The Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, Pertti Ikonen, gave a lecture entitled "100 Years of the Finnish Republic". The lecture was held on October 18, 2017 in the study hall of the Faculty of Law for Commerce and Judiciary, and was jointly organized by the University Business Academy and student organization ELSA LG, University Business Academy.

The lecture was opened by the President of the Council of the University Business Academy in Novi Sad, Prof. Marijana Carić Ph.D., who referred to the previous visits of other ambassadors and emphasized the importance of informal education in the form of presentations and special lecture series that the University hosts. After that, Prof. Carić briefly introduced His Excellency, Ambassador Ikonen, and highlighted the most important biographical information about the guest speaker.

This year, the Finnish Embassy celebrates a very special jubilee of 100 years of the existence of Finland as an independent country. This celebration in Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro takes the form of organized cultural and educational events which the ambassador presented to the audience, and then invited everyone to get involved in the upcoming events.

During a very interesting lecture, Ambassador Pertti Ikonen beautifully portrayed life in Finland and pointed out that the "American Dream" no longer happens or comes true in America, as was previously believed, but rather in the Scandinavian countries. Furthermore, the Ambassador went on to explain why Finland is the fifth happiest country in the world, despite the fact that it may have the worst weather conditions, characterized by months of snow and rain. The key factors that make the citizens of Finland happy are trust in the state and the entire system, which is democratically organized and almost with non-existing corruption. “There is a sense of general trust among people”, said the Ambassador. Based on a recent research from Yale (2016), Finland has been named the greenest and cleanest of all countries in the world.

At the end of the lecture, students gladly used the opportunity to ask questions about the education system in Finland, the main interests of young people in that country, as well as Finnish innovations in the field of new technology and gadgets that make Finland as a country stand out from the rest of the world.