Former Ambassador to U.S.: Situation in Foreign Ministry Catastrophic

BETAPHOTO/NENAD PETROVIC

Former Serbian ambassador to the U.S. Ivan Vujacic told BETA on Oct. 22 that the fact that Serbia did not have ambassadors in 27 countries and in a large number of important ones at that, revealed how disastrous the situation in the Foreign Ministry was.

Serbia lacks ambassadors to Brazil, Zagreb, Canberra, Kinshasa, New Delhi, Oslo, Beijing, Prague, Seoul, Skopje, Tel Aviv, Tirana, Tokyo, just to name some.

"This shows the catastrophic situation in the Foreign Ministry. It is unimaginable that so many positions have not been filled. The very number of unfilled positions is sends a very bad signal to these countries and speaks of the poor situation in the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Vujacic said and added that he was surprised that no one cared that the country had no ambassadors in Zagreb, Skopje and Tirana.

Asked by BETA what the biggest mistake was in Serbian diplomacy, Vujacic said that the country's ambassadors were not being counted on enough, that politics reigned supreme and that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was running a big part of the country's foreign policy "pretty much by himself" and that, "This is not good."