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Djelic continues visit to the US with meetings in Boston

Belgrade/New York, 18 October 2007

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic continues today his visit to the US meeting with representatives of the academic community, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT and the Serbian Diaspora.

File photo of Bozidar Djelic

Author: Tanjug

Djelic and Serbian Minister for Diaspora Milica Cubrilo met with Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard David Ellwood and also with Professor Louis Wells, a world renown expert on direct investment, who recently visited Serbia.

At MIT, Djelic and Cubrilo met with president of MIT Susan Hockfield and discussed potentials of cooperation between Serbia and MIT regarding Tesla fellowship programme for most talented students from Serbia.

The two Serbian officials also met with the academic community of Boston. The lecture on Serbia was attended by over 150 students, professors and representatives of the Serbian Diaspora.

Djelic started the visit yesterday by meeting with representatives of the New York Stock Exchange, and in its continuation he will meet with US Department of State officials and will attend the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He told the Tanjug news agency that at this moment Serbia does not have an active programme with the IMF since it has repaid all its debts, but that the possibility of new programmes will be examined.

He said that the new IMF director, the former French finance minister, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had accepted earlier this year before stepping into office to become the financial advisor of the Serbian government.

Speaking about meetings with top officials of the New York Stock Exchange and its chief executive officer John Thain, Djelic said that they were interested in relations between the US and Serbia, in light of the Kosovo issue, and in the alleged privileged position of Russian companies in the privatisation process in Serbia.

Djelic said that no one is privileged when it comes to market issues. If the Russians give the best offer for the purchase of the Serbian state oil company NIS, Serbia will accept it, but at the same time Exxon is free to apply.

Serbian Minister for Diaspora Milica Cubrilo will accompany Djelic in his activities in Boston, while Minister of Finance Mirko Cvetkovic, Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic and Governor of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Radovan Jelasic will arrive in Washington on October 19.

During their stay in Washington, members of the Serbian delegation will hold several bilateral meetings with representatives of the US administration, including the Department of State official Daniel Fried and ministers of finance of G8.