USA 2022
INTERVIEW
DENNY ROBERTSON, USAID Serbia Mission Director
Striving To Support Serbia In Advancing Its Growth We will continue working together with all willing Serbian partners – from government, to media, to civil society and small business – to help Serbia fully integrate into European structures, and to help the country achieve its full political, social, and economic potential ~ Denny Robertson
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e have two long-term goals that we share with our Serbian partners. The first is to help citizens access reliable information, engage with their government, and work collaboratively to meet today’s challenges and chart a better future. Our second goal is to help all of Serbia’s people prosper by helping businesses grow and access new economic opportunities - says USAID Mission Director Denny Robertson, with whom we discussed the USAID legacy in Serbia and future plans. In addition to the aforementioned goals, USAID also focused on helping Serbia mitigate the impact of Covid-19 during the past few years. “Serbia’s response was strong. So, USAID helped fill the gaps by delivering diagnostic equipment, ambulances, and public health education. We are now supporting health professionals in their outreach to increase acceptance of vaccines”, explains our interlocutor. “Our USAID projects touch so many people throughout Serbia, but we’re particularly pleased that, during the last year, we reached millions of citizens with information about digitalization and cybersecurity; our civil society partners managed to collect 70 tons of food for the country’s most vulnerable families, and to increase Serbia’s philanthropic giving rank from 129th to 48th worldwide; we helped 164 small businesses and 3,231
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