This year’s School of Friendship program was enriched by the first time held multi-cultural seminar titled “Days of Friendship” which was realized from 30 July to 3 August 2006. The seminar was held for the children aged 13-15 of Serbian, Albanian, Hungarian, and Bosnian ethnic backgrounds residing in different parts of Serbia: Subotica, Bujanovac, Sjenica and Prijepolje.

The major themes of the seminar were: multi-ethnic and multi-cultural understanding and tolerance, the benefits of an evolving democratic society and the furtherance of understanding of differences between people.

Sixty participants worked in mixed groups, which enabled them to meet and interact with their peers of different ethnic and cultural background in creative and academic workshops.

On the last day of the seminar, August 2, the “Friendly Nations Day”, featuring the USA, was held, and it was attended by Ambassador Michael Polt. A quiz was held during the multiethnic seminar testing the children's knowledge of the USA. The winners of the quiz received gifts from Ambassador Polt.

“Days of Friendship” seminar created opportunity for children with different backgrounds to have conditions to socialize with each other and to learn about different cultures. It also encouraged groups to work as a team with good team spirit, by establishing multiethnic teams who competed in quiz, and promoted the modern democratic values, such as human rights, tolerance, dialog, best democratic practices, mutual multiethnic communication, etc.

The first “Days of Friendship” seminar was a resounding success and will be continued in the future, with a goal of nurturing the ethnic and cultural diversity of Serbia.