Ambassador of Finland to Serbia H.E. Pertti Ikonen hosted an event in his Residence to kick off a year of celebrations for Finland’s 100 years of independence.
At the event, Ambassador Ikonen spoke about the building blocks of Finnish society: equality and uninterrupted tradition of democracy. Finland was the first country in the world to grant both women and men full political rights in 1906. Since then, women and men have participated in the building of society together. “Together” is also the theme of the Suomi Finland 100 celebrations, showing that everyone is welcome to take part.
Beside Ambassador Ikonen, Ms Svetlana Bojković, the well-known Serbian actress and spouse of former Serbian Ambassador to Finland, spoke at the event about her experiences of Finland during the last four years.
The centennial will be marked by altogether more than 2 000 events and projects in Finland and internationally. In Serbia, it will be celebrated by a series of events presenting Finnish design, music, cinema and dance as well as promoting Finnish business.
Some of the highlights of the centennial celebrations are:
– An exhibition of Nordic Glass presenting glass design from Finland and other Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden at the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade 10 February until 15 March and at the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad from 21 March until 20th April,
– Planting of 100 trees in Belgrade and other cities in Serbia as well as the donation of 100 books by Finnish authors throughout the year 2017,
– Performance “Morphed” by the Finnish contemporary dance group Tero Saarinen Company at the Madlenianum Theatre in the framework of the Belgrade Dance Festival 1st April,
– Review of old Finnish films at Jugoslovenska kinoteka, Belgrade, 1st until 5th November.
