John Jovanovic, director of the newly opened Belgrade office of the US Financial Corporation for International Development (DFC), said he would measure success by the number of vacancies, first in Serbia and Kosovo, and soon in other parts of the Western Balkans.
Jovanovic, an American of Serbian descent, told RTS that a “new era in Serbia-America relations” was beginning, a day after Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and DFC Executive Director Adam Boler symbolically opened the US corporation’s office in Belgrade.
Members of the delegation of the US government had meetings with the highest officials of Serbia in Belgrade yesterday and today, and Jovanovic states that he is surprised how ready the people in Serbia were for the arrival of American investments.
“Colleagues from the six American agencies that were in the delegation from Washington were delighted with the first visit to Belgrade and the opportunities and potential of this region, both economically and socially. I also share their opinion,” said Jovanovic, Beta reports.
He stated that his Serbian origin and knowledge of the language will mean something to him in the realization of projects in the region, but that his experience in business will help him more, primarily in working with finances.
“The peoples of this region share common values and we would like to build those values through business and social projects, especially through women’s entrepreneurship. Many responded and said that it was a great opportunity for Serbia and the region,” Jovanovic added.
He said that the most important thing for DFC is to do several projects in the first three months, and added that he would start by joining projects that are already underway, such as “Peace Highway”.
A delegation of the US government came to Belgrade to implement the Washington agreement between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo on the normalization of economic relations. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo signed two versions of the document “Economic Normalization” on September 4 in the White House, which differ in the last of 16 points.
One of the points states that Kosovo and Serbia will cooperate with the DFC and the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of the United States on memoranda of understanding for the realization of the “Peace Highway”, the railway connection between Pristina and Merdar, the railway connection between Nis and Pristina, security funds to finance loans needed for small and medium enterprises, additional bilateral projects and the permanent presence of DFC in Belgrade, Politika reports.
