Facts about Serbia

Situated at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, Belgrade is an ancient settlement, whose oldest archaeological findings go back to the 5th millennium BC. It was founded as Singidunum by a Celtic tribe in the 3rd century BC, while the first mention of Belgrade dates to 989. Throughout its long and turbulent history, Belgrade was captured by forty armies and rose 38 times from the ashes.
Today, Belgrade is the political and administrative capital of Serbia. With its two million inhabitants, the city is of major importance in traffic and communications. Besides its significance as a road and rail junction, Belgrade is an important international river-to-sea, airport and telecommunications centre. It possesses important agricultural and industrial capacities, particularly in the metal, ferrous metal and electronic industries, followed by trade and banking. The greater Belgrade area, with the cities of Smederevo and Pancevo, encompass 2000 square meters of free trade zone located on the banks of the Danube. Belgrade earns 30 percent of Serbia's total GDP.

Belgrade is also the capital of Serbian culture. It has the greatest concentration of science and art institutions of national importance. It is the seat of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, founded in 1886 as the Serbian Royal Academy; Serbian National Library, founded in 1832; National Museum, founded in 1841 and National Theatre, founded in 1869. The city is also the seat of Belgrade University, founded in 1808 as the Great School, and the University of Arts.

Belgrade enjoys the status of a special district in Serbia with its autonomous authorities of Belgrade mayor and the city government. Its territory is divided into 17 municipalities.

Vojvodina makes almost one quarter of the Serbian territory or 21,506 square kilometres. Novi Sad is the administrative, economic and cultural seat of the province.

Territorial organization

Vojvodina consists of 45 municipalities and seven districts whose seats are Subotica, Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Pancevo, Sombor, Novi Sad and Sremska Mitrovica.

Vojvodina is intersected by three big navigable rivers: the Danube, Tisa and Sava. They divide its territory into three clearly visible units: Banat in the east, Backa in the north-west and Srem in the south-west. All three regions are characterised by fertile arable land, economic and cultural development, high population density and demographic variety.

Relief

The relief of Vojvodina is primarily flat except for Srem which is dominated by the Fruska Gora mountain and the south-east of Banat with its Vrsacki Breg hill. The river Danube with its tributaries has nowadays the biggest hydro potential. It is also the most important waterway and the most significant strategic route in Europe.

The Danube flows 588 kilometres through Serbia, primarily through Vojvodina and is navigable along the whole length. Its tributaries Tisa (168 km), Sava (206 km) and Begej (75 km) are navigable too. They are connected with a water irrigation system. The whole length of the irrigation system is 939 kilometres, 673 of which are navigable.

Traffic importance

Other important traffic routes also pass through Vojvodina. There is a highway coming from Central Europe and the Hungarian border. It goes through Novi Sad and Belgrade further to Nis, where it takes two directions: one to the east towards the Bulgarian border and another to the south towards Skopje and Thessaloniki. There is also the third highway in Srem which takes the direction to the west towards the Republic of Croatia and further on towards Western Europe. On both sides of the highway there is a network of local roads and railway lines.

The Morava-Vardar valley which begins at the south of Vojvodina, is the most important connection between the north and the south of the Balkan peninsula. Near Belgrade, it intersects the Danube east-west direction, thus creating a geo-strategic knot. This makes the geographic-strategic position of this province significant and advantageous for Serbia.

Population

According to the 2002 census, Vojvodina has 2,031,992 inhabitants, which makes 27.1 percent of the total population of Serbia. With a population of 1,321,807, Serbs make the absolute majority in the province. Then come the Hungarians - 290,207, Slovaks - 56,637, Croats - 56,546, Montenegrins - 35,513, Rumanians - 30,419, Roma - 29,054, Bunjevacs - 19,776, Ruthenians- 15,626, Macedonians - 11,785 and other smaller ethnic groups like the Ukrainians, Muslims, Germans, Slovenes, Albanians, Bulgarians and others (a total of 26 ethnic groups) while 49,881 inhabitants declared themselves as Yugoslavs.

The Statute of Vojvodina which is the basic legal act of the province, permits, besides the Serbian language, the official use of four other languages of the largest national minorities: Hungarian, Slovak, Rumanian and Ruthenian. Except for the language, the population differs in religion so that the Serbs, Montenegrins, Rumanians, Roma, Macedonians and Ukrainians are mainly Orthodox. Hungarians, Croats and Ruthenians Catholic while Slovaks are Protestant. There is also a number of Muslims and other smaller religious communities.

Education

The educational system in Vojvodina is well-developed and includes:

Pre-school institutions;

Primary schools (539), where lectures are also held in the languages of the minorities;

Secondary schools (110), where lectures are also held in the languages of the minorities;

Novi Sad University consisting of 13 faculties where lectures are held in the languages of minorities as well.

Science and culture

The oldest institutions in Vojvodina which traditionally have been the cultural and scientific bastions of the Serbian people are: Matica Srpska, founded in 1826 and the Serbian National Theatre, founded in 1861, which also performs plays in the languages of the minorities. In Novi Sad, there is a branch of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and two Scientific Institutes with some 3,000 experts in various fields who are active in these institutes and faculties.

Economy

The economy of Vojvodina is based on the abundant wealth of fertile arable land which covers 84 percent of its area. Its natural fertility is improved by an irrigation network so that out of 1.78 million hectares of arable land, around 0.5 million is watered.

About 70 percent of the yield are cereals, 20 percent industrial herbs and 10 percent other crops. Part of the produce is exported but most of it is processed by the domestic food industry, stationed mainly in Vojvodina (plants for processing of meat, fruit and vegetables, oil plants, sugar refineries, dairies, etc.).

There is a strong basic industry that produces metal processing machines, electric machines and cables, construction material, oil derivatives, chemical products, electric motors, newsprint paper. There is also a high technology industry like production of dentists' equipment, cars, pharmaceutical products, porcelain, etc.

Part of the income of the economy comes from tourism which is particularly developed on rivers and lakes, thermal springs and on Fruska Gora mountain which abounds with numerous Serbian Orthodox monasteries built in the Serbian-Byzantine style between the 15th and 17th centuries.

Kosovo-Metohija is an autonomous province within the Republic of Serbia and on the basis of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 which was adopted on June 10, 1999, it is under the interim civil and military administration of the UN.

The UN Security Council approved at a session held on October 24, 2005 in New York the beginning of negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.

The negotiations began with the talks on decentralisation, which were held on February 20 and 21 in Vienna.

Members of Serbian parliament adopted on November 21, 2005 the Resolution of the Serbian parliament on the mandate for political talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, which was proposed to the parliament by the Serbian government.

Serbian parliament and all state organs expressed in the Resolution the full readiness to assume their part of responsibility in the process of political resolution of the issue of Kosovo-Metohija, on the basis of international law and in line with democratic values of the modern world. In line with the widest principle of the United Nations on the inviolability of sovereignty and territorial integrity of democratic states, Serbian parliament defined with this resolution the framework and mandate for political talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.

The former state union of Serbia-Montenegro, today the Republic of Serbia, was an internationally recognised state and as such, it was a member of the UN and other international organisations. All principles and norms of those international organisations apply to the Republic of Serbia, as well as to all other states, and especially those principles and norms that establish the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the member states. These are first of all the Charter of the United Nations and the Final Act of the Conference on European Security and Cooperation (today OSCE) from Helsinki from 1975. In addition to these and other binding normative documents of international law, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the former Serbia-Montenegro (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at that time) is explicitly confirmed by the UN SC Resolution 1244, as well as in other SC resolutions, namely 1160, 1199, 1203 (all from 1998) and 1239 from 1999. In addition to basic sources of international law, borders and territorial integrity of the states that were created through the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia are additionally guaranteed by special international legal documents and agreements, such as the Opinions of the Arbitration Committee of the Conference on Yugoslavia (Opinion no. 3 from January 11, 1992) and the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina from November 21, 1995 (Dayton/Paris Peace Accords).

Serbian parliament has expressed the firm conviction that the UN Security Council is a reliable guarantor of respecting international law and the overall international order based on peace, and respect of freedom as the highest political values and human rights as measure of that freedom. Because of that it is expected of the Security Council that with the power of its authority it will ensure that there will be no exceptions made in Serbia’s case when it comes to the indisputable principle of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Serbian parliament expresses the collective conviction that it shares the stand of the entire international community that it is unacceptable that the internationally recognised borders of a democratic state are changed against its will. Any attempt at imposing a solution which aims at practically legalizing the division of the Republic of Serbia by seizure of a part of its territory would present not just legal violence against a democratic country, but also violence against international law itself. There is no doubt that it would be an unheard of case in international law and the practice of world organisations, and also a dangerous precedent with unforeseeable long-term consequences for international order in general.

Considering the given legal reasons, the Serbian parliament would declare any imposed solution for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija illegitimate, against the law and invalid.

The future status of Kosovo-Metohija can be defined only in the frameworks of suitable principles and norms of the UN and other international organisations, while respecting the constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia. The Serbian parliament, within these most general frameworks, without reserve is in favour of a compromise solution and expresses full readiness that the future status of Kosovo-Metohija is secured according to a European solution, which is in complete accordance with the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia as a recognised and equal subject of international law. The form and content of that solution should satisfy the state interests of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the interests of ethnic-Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija, Serbs in the province and all other groups in Kosovo-Metohija. Such an inclusive aim is imaginable only in agreement and a compromise solution for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija. In that sense, full political will is being directed towards finding concrete and realisable forms of a stable and lasting solution for Kosovo-Metohija, in which the legitimate interests of ethnic-Albanians in the province must be taken fully into account.

The future status of Kosovo-Metohija must provide respect of human rights of members of national communities regardless of whether they make up a majority or minority of the population in the province, and must especially provide the right to safe living conditions and personal and property security, just and efficient judiciary, undisturbed property rights, free expression of political, religious, cultural and other personal beliefs, right to return and execution of public functions, as well as all other rights listed in charters of the Council of Europe that the Republic of Serbia signed and ratified.

All these rights are an integral part of the standards that Kosovo-Metohija should fulfill simultaneously with the talks on its future status, which is at the same time the position of the UN Security Council based on the report of its special envoy, Kai Eide.

Kosovo-Metohija spans 10,849 square kilometres of the territory in the south-west of Serbia, with Pristina as its administrative, economic and cultural seat.

Territorial organization

Kosovo-Metohija consists of 29 municipalities and five districts, with seats in Pristina, Pec, Prizren, Kosovska Mitrovica and Gnjilane.

Kosovo-Metohija is separated from neighbouring Albania by the mountain massif of Prokletije and is separated from Macedonia by Sar Planina mountain with two highest mountain peaks in Serbia: Djeravica and Crni Vrh. The province is made up of two regions which differ from each other in the soil content and climate and are divided by Cicavica and Crnoljevo mountains. The characteristic of the province is rapid economic and cultural development, high population density and demographic variety with a pronounced domination of Albanian population.

Relief

This Serbian southern province has a varied relief: it is edged with mountainous wreaths which are intersected by canyons and very wide valleys of the rivers Binacka Morava, Lab and Beli Drim.

Kosovo is placed in the south-eastern and eastern part of the province, near the Morava-Vardar valley. It is primarily hilly land so that wealth in ores is the main natural potential of this region. On the other hand, Metohija is placed in the west and north-west of the province and consists of fertile arable land.

The geographic division between Metohija-Kosovo caused the difference of their flora and fauna. Metohija has the characteristic influence of the Mediterranean thus being the region with the highest number of Mediterranean species of flora and fauna in the whole Serbia, while Kosovo does not differ from the rest of Serbia.

Traffic importance

Kosovo-Metohija is located at the watershed of rivers which belong to Black Sea, Adriatic or Aegean basins that make this province an important traffic route. Its Eastern edge touches the Morava-Vardar direction where one branch of the highway goes, while another important Serbian traffic route, the Ibar highway, passes through the North-Western part of the province. There is a plan for the construction of a new highway which would take the western route from Nis through Kosovo, Metohija and Montenegro to the Adriatic coast.

Population

According to the 1991 census, Kosovo-Metohija has 1,956,196 inhabitants which is slightly less than 20% of the total population of Serbia. There are many nationalities with pronounced domination of Albanians - 1,596,072 or 82.2% of the population of the province, or 17% of the total population of Serbia. Then come the Serbs - 194,190, Muslims - 66,189, Romanies - 45,745, Montenegrins - 20,356, Turks - 10,446, Croats - 8,062 and other smaller national and ethnic groups consisting of 24 in all.

Position, Relief, Climate

Serbia is located in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, on the most important route linking Europe and Asia, occupying an area of 88, 361 sq. km. Serbia is in the West European time zone (one hour ahead of Greenwich time). Its climate is temperate continental, with a gradual transition between the four seasons of the year.

Serbia is referred to as the cross-roads of Europe. The international roads and railways passing down its river valleys make up the shortest link between Western and Central Europe, on the one side, and the Middle East, Asia and Africa, on the other. Hence the geopolitical importance of its territory . These roads follow the course of the valley of the river Morava, splitting in two near the city of Nis. One track follows the valleys of the rivers Southern Morava and Vardar to Thessaloniki; the other, the river Nisava to Sofia and Istanbul.

Serbian rivers belong to the basins of the Black, Adriatic and Aegean Seas. Three of them, the Danube, Sava and Tisa, are navigable. The longest river is the Danube, which flows for 588 of its 2.857 kilometer course through Serbia. The Danube basin has always been important for Serbia. With the commissioning of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal in September 1992, the Black Sea and the Near and Far Eastern ports have come much nearer to Europe. Serbia is linked to the Adriatic Sea and Montenegro via Belgrade-Bar railway.

Northern Serbia is mainly flat, while its central and southern areas consist of highlands and mountains. The flatlands are mainly in Vojvodina (the Pannonian Plain and its rim: Macva, the Sava Valley, the Morava Valley, Stig and the Negotin Marches in Eastern Serbia). 55 per cent of Serbia is arable land, and 27 per cent is forested. Of its mountains 15 reach heights of over 2,000 meters , the highest being Djeravica in the Prokletija range (2,656 m).

The length of Serbia's border is 2.114,2 km. To the East Serbia borders with Bulgaria, to the North East with Romania, to the North with Hungary, to the West with Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the South West with Montenegro and to the South with Albania and Macedonia.