Berlin: Ambassador Janković in an interview for Vesti
When asked to assess the period since her appointment, Ambassador Janković said that the previous two years, despite the pandemic and the many restrictions it imposed, were a period of intensive work to further improve relations and cooperation between Serbia and Germany. She added that she was pleased about the growing Serbia—Germany relations marked by an extremely developed economic cooperation and a very dynamic interpersonal exchange in many areas. Ambassador Janković noted, however, that although the relations were burdened by Germany's position on Kosovo and Metohija ― an essential issue for Serbia ―, it was very important for Serbia to maintain a regular political dialogue with Germany, to explain its position, and to continuously improve relations.
“In the past year, despite the pandemic, many high-level and top-level visits were successfully realised. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Nikola Selaković paid a visit to Berlin at the beginning of March, and already at the end of April, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas made the return visit to Serbia. Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović visited Berlin in May, Serbian Parliament Speaker Ivica Dačić in June, and German State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office Miguel Berger visited Belgrade in July.
At the end of her mandate, former Chancellor Merkel included Serbia among the few countries to which she paid a farewell visit, despite the displeasure of others from our region which were not part of the farewell tour. Thus, she once again made it known that Serbia is a key partner in the region for Germany, leaving at the same time a pledge to the new German government to continue to actively develop relations and cooperation with Serbia.
Adis Ahmetović, the Rapporteur for the Western Balkans of the Social Democratic Party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag, has just paid an official visit to Belgrade, and we expect that other German officials and representatives of the new German government will visit Serbia in the coming period.” ― Ambassador Janković said.
Ambassador Janković also noted that President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already been acquainted and in contact.
Asked how well she got to know the Serbian diaspora in the capital and throughout Germany, Ambassador Janković said that meeting with the diaspora was an indispensable part of her official program of visitations to all the federal provinces ― Hessen, Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Baden-Wurttemberg. Ambassador Janković emphasised that she had met wonderful people, true patriots, who had made a great contribution to strengthening the position of the Serbian community in Germany, who by being a bridge between Serbia and Germany carried the most valuable potential of building stable and successful bilateral relations. She stressed that there was a great force in the diaspora which connected Serbia and Germany, and that she would like everyone to act in unison and unity on the most important national issues of preserving the Serbian identity and improving the position of the Serbian community.
Referring to the observance of the Statehood Day, Ambassador Janković said that the celebration would be in line with epidemiological measures, which meant receiving a small number of the most important partners from German institutions and presidents of associations of the Serbian diaspora. She expressed hope that for the next Statehood Day, the Embassy would have the opportunity to host many other representatives of the diaspora from all over Germany, as it did at the big reception in Berlin before the start of the pandemic in 2020.
When it comes to preserving the Serbian identity in a foreign country, Ambassador Janković said that the Embassy followed the work of clubs of the Serbian diaspora, with the intention and the desire to support their activities. She said the Embassy was ready to take part in joint programmes, especially those aimed at preserving the Serbian language, tradition, and culture. She pointed out that the Embassy supported several projects submitted to the Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region’ call for co-financing projects which strongly contribute to maintaining and strengthening ties between the home country and the diaspora, which later received financial assistance. “One of them is the exhibition Album of remembrance of our ancestors from the First World War, which will be held in Berlin and in some of our consulates general. Photographic and other material of the descendants of the participants in the Great War from Serbia and the diaspora, which has been in private collections for decades, will be shown to the public.” ― she noted.
When asked how much the Embassy managed to help solve the problems of Serbian citizens, Ambassador Janković replied that no inquiries from citizens remained unanswered. She also noted that the Embassy, together with the Consulates General, provided significant assistance in the evacuation of citizens to Serbia after the outbreak of the pandemic, and that after it continued to monitor the situation in Germany and in Serbia in terms of tightening or relaxing anti-epidemic measures and informed Serbian citizens by all available means, helping them to be better informed and to avoid possible consequences when traveling.
Ambassador Janković stressed that Germany was the “locomotive” of European development and Serbia’s principal foreign trade and economic partner, and that decades of economic ties and numerous German investments in Serbia had led to a record value of imports and exports last year, amounting to more than six billion euros. She said that excellent economic relations made Germany the most important European economy for Serbia. Even on a broader geopolitical level, and in terms of bilateral relations, Germany was one of the most important countries and partners for Serbia owing to its strong influence within the EU, whose full membership Serbia aspired to.
Ambassador Janković pointed out that German politicians welcomed Serbia’s progress in the reform process on the path of European integration and in the transformation of its society, and noted how well the recent referendum on constitutional amendments in the field of justice was received. Taking into account the overall reform results, she said that in December 2021, Germany supported Serbia's progress in European integration, voting for the opening of Cluster 4 on the environment.
Ambassador Janković added that Germany considered Serbia the most important country in the region and that in that sense, expectations from Serbia were sometimes higher than from others.
Regarding the recent changes of leading officials in the Chancellery, Ambassador Janković said that German policy towards Serbia was part of its overall policy towards the region and the result of German interests and the development in the Western Balkans. She said that while she did not expect Germany to make substantial changes to the policy, she did expect the new government to introduce new dynamics and some specific goals in terms of Serbia’s European integration and further development of cooperation. She emphasised that strengthening bilateral relations was in the mutual interest, and that the position of German officials was that Serbia was a key country for stability and progress in the region.
Source: Vesti