January 14, 2005
Embassy of the United States of America
Belgrade

Press Conference by Ambassador Michael C. Polt Embassy of the United States Belgrade - January 14, 2005

Ambassador Michael C. Polt: Good morning. Yesterday in Washington, the Department of State announced that the Secretary of State had signed a decision -- 4 months earlier than required by U.S. law -- announcing a reduction of U.S. assistance to Serbia. The United States is withholding $10 million in assistance this year. This amount is in addition to $16 million still withheld from assistance in 2004, and a $13 million reduction in 2005 already made by the U.S. Congress. This amounts to a total of nearly $40 million in U.S. assistance withheld from the government of Serbia.

This action is a direct result of the Serbian government's continued lack of full and unconditional cooperation with the United Nations International Criminal Court in The Hague. Our strong friendship and affection for the people of Serbia make this a very painful decision for my government. Regrettably, after long and patient efforts to highlight to the Serbian government the importance of meeting its international obligations, and the resolve of the international community in this regard, our continued disappointment has led us to this decision.

The most direct and immediate impact will be our work with Serbia's central government. We will be forced to remove American technical advisors from government ministries. These cuts will affect U.S. support for tax reform, accession of Serbia to the World Trade Organization, economic policy reforms that would help attract more foreign investors, and halt assistance to restore JAT’s ability to fly directly to the U.S., among other things.

These cuts mean that some of our American colleagues here in Belgrade, and their families, will be asked to leave Serbia and return to the United States.

Unfortunately, this result of the Serbian government's inaction may negatively impact international investor confidence.

It is most important to point out that we are carefully calibrating these cuts to minimize their impact on the people of Serbia. We are in fact increasing our assistance in a number of areas that affect the hard working people of this country. We are increasing support for individuals and the private sector. We will provide more small and medium loans for businesses and job creation and to add more support for civic organizations, democracy programs and the efforts of municipal governments. We are adding over $2 million to bring hundreds of more young people from Serbia for study in the United States and we are continuing our strong support for a professional, independent media.

In 2005, we are also creating a new multi-million dollar facility to provide credit guarantees for small businesses and adding another $4 million in private enterprise development funds to improve the competitiveness of Serbian businesses. We will also add $31 million in job creation and economic development assistance throughout the country. We will provide over $5 million to improve the rule of law and protections for domestic and foreign investors in Serbia. And finally we are going to be adding nearly $3 million for the prosecution of organized crime figures and accused war criminals.

U.S. people-to-people programs have a direct effect on the lives of countless of thousands of people throughout Serbia. We will not discontinue any of these programs. The Serbian people have suffered enough through some very difficult times. We will continue to keep the focus of our assistance where it should be – supporting the people of this country, building economic prosperity and a better future for them and their families.

We wish to join the people of Serbia in calling on their government to do what is required to bring their country into the Euro-Atlantic community of nations where Serbia and Montenegro belong.

I will be happy to take your questions.

Question: Hello. My name is Marija Kordic, Evropa magazine. In the statement of the State Department, Ratko Mladic is named by his first and last name. I am interested how can you be so sure that Ratko Mladic is actually hiding here in Serbia? Do you have any proof of that? What if he is not in Serbia?

Ambassador Polt: It is our belief that Ratko Mladic is in Serbia and that it is in the power of the Serbian Government to locate him and to deliver him to The Tribunal in The Hague.

Question: Goran Sinadinovic, Radio Television of Serbia. Is the recent visit of a DoD delegation related to the opening of military bases in Serbia?

Ambassador Polt: What do you mean by opening military bases in Serbia?

Question: Opening of US military bases in Serbia in the foreseeable future.

Ambassador Polt: No. The purpose of this visit by a delegation from the US Department of Defense was to discuss progress on defense reforms in Serbia and Montenegro and to discuss what future steps we could take between the United States and Serbia and Montenegro in building a broader security relationship.

Question: Senka Vlatkovic, TV B92. Under what conditions can assistance return to Serbia and what does the Serbian Government need to do so that the assistance can return?

Ambassador Polt: I'm glad you asked that question because I neglected to make one major point, which is in the announcement made by the State Department. Our decisions are all reversible. In fact, it can be reversed in very short order. What the Government of Serbia needs to do is to comply fully and unconditionally with the requirements of delivering indictees to the Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. It cannot be partial compliance, it cannot be individual compliance with one or another person – it has to be full compliance of all the individuals who are indicted by the Tribunal. When that compliance has occurred, of course we are eager, we are waiting eagerly, for the opportunity to greatly enhance our relationship overall and to return all these assistants funds and more to Serbia.

OK, thank you very much. I appreciate your coming and I hope we’ll have better news the next time.

End of transcript

Press Conference by Ambassador Michael C. Polt

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