The president of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Jelena McWilliams, who is of Serbian descent, points out that it is necessary for Serbia to develop and that Serbia should implement reforms for its own sake.
“As a US representative, I care that we see progress here, as a person of Serbian descent, I need my country to develop. That is why you should carry out reforms for your own sake. And, whether or not the EU wants it or not, that should be irrelevant”, McWilliams said for Novosti.
She said that Serbia has exceptional talented people, world-class universities.
“I finished my postgraduate studies at Berkeley, but I still responsibly claim that geniuses went with me to the Mathematics High School in Belgrade”, she said.
She stated that the only way to present Serbia well in the US is to be the best American, to reach the very top and to see people through our country.
McWilliams, who came to Belgrade at the invitation of Serbia’s Deposit Insurance Agency, which celebrates its 30th anniversary, says she wants to show that America supports what the agency does because it is important to protect people.
“My father lost money in the 1990s when banks closed and that was the fate of many people in this area. There must be protection through deposit insurance, because it is the protection of the poor, who, if they lose everything, will have nothing to live for and it becomes a problem for the whole society”, she said.
McWilliams states that the FDIC, which she heads, secures deposits with 5,400 state and national banks and savings banks up to 250,000 dollars per citizen per bank and currently has 13 trillion dollars in deposits.
She stresses that without sounding arrogant, no one can tell her what to do.
McWilliams will bring the package of the century
Jelena McWilliams has come to Belgrade to help realize a comprehensive 10 billion dollar plan for the Balkans, the Serbian Telegraph reports.
McWilliams will prepare the ground for new US investments during her stay in Serbia, the newspaper said.
“Jelena is a charismatic politician who works in finance in the vast US administration. She has come to all positions throughout her enviable career solely through hard work and dedication, so Trump recognized this and proposed her in 2018 for this position”, a source said.
McWilliams has been in Serbia for several days, and her advantage is that she understands the problems of the Serbian people.
The interlocutor says that McWilliams is one of the key figures in the economic package, and that it has the advantage of being rooted in our area and having a great understanding of the problems of the Serbian people, and most importantly, the president has an unconditional trust in her, as she runs one of the most important financial institutions in the US.
Since becoming a president of the USA, Trump has remained attached to the idea of providing more space for Serbs to make a major breakthrough in US investment, a source said.
In addition to McWilliams, Trump has also appointed New Yorker John Jovanovic to forge strong ties with Serbia, the newspaper said, adding that he holds a high position at Mercuria energy group, with 104 billion dollars in annual revenue.
According to ST, the goal is to close all open issues in the Balkans with Trump’s economic and political package, which also includes the partition of Kosovo, solving problems in BiH and Northern Macedonia.