Belgrade Hosts Conference on Strengthening Partnership with Israel and the US

(BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)

Strengthening the partnership with Israel and the USA would present a great opportunity for Serbia, as it could bring tangible benefits in various areas, state officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations said in Belgrade on July 15.

Speaking at a conference titled “Belgrade Strategic Dialogue: Serbia-US-Israel Partnership,” Foreign Minister Marko Djuric described it as ”a partnership for the future,” which would contribute to strengthening Serbia’s economy, security and high technology. “In Serbia, there exists strong will to further develop relations with both, Israel and the USA,” Djuric told the conference, held at the Serbian Parliament under the auspices of the Serbian-American Friendship Congress, a non-governmental organization.  
 
Ilan Berman, the senior vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, said he believed that Serbia would benefit significantly from its partnership with Israel and the US, because, among other things, it would give Serbia advantages in relation to innovation, technology and the energy sector. Berman said that “things have been changing” in Washington and that the administration of (President Donald) Trump had a different stance on global rivalries than their predecessors, which “means new challenges for Serbia, but also new opportunities.” 

Serbian Parliament deputy speaker Marina Ragus said that Serbia and Israel were connected also by the fact that Serbs “were the first to face Islamic terrorism” back in the 1990s. “Because of our fight against Islamic terrorism, first in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later in Kosovo, NATO bombed Serbia. The dialogue must be open, we should say that it was a mistake," said Ragus. She added that Israel “has every right to defend itself against terrorism, just as the Serbs defended themselves”.

Vladimir Marinkovic, the president of the Serbian-American Friendship Congress, said that after the attack on Israel by Palestinian extremists led by Hamas, Serbia “has unequivocally stood by its Israeli friends and partners with whom it shares tradition/” He added that Israel, through its fight, “has been defending democracy and the Judeo-Christian values, as well as Europe and the European values.”