Serbia makes bid for better US ties
Belgrade is committed to deeper ties with Washington based on common values, Serbia’s ambassador to the US Marko Djuric has told the Kurir news outlet. Meanwhile, President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday objected to the rhetoric of some US officials as being “stuck in the 1990s.”
The envoy expressed hope about opening a “new phase of strategic dialog” with Washington.
His comments come despite years of tensions between the two countries over Belgrade's perceived closeness to Russia, and the legacy of the American-led bombing campaign against the then Yugoslavia in 1999.
Djuric insisted that the “prevailing tone of bilateral communication” with the US was “extremely positive” and that Serbia can look forward to eventual visa liberalization, a tax treaty, and improved cooperation in technology. He did not give a timeline for any of those commitments, however.
Pointing to his recent meeting with State Department’s Counselor Derek Chollet, Djuric said that Serbia intends to “intensively deepen” its relations with the US, noting the growing volume of trade, military cooperation with the Ohio National Guard, and the growing presence of Serb basketball players in the NBA.
To counter “three decades of unjustly negative” media coverage, Djuric said he would tell his American hosts that Serbia is now focused on development, a higher standard of living, and “values that are entirely equivalent and compatible with European and American.”
Meanwhile, President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday objected to the rhetoric of some US officials as being “stuck in the 1990s.”
Vucic was responding to remarks by James Rubin, who was the State Department spokesman during NATO’s 1999 attacks on Serbia and is now head of the US Global Engagement Center, a government agency.
Visiting Montenegro earlier this week, Rubin had called Belgrade a center of “Russian disinformation.”
“That is nowhere close to the truth,” Vucic said, accusing Rubin of still harboring animosity for the Serbs. Belgrade will nonetheless maintain a policy of friendship towards the US, the president said, while remaining a free and independent country and avoiding conflict with China and Russia.
The US and the EU have sought to pressure Serbia into recognizing the breakaway province of Kosovo and joining their sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict. Vucic insists he has not agreed to this.
