The Aotearoa Serbia Friendship Society (ASFS) was formed in 2004 as a social, educational and artistic project.

The ASFS aims to:

• foster healthy relations between Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Serbia;
• promote creative exchange and collaboration between these two countries ;
• provide an enlightening antedote to navel-gazing nationalism;
• investigate common motifs in traditional arts and crafts, as well as preposterous hypotheses and unsubstantiated rumours such as the idea that the Maori people originated in Serbia and the existence of a bridge between the two countries;
• channel non-existent funds into lucrative artistic enterprises;
• and ultimately, develop a model for honest inter-cultural dialogue that will help to bring the world towards peace.

The ASFS has modern, well-equipped offices in Belgrade, Serbia and Wellington, New Zealand; these offices have no resources other than the fertile imaginations and creative energies of the members of the ASFS. The founding co-presidents are Helen Varley Jamieson and Jugoslav Hadzić, and our Patron is Zečica. The Executive Committee meets regularly in a virtual kafana.

To join the ASFS, you must have been born in or are living permanently in Aotearoa or Serbia, or be introduced by a current member of the ASFS. Membership is free for those who have been born in or are living in Aotearoa or Serbia. Other members must make a contribution (in cash or kind) to their introducing ASFS member in lieu of a membership fee.

ASFS Members are dedicated to strengthening the relationship between Aotearoa and Serbia and undertaking social, educational and artistic work that furthers the aims of the ASFS.