USA 2022
INTERVIEW
H.E. CHRISTOPHER R. HILL, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia
By Ljubica Gojgić
Focus On The Future Looking forward, Serbia today has an important choice to make. Does it follow its path towards full European integration and realize its full economic, political, and social potential? Or does it continue to chart a different path than its neighbors, a path that attempts to strike a “balance” but which, in reality, pins Serbia’s security and economic hopes largely on the East? I do not want Serbia left behind and I am confident many Serbians do not want that. Neither for themselves nor for their children ~ Christopher Hill
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’d characterize the moment right now as quite important - notes U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill in his first interview for CorD Magazine. “U.S. relations with Serbia go back a long way, and our relations through much of our history have been positive and productive. I know all too well the legacy of the 1990s; and while we cannot forget history, it is important to focus on the future”. Your Excellency, it’s been said that you’ve returned to Serbia for a fourth time. As someone who’s spent more than four decades monitoring relations between the U.S. and the former Yugoslavia/Serbia, how would you characterize those relations today? It’s true that I keep coming back to Belgrade. I was first here as a young boy, when my father was posted as the Political Chief in the early 1960s. Then I was here as a first tour officer in the 1980s. I was in the region in the 1990s as our Chargé in Tirana, a member of the U.S. Dayton team, and Ambassador in Skopje. And now, after a long career in diplomacy and academia, I could not be happier to have found an opportunity to come back to Belgrade as the U.S. Ambassador. I have a lot of experience in this region, but I focused my first few months here on listening, learning, and getting to know today’s Serbia. I’d characterize the moment right now as quite important. U.S. relations with Serbia go back a long way, and our relations through much of our history have been positive and productive. I know all too well the legacy of the 1990s; and while we cannot forget history, it is important to focus on the future. Looking forward, Serbia today has an important choice to make. Does it follow its path towards full
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European integration and realize its full economic, political, and social potential? Or does it continue to chart a different path than its neighbors, a path that attempts to strike a “balance” but which, in reality, pins Serbia’s security and economic hopes largely on the East? I do not want Serbia left behind and I am confident many Serbians do not want that. Neither for themselves nor for their children. I think I’ve been clear about where I see Serbia headed, and it’s my hope to do all that I can to help move Serbia towards the West and full European integration. I want to see a prosperous and secure Serbia that offers opportunity to all its citizens.
predecessors failed to resolve. What tops your agenda? One lesson I’ve learned is that you need to understand the playing field and the current conditions before you can make a contribution to solving problems. That’s why I have been focused on getting to know today’s Serbia and trying to better understand how the United States can help Serbia achieve its full potential. I wish I had some magic dust to solve all the challenges in Serbia, the Balkans, and elsewhere, but that’s not how diplomacy works. I do think we can make consequential progress on tough issues, step by step. And that’s where I hope to start.
Your arrival has generated great interest in Serbia and around the region. A section of the public and the media present you as a diplomat who’s been brought out of retirement to resolve everything that your
Speaking on the eve of celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the founding of the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia, AmCham Serbia, you agreed with the assessment that Serbia is becoming
