‘The most important for me was that Hemofarm operated responsibly during the corona and in line with our mission – caring for people’s health. We did this by protecting our employees from falling ill and thus we facilitated the completion of our following task – to provide sufficient quantities of medicinal products to the Serbian market and other markets. Taking into account that there was no shortage of medicines, we clearly succeeded in this, said Dr Seeliger. He added that ‘coronavirus caused global problems not only in the healthcare and economy sphere but also in all other spheres of life. However, Hemofarm managed to continue with production and sales and managed to achieve revenues above the market average which was a result of the consistent implementation of the One STADA for growth strategy’. He added that ‘strong commitment and entrepreneurship of our employees are the foundation of our success. In the employee survey conducted at the beginning of the year, nine out of ten employees said they were proud to work for Hemofarm and STADA Group and that they were convinced the company would come out strong from the crisis caused by the coronavirus’. ‘Taking into account the negative effects of the pandemic which are persisting, we have to continue demonstrating a high level of agility and commitment in order to remain on our growth course’, Seeliger concluded.

We spoke about political and social activism in the times of coronavirus with Norbert Bekmann-Dierkes, Head of the National Program of Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as about the power of the individual for positive changes in the society. ‘KAS is one of the oldest German foundations. We operate worldwide, especially in Europe. One of our main goals is to support the process of EU integrations with full respect to freedom, justice and equality’, said Mr Bekmann-Dierkes at the beginning of the lecture, adding that in the times of crisis ‘it is most important to be responsible and show solidarity to one another’. He also added that people in Germany and Serbia are lucky in comparison with refugees who are, in the times of crisis, facing additional challenges of meeting their basic human needs and ‘it is our duty to show solidarity.’

Lucian Brujan, Director of International Relations Department of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina spoke on the topic of ‘Science Diplomacy at the Time of Coronavirus’, pointing out in the introductory part that the role of the Academy is to represent the German scientific community on the international stage, to advise the Government, decision makers and society regarding the key issues involving science.

Mr Brujan said that scientists always talked and worked together regardless of borders and systems and that science could help which has been demonstrated nowadays, at the time of the coronavirus.

‘At the time of the coronavirus pandemic, Leopoldina issued six announcements regarding the measures to combat the pandemic, protection of vulnerable population groups, developing the capacities of the healthcare system and public reserves of critical goods and services, general health protection recommendations, improving testing capacities, recommendations for overcoming the crisis that include medical care and acting in accordance with the highest ethical principles of patient care’, said Mr Brujan, adding that the German National Academy of Sciences issued the announcement with ‘recommendations on how to avoid a complete closing of schools by combining work from home and going to school, as well as how to support families.’ At the same time, recommendations were given for actions during the autumn and winter that are in the best interest of public health, which relate to compliance with protection measures, increased testing with reduced quarantine and isolation periods, responsible behaviour to alleviate social and psychological effects of the crisis. Brujan pointed out.