Administrator Samantha Power speaks with Radio Television Serbia

ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: I'm really happy to be here.

ZORAN STANOJEVIC: What message do you have for the people in Serbia about the tragic Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, one of the first things I did – the first thing I did when I got off the plane here in Belgrade, my first time back, literally in decades was to go right to the school to lay flowers and try to pay my respects on my own behalf and on the behalf of President Biden, and behalf of the American people. Sadly, we know too well in the United States the pain that so many are feeling right now and our hearts go out to all the people affected. To see the teddy bears and the soccer balls that were inscribed to the kids who’d been killed. There were drawings of a security guard in a superhero cape that one of the children in the school had drawn because he was such a beloved figure. And if you’re Serbian and in the affected communities, you know, it chills you for the rest of the time. I talked to President Vučić today about some of the reforms that are being pursued and all we can do is stand in solidarity and wish you the best as you seek to reduce the risk of anything like this happening again because once is too many. And again, we experience these things far too often and too many times.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Thank you, thank you for that. Speaking of the reforms, USAID has supported economic and democratic reforms in Serbia since early 2000s, can you [inaudible] what are the reforms and the role of your organization with them?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, I'm really lucky. I started my career as a war correspondent here in the Balkans in my twenties and I find myself coming back as the head of USAID. The first USAID Administrator ever to visit Serbia, despite our work here for two decades. And I think that's a sign, both of the progress and the impact that we have together, but also of the next phase of this relationship, which I think can be even deeper. USAID's invested nearly a billion dollars over that 20 years. I think in some areas we see incredible progress, like the ease of doing business, leaping – Serbia leaping on the World Bank, opening the business index – much, much easier now because of some of the e-governance, e-permitting reforms that we've worked on together I think. We've invested in the tech sector here and to see the tech industry growing by 45 percent, I think, just in the last year — and it's a very tough time for any sector these days given the economic headwinds, that's a great example of what we've done together.

I think that the regulatory environment to make Serbia an even more attractive area of investment, I think that is where we've made progress, but that is also where there's still, I think, room for deepened partnership. You know, when we first started here, the private sector was a big player and state-owned enterprises were an 800-pound gorilla, and that has really shifted. You can see it in the dynamism of the various sectors that are growing like the tech sector, the biotech sector, which has a lot of room to grow even further. I see my job, as USAID Administrator, to go back also to the United States and describe what I’ve seen here and what the possibilities are.

But to be honest, the ultimate measure of our success, I think, is “do young people see their futures here in Serbia or do they think that they have to migrate in order to have the kind of economic prosperity and economic opportunity that they crave?” I think we've made some headway supporting Serbian entrepreneurs, and Serbian business, and the Serbian people in creating more opportunities here. But obviously, for as long as kids are graduating and have all these skills to offer, in their hearts they'd love to stay, but they don't, you know, all of them don't see opportunities here than it means we still have more work to do.

MR. STANOJEVIC: So what would that work be? I mean, what do you think that Serbia needs most of your help, or your aid?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, I mean, partly, you know, I always say that young people should also consider something you don't consider, generally, anywhere in the world, including in the United States, which is going into politics and being actually part of the government institutions, bringing that dynamism into public service and being part of the system that creates that enabling environment – the environment that will dictate whether those jobs are available to their peers. Partly, I think there's no question that Serbia’s moved to integrate itself into Europe and also to create more energy independence, and create a more green economy, and more green energy, its climate commitments in terms of lowering its emissions and so forth. There are a lot of jobs in that kind of transition. There are jobs that are lost as well. And so part of what USAID wants to do is to work in upskilling, you know, those workers who might have worked in some nonrenewable industry, you know, getting the skills that they will need to work in solar or wind or whatever the appropriate renewable solution is here.

But I think, you know, Serbia has branded itself of late, Serbia Creates, because the film industry is booming here, but I think Serbia Creates also captures the spirit of innovation that a lot of these startups are bringing. So I take a lot of pride in the work that are doing with SMEs, small- and medium-sized enterprises to put them in a strong position to receive loans so that they can grow their businesses. I think that's going to be a growth area for USAID unquestionably. But looking ahead at artificial intelligence, at biotech, at green energy, those are where a lot of jobs are going to come and USAID wants to be right there in support of whatever, you know, Serbian young people, and Serbian entrepreneurs think makes the most sense.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Increased support, same support, decreased – what would you say?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: I view our role as catalytic, fundamentally. I mean between us and the European Union I think there's been about four and a half billion dollar investment over the last 20 years. And I think it's made a difference. But I want to be clear, no outsider is dictating Serbia's future. What's making a difference is the ingenuity and innovation of the people of this country, and what we can do is put a little bit of wind in the sails or, you know, provide a little bit of a loan or a training or work with the government on a new regulation that's going to make things better. But, you know, I view my job as part of the Biden Administration, as a member of his National Security Council, as also proselytizing and bringing the Secretary of Commerce and her team's interest here. I'm the vice chair of Development Finance Corporation. They made investments again in lower interest loans to businesses in the last couple years, I think that could be expanded dramatically.

So USAID is a piece of the puzzle, but in general, I think what the United States government and American people see is a partnership that is just growing thicker and thicker over time and now active in way more sectors than we might have been, you know, even just five years ago.

MR. STANOJEVIC: So, let’s just touch on what you mentioned, your role in the National Security Council or whatever –

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Yeah, principal in the –.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Yeah. You’ve talked with the highest ranking Serbian officials. So you certainly talked about Kosovo. They obviously mentioned Pristina’s rejection to establish the Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo. So what was your answer to them?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, first of all to step back, actually if you look over the course of the last six months, a remarkable amount of progress has been made at least in terms of renewed commitment to the normalization process. Needless to say, it's — all of the implementation isn't happening at the speed that I think we would like, that the European Union would like, that the people on the ground would like to see in terms of improvement in their own lives. You know, on the Association, the U.S. position is very clear that we believe that this needs to be created with urgency. You did see, for the first time, a proposal being made. You heard things the first time, substantive dialogue on the issues. You're right that so far that hasn't gone where it needs to go, but, you know, it's also worth focusing on missing persons. Nobody had been able to make much progress on missing persons over the last two decades. And now for the first time you have a memorandum of understanding and the beginnings of cooperation to try to ensure the recovery and the identification of more than 1,600 people who still don't know where their loved ones are or what to do with them. And so, you know, we are focusing on the steps that have been taken. At the same time I'll be traveling to Kosovo and will reinforce the message that the United States has been sending for some time, which is on how important it is that all the people living in Kosovo have their human rights respected, and that they feel represented in their governing institutions and have a say in municipal matters and the association is a key part of the equation.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Yeah, well, one thing that I would like you to translate to me is the word reinforce. What do you mean by that?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Oh, by reinforce I only mean that this has been something that – the Counselor to the Secretary of State Derek Chollet, who's been very active in the diplomacy, Gabe Escobar, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State – these are messages that I am not the first person to be delivering on the importance of creating the association. Just as we were, again, very – where we stressed as well, the importance of more cooperation on the issue of missing persons. So I will be traveling to Pristina at a time where this is a very live subject because we're coming out of the recent negotiations. But I will be delivering a message that will be very familiar and yet one that, you know, of course, needs to be heard.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Well, I just want to ask how much force is in reinforce?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: You know, I think that we believe that the benefits of this, the force, the benefits of normalization, which will matter greatly to Kosovo and in terms of Serbia's integration into Europe will matter greatly for Serbia. Progress on normalization is going to make a major difference politically. But it is also going to unlock possibilities for economic integration for the region as a whole that can be transformative. And so I believe that the merits and the case for making progress on normalization, including through setting up the association, that those tangible benefits to the people of Kosovo, regardless of their ethnicity or their heritage to the people of Serbia, that that is fundamentally what is going to bring about implementation, is that when people see that the benefits for the citizens of both countries exceed what are political risks. Obviously, if these were easy decisions to make it would have been made a very long time ago, but they are very, very important for normalization to progress.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Another topic that was probably mentioned when talking with officials in Serbia was the war in Ukraine. So do you respect Serbia’s position on that war, being military neutral and with supporting territorial integrity especially because of Kosovo?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: I have a long history in this region and I know of the relationship that Serbia has had with the Russian Federation at different times during the war in Bosnia, during the war in Kosovo, after that war. We absolutely recognize the importance of the position that Serbia has taken in voting to condemn this horrific act of aggression against Ukraine. A lot of countries in Europe have voted that way. Of course, all countries in Europe have voted that way. But given the relationships and the ties between the two countries, Serbia and Russia, this was a very, very important signal sent by Serbia. The impact of Serbia's position is probably far greater than the impact of the actions of just about any other country in the region. And really, it's one of the most impactful sets of actions by any country in the world.

I also think the humanitarian support, the fact that Serbia has stepped up when Russian forces were pulverizing energy infrastructure, trying to weaponize winter, which we all know how cold winter can get in this part of the world. And I know from my time involved during the breakup of Yugoslavia, how cold the winters can get in this part of the world, and the fact that Serbia came in with support for substations, and transformers, and energy infrastructure, and energy repair, that's incredibly important. And again, it's important substantively, because it helps people stay warm in the winter, but it's also important because it shows that, you know, the democracies of the world are standing together to condemn aggression.

You know, when it comes to sanctions, of course, you know, we know that Serbia's ultimate destination is going to be in Europe. It's already integrating in all kinds of ways, we think harmonization of Serbia's foreign policy with that of the EU would be very, very important and would send an additional signal, but we know, again, the importance of the steps that have been taken to this point, and we believe that they have been seen in Moscow and make a difference.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Yeah, but also there is a big hope in Serbia that because of Ukraine the West may understand better Serbia’s position towards Kosovo?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, I think what we have here is Russia bombarding its neighbor, obliterating civilian infrastructure, taking children away from parents and creating camps and having them be adopted by families they've never met before. I think what you have here is a clear case of aggression and a desire to take over part of a neighbor, to literally lop off part a neighbor, and then I think is –

MR. STANOJEVIC: You don't think it’s similar to anything that happened in Kosovo?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Look, we may have different perspectives on the causes and consequences of the war in Kosovo in 1999 but what I can say is that it is very clear that the aggression being committed today against the Ukrainian people, I think it has stirred empathy in all corners of the globe. I've seen that in my travels and I think there is a recognition that this kind of effort to annex part of another country, to make your own country bigger, to get access to natural resources. This is something we can all condemn.

MR. STANOJEVIC: I just want to ask you, do you understand the sensitive this issue is for the people of Serbia? Considering the situation –.

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: I think that, again, you know, in the many years that I have worked on issues in this region, I think Kosovo has always been an issue of great sensitivity. And I think that, again, it's really important that Serbia has taken the position it has in condemning this aggression.

MR. STANOJEVIC: You mentioned earlier that USAID is interested, it’s one of the issues that you are paying much attention on. So you will be also visiting some places in Serbia and you will be talking about green economy, would you?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Yes, I'll be traveling tomorrow in fact to Nis, which is wonderful. It's a town, a historic town, that I've never had a chance to visit before. USAID has done projects there designed to cut down on energy consumption, to improve energy efficiency. And we have some really exciting results already where you actually see consumption going down by about 33 percent. That's good for the environment, but it also means that the person paying their electricity bills or their natural gas bills are going to pay less, they're going to pay 33 percent less of what the going rate would be. So we think that there's great promise in enhancing efficiencies across the country. And I want to see the program up close and hear from those who are involved about how we can scale.

MR. STANOJEVIC: No mention of lithium?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Look, there's no question that lithium is going to be a very important part of the clean energy future that the world needs. And there's great urgency to transitioning economies everywhere. We are having live debates, as you know, in the United States, very difficult debates because we're very divided, generally, and we're very divided on some of these issues. So we know what it's like to have contentious politics around what the right environmental policy is, what the right development policy is. And in terms of Serbia, Serbia is going to make its own judgments about how to reconcile its desire to spur economic growth and create more jobs with environmental concerns. The one thing I can say again as USAID, is that we are here to help ensure that any procurement or any process of this nature happen transparently where citizens feel they are able to hold the private sector and government accountable.

MR. STANOJEVIC: Mrs. Power, thank you for talking to us.

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Total pleasure. Thank you. It's great to be back.