed to be wholly or partially false, manipulative or misleading, or is using the unethical retelling techniques

Ms. Hristov has emphasised that the disinformation and propaganda are always intended to create insecurity, hostility or polarization in the society, or is attempting to disrupt the democratic processes. They are spread and / or amplified by the automated and aggressive techniques, such as social bots, artificial intelligence, micro-targeting, or paid human “trolls”, and are used to increase the public visibility of its sources.

Additionally, she mentions the public statement made by Richard Stengel, a former chief editor of The Time magazine and the undersecretary of State during the Obama administration, who defined disinformation as an intentional fraudulent content used to deceive someone. Furthermore, Stengel connects the raise of the authoritarian leaders to the spread of internet and sophisticated methods of using of the media and information in general.

Leaders in these situations limit the dissemination of information they do not want, while promoting the information they desire, which is a very dangerous combination.

The end 15:24