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The Embassy of Serbia in Berlin

The Ambassador

Amb. Snežana Janković

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Dr. Janković is married and mother of three. She speaks Japanese, English and German and has translated some works of Japanese literature into Serbian.

Snežana Janković was accredited as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia to the Federal Republic of Germany on 24 October 2019.

Snežana Janković has been a philologist with a degree in Japanese studies since 1993. As the best student of her year, she won the Sakura Prize. From 1993 to 1997 she was an assistant at the Department of Japanese Language and Literature of the University of Belgrade, where she earned a master’s degree in 2000. She earned her doctorate in philology from Senshū University in 2011.

Janković joined her country’s diplomatic service in 1997, initially working at the level of third secretary at the embassy in Japan. From 2001 to 2005 she worked at the State Department, where she received the title of Counsellor of Embassy. From 2006 to 2011 she was Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Japan. She then returned to work at the Ministry, where she was promoted to Secretary of State and Ambassador in November 2013. Appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Swiss Confederation in April 2014, Janković took up charge in Bern and the Principality of Liechtenstein in August.

History

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A key element of German and European policy towards Serbia is providing support for political and economic reform. The aims are to further advance the process of democratic change and promote the rule of law in Serbia as well as making progress in the country’s European Union (EU) accession process.

Germany has been a key partner of Serbia in the EU, since the country’s transition to democracy in autumn 2000. In recent years, Germany has become Serbia’s biggest bilateral donor, providing more than EUR 1.6 billion in bilateral development cooperation since 2000. Germany has also provided humanitarian aid to Serbia to help the country deal with the refugee crisis.

In addition, there are close ties between Germany and Serbia on account of the large number of Serbs and citizens of Serbian origin residing permanently in Germany, as well as former guest workers who were employed for many years in Germany and often have a good command of German. An estimated total of between 300,000 and 500,000 people of Serbian descent currently reside in Germany.

Serbia and Germany have different positions on the issue of an independent Kosovo, which is recognized by Germany but not by Serbia.

For years, Germany has been among Serbia’s principal economic partners. German companies such as STADA, METRO, Henkel, Siemens, Bosch and Messer have made major investments in Serbia. The German-Serbian Business Association now has more than 250 members.

Since development cooperation with Serbia began in 2000, the Federal Government has provided more than EUR 1.6 billion, making Germany the largest bilateral donor.

German support has also helped the country make substantial progress with regard to the modernisation of the country’s public utility infrastructure, the strengthening of the local economy through programmes promoting small and medium-sized enterprises, the modernisation of vocational training measures and improvement of the investment climate through legal reforms.

Cultural life in Serbia is rich and wide-ranging and cultural cooperation with Germany is close.