Rubio, Vucic Discuss Strengthening U.S.-Serbian Partnership

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/PREDSEDNISTVO SRBIJE/DIMITRIJE GOLL/MO)

On Sept. 23, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and talked about deepening their two countries’ partnership, the U.S. State Department has announced.

Specifically, the two statesmen discussed achieving this goal through “a bilateral strategic dialogue and U.S. participation in EXPO 2027,” the State Department said in a short statement on the meeting, which took place at the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

For his part, Vucic wrote on Instagram that he talked to Rubio about strengthening the political dialogue between Serbia and the U.S., as well as furthering economic cooperation and joint security challenges, while the “focus of the talk was on the fields of economy and trade, particularly with regards to resolving the issue of U.S. tariffs.”

Vucic dubbed the conversation “important and meaningful.” “We also considered the possibility of new investments, [of] cooperation in the fields of power and new technologies, as well as the potential provided by the format of our strategic dialogue,” said Vucic, adding that he underscored Serbia’s dedication to preserving peace and stability as the prerequisite for any further progress and a better life for all its people.

The president went on to thank the U.S. on its role in keeping the Serbs in Kosovo safe, on its contribution to the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, as well as on the U.S.’s support to Serbia’s prospective EU membership.

“An open and honest dialogue, based on mutual trust and respect, represents the best path to strengthening the partnership between Serbia and the U.S. I am convinced that our future relations will gain even more momentum, to our mutual benefit and in the interest of peace, stability and prosperity,” Vucic wrote on Instagram.

Vucic also said he had the opportunity to speak with his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, regarding “all important bilateral issues, including Serbia’s EU path.” According to Vucic’s Instagram post, he was a guest at an informal dinner hosted by Luxemburg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel.