On 24 February 2011, Minister of Youth and Sport in the Government of Serbia, Snezana Samardzic Markovic, and founder and President of the PEXIM Foundation, Mihail Petreski, signed a Protocol on Cooperation between the Fund for Young Talents and the PEXIM Foundation with the aim of supporting Serbian students studying at the Cambridge University.

On the occasion, Minister Samardzic Markovic stressed that the Protocol which has been signed enables Serbian students to continue their studies at Cambridge, adding that scholarships are not simply financial assistance, but also a signal to students and secondary school pupils that someone cares for them and recognises their talents.  It is also a form of support to the system of values which Serbia needs.

The Minister stressed that the PEXIM Foundation is the first private foundation with which the Fund for Young Talents has signed such an agreement, which only serves to show that support to this system of values must come from various branches, namely both the government and other sectors.

In his speech, the President of PEXIM Foundation, Mihail Petreski, stressed that the scholarship holders who will study at Cambridge University are obliged to return to Serbia and assist in the process of European integration and its economic empowerment.  Thanks to the efforts of the PEXIM Foundation, Cambridge Overseas Trust, and Fund for Young Talents, in 2010/2011, the number of Serbian students at Cambridge increased by 100%.

Over the past year, the PEXIM Foundation, in cooperation with the Cambridge Overseas Trust and the Fund for Young Talents, invested more than €58,000 in scholarships for Serbian students at Cambridge.

Mr. Michael O’Sullivan, Director of Cambridge Overseas Trust, attended the signing ceremony, as well as representatives of alumni organizations, Chevening Society of Serbia and University of Cambridge Society of Serbia, and students of Mathematics High School who were accepted to Cambridge this year.  Commenting on the work of the PEXIM Foundation, Michael O’Sullivan, Director of Cambridge Overseas Trust, emphasized that, within a year of its existence, PEXIM Foundation managed to do what other foundations do in three years – from their establishment to the signing of cooperation agreements with the University of Cambridge.