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The Serbian ambassador to the United States, Marko Đurić, took office five days ago. In an interview with RTS, he talks about how he and his team plan to improve relations between the two countries, unite the diaspora and strengthen the Serbian lobby.
He says he believes in the implementation of the Washington agreement and in good cooperation with the new US administration to find a solution for Kosovo and Metohija.
“I think it’s a new beginning for the United States and a new opportunity for us as well, and that depends a lot on how hard we work and how hard we will try,” says Đurić.
He notes that the new team of Serbian ambassadors in Washington intends to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to spread the image and history of Serbia in the most positive way in America.
He remembers that next year will mark 140 years of diplomatic relations between Serbia and the United States and that, as he himself says, it is an extraordinary opportunity to improve relations.
For days, the Serbian media reported on the session of the Foreign Policy Committee of the US House of Representatives, in which former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Eliot Engel said that Serbia should not stop the process development of Kosovo’s statehood, because Kosovo is independent and Serbia is not. enter the EU until you recognize it.
“Eliot Engel lost the elections, even within his party. The Albanian lobby relied heavily on the support of certain attitudes that he expressed in the previous period. The goal of Serbia in the next period is that the Serbian Eliot Enegle among congressmen Senators, prominent American politicians, “Đurić said.
He affirms that he is deeply convinced that Serbian and American interests can and should overlap on various issues, and that by cultivating partnerships with our traditional friends and allies, we must also build one of the pillars of our stability and progress from the United States.
“No matter how difficult the legacy of the past is in certain segments, our state and national interest is to try to have better relations with the United States,” Đurić said.
According to him, it also means a lot that President Vučić had good personal contacts with some of them in the previous period.
“Now we will continue to build it, visiting and talking to these people every day and working with representatives of the media, to lobby traditional, but also modern, for Serbian interests. In that sense, we will involve a large Serbian diaspora that it has been divided for a long time – for ideological, political and other reasons and to bring everything around Serbia together around its future, “Đurić declared.
Together we can be a true “dream team”
He points out that Serbia has always had its own independent foreign policy.
“We talk openly about who our partners are, but we want our relationship with the United States to be no less friendly and no less partner. On the contrary, we want to be close, to be together in many things and when we act together we can be a true dream team.” Đurić pointed out.
“On the question of Kosovo and Metohija and various other issues, we have a lot to talk about, and I am convinced that the arguments of Serbia are being listened to with much more attention than before,” says Đurić.
The Washington agreement was signed three and a half months ago. President Vučić has stressed on several occasions that Serbia will respect this agreement.
“We will not only continue to respect the Washington agreement, but we will continue to insist on its implementation. All the signs we have from the environment of the US president show that the new US administration will continue to work with us on implementation,” Đurić said.
