OFFICIAL VISIT TO SOMBOR

Belgrade, 18 January 2006 – Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine visited Sombor today.

In honour of Their Royal Highnesses a formal welcome was organised in the Town Hall of Sombor , where Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine were warmly welcomed by Mr. Jovan Slavkovic, Mayor of Sombor, Mr. Misa Stepanovic, Chief of Cabinet to Mayor, Mr. Sasa Torlakovic, President of Western Backa County, Mr. Miodrag Sekulic, President of Municipal Assembly, Mr. Mihajlo Kupusarevic, President of Association of Old Crafts (AZUS), Mr. Veljko Suzic, President of Royal Historical Society of Sombor, as well as the Heads of Orthodox and Catholic churches, local government representatives, Presidents of Croatian and Hungarian National Council, AZUS members, members of the Royal Historical Society, Mr. Branislav Bojic, Director of Sombor Hospital, members of the local Rotary Club, Mrs. Vesna Vorkapic, Director of Sombor Home for Children, members of Kolo Srpskih Sestara, media representatives and citizens of Sombor.

The Crown Prince greeted the gathering in the following words: “My wife and I are very happy to have this opportunity to visit Sombor once again. The town and the Municipality of Sombor are home to twenty-one ethnic group that have been living side by side for centuries. Vojvodina is a real treasure in this sense and should serve as a model of multiethnicity in every way, even for developed European countries.”

On behalf of the Municipality of Sombor and the local Rotary Club, the Mayor presented Their Royal Highnesses with a donation in flour and oil in to the Foundation of HRH Crown Princess Katherine.

The Mayor of Sombor accompanied Their Royal Highnesses throughout the visit, which continued with a visit to the Orthodox Church of St. George and the Catholic Church of The Holy Trinity, visit to the Konjovic Gallery and Grasalkovic Palace, future seat of the Association of Old Crafts, the Patron of which is HRH Princess Katherine.

Their Royal Highnesses also visited the Sombor Hospital, to which they donated a Mercedes ambulance car in the presence of Mr. Branislav Bojic, the Director to the hospital, and Mr. Milos Vujanovic, representative of Daimler Chrysler Company.

Donation is a kind gift of our friends from abroad Mr. Terry S. Semel, the chairman and CEO of Yahoo! and his wife Mrs. Jane Bovington Semel who has contacted the Lifeline office in New York and presented this donation via their “Terry and Jane Semel Charitable Foundation”.

 “I am very glad to have this opportunity to help the citizens of Sombor by providing this ambulance, especially its elderly inhabitants and children. I wish to thank the Daimler Chrysler Company and Terry and Jane Semel Charitable Foundation for helping to make this donation possible“– stated Princess Katherine on this occasion.

HRH Crown Princess Katherine used the opportunity to announce the great humanitarian event which is to take place on 26 January 2006, in Athens, with the aim to raise funds for purchasing urgently needed medical equipment for neonatal intensive care units in hospitals in Nis, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Belgrade.

Their Royal Highnesses paid a visit to Stained-Glass Studio “Stanisic” and the “Art” Gallery of ceramics, both members of ASUZ, and ended their visit to Sombor by donating humanitarian aid to “Miroslav – Mika Antic Home for Children and Youth”, consisting of food, clothes, shoes and toys, and promised to come back again soon.