Djuric: Pristina is losing the support of the US; the relations between Serbia and America are the best in the last three decades

The Ambassador of Serbia in Washington, Marko Djuric, said that today Serbia and the US cooperated more closely than ever in the previous three decades and that regardless of the two countries' different views on Kosovo, there were many areas in which we could develop cooperation, RTV reports.

Djuric, who was a guest on the show "Pravi ugao", said that day by day "we try to overcome everything that has remained in some way negative from 142 years of long relations in the last three decades and to leave it in the past".

Answering the question of how to improve relations with America if we do not recognize Kosovo, do not impose sanctions on Russia, and do not distance ourselves from China, Djuric pointed out that regardless of these disagreements, we had common interests, above all in regional stability and integration processes such as the Open Balkan.

"We want to preserve stability in the north of Kosovo, Kurti is constantly violating it. Three things are needed to create the preconditions for anything further. To withdraw the Special Forces that have been illegally staying in the north of Kosovo since February last year, which violates article 9 of the Brussels Agreement, then to stop terrorism and arbitrary arrests, as well as trials held in courts outside the Serb-majority panels and outside Serbian judges and prosecutors. And it is necessary to take visible steps towards the formation of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities,” Djuric said.

In Washington, he repeated, there was no more understanding of this policy of Kurti.

"In all the meetings and conversations I have in the US, I shed new light on what is happening on the ground. There is no sympathy for the approach that causes instability in Southeastern Europe. My impression is that America does not want the Balkans to 'catch fire' at this moment. I am asking for sanctions for Kurti in Washington, and that unequivocally, because I am giving arguments that he is undermining American interests in the region and that he is strategically moving the region away from the goals that should be common to us. Many in the US are advocating that Pristina no longer has full support," Ambassador Djuric pointed out.

He pointed out that economic cooperation, especially in the field of high technologies, was of great benefit and interest to the IT community.

"Today, America has become the number one partner when it comes to development services. Our IT and software companies contribute a lot to our economy, we have 36,000 people employed by American companies in Serbia, but we also have some Serbian companies that employ people in America,” Djuric said.

Commenting on the relations between Russia and Ukraine, Djuric said that Serbia led a balanced and independent foreign policy, guided exclusively by its own national interests. That war, he added, affected the security of the region and Serbia had done what it could so that such a balanced approach contributed to the overall mosaic of Serbian-American relations.

Speaking about the energy situation in Serbia and the efforts of the EU and America to break all energy relations with Russia, Djuric assessed that there were more and more factories and workers in Serbia, that energy consumption was growing, and that our position was that we did not want the energy crisis to end badly for us.

Speaking about Serbia's energy system, Djuric said that analyses and plans in the energy sector indicated that we were guided by the household principle and that we bought the cheapest and best energy sources.

"We have the cheapest electricity, which is no small achievement in these circumstances," he concluded.