WELCOME

Dear colleagues and guests,

It is an honour and a pleasure for me to welcome you all to the 5th meeting of Serbian and Bulgarian astronomers! During the last years, there is a major development in the scientific collaboration between countries from the South-Eastern Europe and especially in the field of Astronomy. This important collaboration has resulted in the establishment of the Sub - Regional European Astronomical Committee (SREAC), which belongs to the European Astronomical Society. Both Serbia and MN and Bulgaria take part in SREAC. The Institute of Astronomy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences supports the regional collaboration in Astronomy. I believe, this is the best way for successful integration of our astronomical communities into the European science. In the framework of our regional collaboration, two major joint projects received the support of UNESCO.
    
This year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the observing activities of the National Astronomical Observatory - Rozhen, which is still the biggest operational observatory in this region. It is my pleasure to point out that during recent years many Serbian astronomers visited the Rozhen NAO where joint observations were carried out. As a result, there are already a number of joint publications and we hope very much that this collaboration will continue in the future.
    
On behalf of the Institute of Astronomy, I wish you all successful meeting and new exciting results.
   

K. Panov,
Director of the Institute of Astronomy,
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Addresses to the Conference by

       
Z. Knežević /video file/                                       M.S. Dimitrijević, M. Tsvetkov /PPT file/ /PDF file/