18. Jun 2024.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Marko Djuric today received the participants of the Pupin Fellowship program, which is attended by 15 international relations and political science students from Serbia and the United States every year.

On that occasion, Minister Djuric welcomed the guests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noting that perhaps some of them would find their place and ambition precisely within this institution.

Speaking about the work of the Pupin Initiative, Djuric said that, owing to the initiative and enthusiasm of the young people who make up this organization, it was making a great contribution to the development and promotion of Serbian-American relations, but also to overall ties between the societies.

Minister Djuric presented the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and emphasized that in the coming period, the Ministry would have major tasks to complete, especially when it comes to strengthening personnel capacities, but also in terms of implementing Serbia's foreign policy.

He pointed out that Serbian diplomacy had a tradition of more than 830 years, which set before us high criteria for building future young generations of diplomats, but also for strengthening the Ministry itself as an institution.

One of the main goals in the period ahead, according to the head of Serbian diplomacy, will be the better positioning of Serbia, but also the strengthening of the role played by the Serbian community in the United States.

He assessed that Serbia had a lot of positive things to show and offer to people in the United States, but that they needed to be informed about this first.

This was precisely why young people and organizations such as the Pupin Initiative were valuable and important, as they were helping the country by being a bridge connecting the two peoples, the Minister said.

Minister Djuric said that Serbia was a country that doubled its GDP in the last ten years, built new highways and roads, strengthened its economy, owing to which some of the largest U.S. companies are present in our country today.

According to the Minister, the United States is Serbia’s top trading partner in the field of services, but Serbia recorded a surplus in the export of its services to the American market. Minister Djuric concluded that such forms of cooperation, as well as what Serbia had to offer in terms of culture and other content, were something that we should talk about to the people living in the United States, so that they could get acquainted with the real picture of our country.

During the six-months of the Pupin Fellowship program, the fellows have the opportunity to become more familiar with Serbian-American relations and the work of the Pupin Initiative through practical work, lectures, visits and research.