Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic discussed the current situation in Serbia, Belgrade’s position on the negotiations regarding Kosovo, and future prospects for his country at this event.

Djelic, who was educated in the U.S., remarked of his awareness that as a Serb in the U.S., people are always trying to find a "little Slobo in you" (a reference to the late ousted Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.) In asking the West to fairly evaluate the situation in his country, Djelic urged the audience to, “Please change your software. Please look at the facts...I hope that in the weeks to come, the policy of the U.S. will be led by facts, and not prejudice."

Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic.

He then reported on recent economic successes in his country. According to Bjelic, Serbia has the fastest economic growth rate in Europe, at 7.3 percent per year. The United States is the second-ranked country in terms of foreign direct investments (FDI) going to Serbia. Russia’s FDI to Serbia, he emphasized, are ten times smaller than that of the U.S. Djelic used this point to counter claims that the country has become an outpost for increasing Russian power. Serbia wishes to treat Russia as an economic investor in the same manner as other European countries, Djelic said. The country recently signed a stabilization and association agreement with the EU. However, problems such as unemployment, currently at 20 percent, linger. Summing up the economic situation, Djelic said, "Not everything is sad. Not everything is a source of concern in the region...Serbia is not only a basket case."

Djelic next moved to the subject of Kosovo. He stated that Serbia would negotiate on many points regarding the issue—except that of a politically independent Kosovo. According to Djelic, Serbia is prepared to agree on independent financing for Kosovo from international financial institutions and international representations of culture and commerce for Kosovo. "Everything is up for negotiation. The only thing that’s not up for negotiation, as far as Serbia is concerned, is breaking up our country." Serbia, he emphasized, seeks to serve as a "credible, stable, reliable partner" in the negotiating process.

From left to right: Soren Jessen-Petersen, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic.

Djelic mentioned the lack of an official census in Kosovo since 1971 and stated his own view that he does not believe there are two million Albanian Kosovars in the territory and called into question the accuracy of the commonly cited statistic that Serbia is 90 percent Albanian and ten percent Serbian.

Djelic also noted some of the possible outcomes that an independent Kosovo could trigger in Serbia, pointing out that Serbian nationalists could come into power. A negotiated solution, he said, would bolster the long-term prospects of a pro-European, democratic Serbia.

"I am going to leave Washington with guarded optimism," on the U.S. entertaining a negotiated solution to Kosovo, he said. "We are ready to play ball."

Speakers

• Bozidar Djelic
  Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Serbia
• Soren Jessen-Petersen, Moderator
  Guest Scholar, U.S. Institute of Peace

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