A friend of ours was appointed a minister of state yesterday.
His name is Milan Parivodic, and he's a lawyer in Belgrade. We met three and a half years ago when I came to Belgrade for the first time. I was giving technical advice to the Serbian government on a proposed new law for secured transactions, and Milan was the first Serbian lawyer I met to talk about it, and, well, we just hit it off. We spent an afternoon geeking out on the details of secured transactions ("...but then, you may have a third party who takes the collateral...") and we've been friends ever since. The fact that he has an adorable baby girl who's the same age as Alan may have helped.
When we moved away from Belgrade, we lost touch with a lot of acquaintances. But some have stayed with us. We haven't seen Milan face-to-face in months, but we've been in regular e-mail and phone contact.
And then, yesterday: Prime Minister Kostunica has asked him to be the Minister for International Economic Relations. He may (should) be confirmed next week.
It's a small Ministry, but it has a lot of interesting work to do: commercial treaties (which Serbia, not being part of the EU, has a lot of), encouraging foreign investment, pre-EU-accession matters, all sorts of stuff.
Maybe I'll blog a little bit about Serbia's commercial relations in a bit. For now, though, we're just very happy for our friend.
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October 19, 2004
Our friend the Minister
A friend of ours was appointed a minister of state yesterday.
His name is Milan Parivodic, and he's a lawyer in Belgrade. We met three and a half years ago when I came to Belgrade for the first time. I was giving technical advice to the Serbian government on a proposed new law for secured transactions, and Milan was the first Serbian lawyer I met to talk about it, and, well, we just hit it off. We spent an afternoon geeking out on the details of secured transactions ("...but then, you may have a third party who takes the collateral...") and we've been friends ever since. The fact that he has an adorable baby girl who's the same age as Alan may have helped.
When we moved away from Belgrade, we lost touch with a lot of acquaintances. But some have stayed with us. We haven't seen Milan face-to-face in months, but we've been in regular e-mail and phone contact.
And then, yesterday: Prime Minister Kostunica has asked him to be the Minister for International Economic Relations. He may (should) be confirmed next week.
It's a small Ministry, but it has a lot of interesting work to do: commercial treaties (which Serbia, not being part of the EU, has a lot of), encouraging foreign investment, pre-EU-accession matters, all sorts of stuff.
Maybe I'll blog a little bit about Serbia's commercial relations in a bit. For now, though, we're just very happy for our friend.
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Hmm...
I quote "Why is this blog called "Halfway down the Danube" when we are writing from Bucharest -- which is not on the Danube and if so, then rather close to its end?"
Is this the reason why you also call it "Our exciting life in the Balkans"?
Posted by: Dorminhoco | October 20, 2004 at 11:26 AM
I started to respond, "because Romania is part of the Balkans".
However, I have noticed that some people get upset when I say that.
So, the answer is "because we think that Romania is part of the Balkans". Hey, maybe we're wrong.
Doug M.
Posted by: Doug Muir | October 20, 2004 at 05:29 PM
After seven years together, you still make me laugh. A good sign, eh? I'm glad I married you, those three years ago today.
Happy anniversary, love.
C.
Posted by: claudia | October 20, 2004 at 05:42 PM
If "balkanization" is this,
http://www.countrywatch.com/@school/balkanization.htm ,
how does that apply to Romania?
Or does it have to do with the ottoman "heritage" found all over the region? I'm just curious to see what westerners mean by that.
Posted by: Stefan | October 21, 2004 at 05:30 AM
Hey ya'll
Whares Romeania at? I done looked in my Farmers Almanac and the best I kin reckon, its ware the pope lives!
Places this American would like tuh visit in Yourup:
1. Angland
2. Cherkerslovakia
3. Pennsylvania
4. Italian Somaliland
Posted by: Redneck_USA | October 21, 2004 at 07:23 AM
First let me congratulate you on the great blog! Me and my wife have been hypnotized by it for a few nights now. Thank you for doing this!
I don't have much thrust in Kostunica and his ability to pick the right people - just consider the i-give-you-my-party-you-give-me-minister's-chair trade-off with Mr. Vuksanovic that ended up last in the race for Belgrade's mayor. But I have to admit that Mr. Parivodic may as well be an exception to the rule.
Novak
Posted by: novak | October 21, 2004 at 08:41 AM
Balkans or not - I'am interested in reading more about Serbia, because for various reasons it's sometimes difficult to ask my Serbian friends certain things.
Greetings
novala
Posted by: novala | October 21, 2004 at 09:51 AM
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blackjack
Posted by: blackjack | October 29, 2004 at 10:46 PM
great job guys ! Greetings from Greece ! We LUV Romania !
Posted by: Elektra | February 28, 2006 at 01:08 PM
Could you please send me its e-mail address.
I would like to wish him happy new year.
By the way, he would perhaps discover that we promote Serbia abroad and attract more foreign investment than its ministry.
Many thanks.
Lunov.A
Posted by: Lunov | January 18, 2007 at 03:04 AM