USA 2021
INTERVIEW
NIKOLA SELAKOVIĆ, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF KOSOVO, OUR VALUES ALIGN This generation of politicians is obliged, first and foremost in the interests of Serbia, to attempt to once again find a common language and common interest with the United States, and that won’t be as tough as it may seem at first glance, provided good will exists on both sides.
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erbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selaković attracted great media and public attention when he highlighted the building of new partnership relations with the U.S. as one of Serbia’s priorities. In a year
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when we are commemorating the 140th anniversary of the establishing of bilateral relations, as well as 20 years since both the start of USAID’s work in Serbia and the establishment of AmCham in the country, our interlocutor provides his views
on cooperation to date and proposals for different approaches in the future. “We can only miss out on the opportunity to elevate our relations to a much higher level in the coming period if we are extremely unreasonable,” says Selaković. “Serbia and the United States have had harmonious political and diplomatic relations throughout their entire history. We had the misfortune as a state, due to numerous circumstances, of finding ourselves in conflict with the United States at what was a critical historical juncture for the entire world, but this was undoubtedly an uncharacteristic situation if we look at the tradition of bilateral relations between Serbia and America,” says Selaković. “This generation of politicians is obliged, first and foremost in the interests of Serbia, to attempt to once again find a common language and common interest with the United States, and that won’t be as tough as it may seem at first glance, provided good will exists on both sides. Our countries have foundations based on the same libertarian traditions and democratic values, and, with the exception of the Kosovo issue, we don’t have outstanding issues with the United States that could represent an insurmountable obstacle in the creating of a new partnership.” Speaking in your then capacity as Secretary General of the Office of the President of Serbia, you expressed satisfaction that an agreement on economic normalization
