I cannot say enough about the graciousness and the hospitality that we have all received from we arrived here in beautiful Sri Lanka. Thank you very much. The Association of Consuls in Sri Lanka, the host of this event…

As we all know, in accordance with the Vienna Convention, career consuls are state officials, and honorary consuls who represent a foreign country in their native country, they are handpicked individuals of high reputation and are called upon to perform various duties entrusted to them…

I am overwhelmed by the compliments paid by Hon. Arnold Foote while awarding me the Medal of Distinction, a unique honour conferred on an honorary consul. It was he who spotted me at the end of Montego Bay World Congress of Consuls in 2006…

H.E. Tomislav Nikolić, President of the Republic of Serbia, receives the Gold Star at the Presidential Palace from FICAC President Hon. Arnold Foote O.J., C.D., J.P. Also present (from left), Hon. Rajko Maric, fmr. President of the Serbian Consular Corps; Hon. (Mrs.) Ann Pesic, President of the Serbian Consular Corps; Hon. Kostas Lefkaritis, FICAC Vice President; Hon. Aykut Eken, FICAC Secretary General; and members of the Serbian President’s Diplomatic Office.

Mr. President, on behalf of the Directors and members of the World Federation of Consuls, I would like to thank you most sincerely for receiving us this afternoon. This is a great honour and it is much appreciated.

I am humbled and deeply appreciative that H. E. The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Ivica Dačić, has discerned the importance of this occasion and taken the time to add his presence to declare our 1st South East Europe Regional Consular Conference officially open.

FICAC, the World Federation of Consuls, was founded in Copenhagen on 2 October 1982 by a small group of visionaries led by Consul General Vagn Jespersen of Denmark. Countries present at the meeting and first signatories were Finland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

On 24 April 2013, FICAC celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Vienna Convention with a reception held in the United Nations Plaza in New York City. The event was attended by 75 country representatives including the President of the UN General Assembly…

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vienna Convention, the ICC (Istanbul Consular
Corps) organized a conference with Hon. Mehmet Samsar, General Manager of the Directorate of Consular Affairs of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that was held on Tuesday, 6 May 2014 at the Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus Hotel.

In picture from left Hon. Aykut Eken, FICAC Secretary General, Hon. Nikolaos Margaropoulos introducing Dr. Michael Nobel, FICAC President, Honourable Arnold Foote and Hon. Costas Lefkaritis.

In his introduction, Hon. Nikolaos Margaropoulos said:

Michael Nobel was born in 1941 in Stockholm, Sweden. He is a member of the Nobel family, the great grandson of Industrialist and humanitarian, Ludvig Nobel, the founder of Branobel, and one of the worlds richest men in his time. Ludvig was the brother of Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite, and established 5 prizes in the family name.