Draft:Sinisa Berjan

Sinisa Berjan (born 18 August 1979, in Sarajevo) is a university professor, scientist, politician and diplomat from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Entity of the Republic of Srpska), since August 2023 serving as an ambassador to People’s Republic of China. He previously served as an ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Japan (2019-2023), vice-rector for science, research and development at the University of East Sarajevo - UES (2018-2019) and head of Agroeconomy and Rural Development department at the Faculty of Agriculture (2014-2018), UES (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Education
Sinisa Berjan has graduated from the University of East Sarajevo in East Sarajevo, Faculty of Agriculture (2005) and Faculty of Philosophy (2018). After bachelor degree in agriculture, he finished Specialized Advanced Course on „Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development“ at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM-MAIB), Italy (2007/08). Furthermore, Berjan completed master course in “Sustainable Development of Agricultural and Rural Areas” (2009) and Doctoral school (PhD) (2014) in “Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science and Technology” at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bologna (Italy), PhD Curriculum in “International Cooperation

Career
During his early political career, Sinisa Berjan was elected twice as an assembly member of East Ilidza Municipality and East Sarajevo City (Entity of Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina) in two mandates (2008-2012; 2012-2016). Furthermore, in coming years he was appointed as Management Board member for the National Agricultural Institute of Republic of Srpska (2014-2019) and the Agency for Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions of the Republic of Srpska (Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina) (2016-2019).

Since 2006 he has been working at the UES in BiH with the current title of associate professor.

During his rich academic carrier, he published over 170 publications in the forms of monographs and scientific papers. Sinisa Berjan is a Regional Vice-president of the International Society of Environmental and Rural Development (ISERD) with headquarter in Tokyo-Japan (since 2014). He was a Member of European Union’s (EU’s) Programme Committee for Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the Bioeconomy in “HORIZON 2020 - EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 2014-2020”. Member of Editorial Board and Scientific committee of the International Journal "Agriculture and Forestry", and “AGROFOR” International Journal. He participated to many scientific conferences, trainings abroad (e.g. Norway, Israel, Italy, Albania, Russia, etc.) and international (IPA, TEMPUS, FAO/SWG, ERASMUS+) and national projects as coordinator and/or team member. In April 2019, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of BiH as he was nominated ambassador of BiH to Japan, presenting his letter of credence to Emperor of Japan, His Majesty Naruhito on 4 th of July 2019. He was also appointed by the Presidency of BiH as a non-resident ambassador to Republic of Korea.

In June 2023, he returned to the MFA but already in August 2023 he moved to People’s Republic of China as a newly appointed ambassador of BiH to China. Ambassador Berjan presented his letter of credence to the Chinese president Xi Jinping on 30 th of January 2024.

Besides Serbian, Berjan speaks English, Russian and Italian.

Honours

 * Winner of ERECON Institute award “Excellence in Science” in area of agriculture and environmental protection (Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2023).
 * Plaque from the Faculty of Electronics - University of East Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2023).
 * Golden Plaque from East Sarajevo City (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2022)
 * Gratitute testimonial from East Sarajevo City (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2019)
 * Plaque from the University of East Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2019)