The opening of the exhibition was attended by more than 300 guests, among whom were Prince Aleksandar II Karađorđević and Princess Katarina, many representatives of the diplomatic corps – Ambassadors of Romania, Angola, Mexico, Argentine, Germany, Venezuela, Slovakia, Chilean Honorary Consul, national diplomats, scientists and researchers from institutes, university faculties, colleagues from Archives all over Serbia, as well as many other public, cultural and political figures.
The guests were greeted by Miladin Milošević, Acting Director of the Archives of Yugoslavia and H.E. Mercedes Martinez Valdez, Republic of Cuba Ambassador to Serbia. The exhibition was opened by Bratislav Petković, Minister of Culture and Media in the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Archives of Yugoslavia Acting Director Miladin Milošević highlighted that it was by this exhibition that they celebrated 9 June, the International Archives Day. He underlined the importance not only of the Archives of Yugoslavia but of all our archives as cultural institutions, and their significance for the sciences, history in particular, and said that archives are heirs of the past in the present times. He stressed that the Archives of Yugoslavia represented a special kind of memory of the country whose name it bears, and added that without the preserved documents and well kept archives and without lessons learned from them, the peoples and countries as well as their elites would find it more difficult and less safe to plan and build their future. He also pointed out that this exhibition was witness to the mission that the Archives of Yugoslavia had with regard to spreading knowledge from our past, since the topic of the exhibition had not been well known until that time.

The attendees at the opening were addressed by Cuban Ambassador in Serbia, Mercedes Martinez Valdez, who underscored that without the hard work of the employees in the Archives there could have been no exhibition, and the long time period of the friendship between the two countries would have gone unmarked.  “Seventy years of diplomatic relations is a long period of intensive and friendly cooperation of the countries that are geographically far away, but still close. I’m speaking of the period that started even before the Cuban revolution, and after the revolution the cooperation was further improved. It was especially so after the visit of Fidel Castro to Belgrade in 1976”, said the Cuban Ambassador.
The Cuban Ambassador gave the Archives of Yugoslavia an award for realising this exhibition that celebrated 70th anniversary of first establishing diplomatic relations. 

Minister of Culture and Media Bratislav Petković stressed that this exhibition was a clear indicator of close cooperation between the two countries. “It is now 70 years since diplomatic relations were established between Belgrade and Havana, and this exhibition displays the documents showing the course of process of establishing and fostering cooperation between the two countries”, said Minister Petković.

The exhibition will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. until 15 November 2013.

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE OPENING IN BELGRADE