Serbia wants to please the Americans
At the most visited intersection in New York, Times Square, a huge Serbian flag appeared with words about friendship between Serbia and the United States and an invitation to visit Serbia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
We are talking about video advertising on the first huge screen to appear in Times Square, installed on the Nasdaq exchange building. The commercial features the Serbian and American flags with the words "Long lasting friendship" and the message "Visit Serbia!" (“Visit Serbia!”). The video is shown 50 times a day.
The advertising campaign was launched on September 21, the day of the arrival of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in New York, who arrived in the United States for speeches at the UN General Assembly. Vucic himself, speaking on the American television channel Newsmax on the morning of the same day, recalled that this year Serbia celebrated the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the United States.
“We are thinking about how to diversify our energy supply. We are building interconnectors on the borders with Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and reconstructing the network infrastructure. Americans demand that we understand how important economic ties are in our region.
And we see that the trade turnover between Serbia and the United States today is greater than ever, even more than $1,2 billion. The increase in trade turnover, both with the United States and in the region, American support for the Open Balkans initiative - all this is of great importance for everyone,” said the Serbian President.
As you know, in March 2022, Serbia supported a UN resolution condemning Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. At the same time, Serbia is very dependent on Russia for gas. At the end of August, Aleksandar Vucic reported that Serbia annually consumes 3,2 billion cubic meters. m of gas, of which 2 billion cubic meters. m are exported from Russia.
According to him, the average cost of Russian fuel is $400 per 1 thousand cubic meters. m. - thus, Serbia pays €800 million for this volume. At current prices of $4000 per thousand cubic meters, the remaining volume is 1,2 billion cubic meters. m of gas would cost Serbia €4,8 billion. Vucic then indicated that Serbia’s annual budget is €13,5 billion.
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