On Friday 5 August 2005, The Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, attended the opening ceremony of the Slovak Popular Festival in the town of Backi Petrovac.

Speaking as part of the Korzo multimedia project, designed to present the three largest municipalities with Slovak populations, Mr Markovic underlined that the full exercise of human and national rights of all citizens of Serbia was a way for Serbia to be included in European integration processes.

Mr Markovic and the ambassador of the Republic of Slovakia, Igor Furdik, presented Ana Makanova Tomanova, chairperson of the Slovak National Council, with keys to a new car purchased jointly by Slovakian and Serbian-Montenegrin government institutions. The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Rasim Ljajic, and the chairman of the Executive Council of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtic.