Starović: President Vučić will consistently defend state and national interests in New York

18. Sep 2022.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nemanja Starović stated that President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić indeed consistently defended state and national interests at every opportunity, and that he was absolutely sure that at the UN General Assembly session, President Vučić would speak about Serbia's principled positions, the need to preserve the basic postulates of international law and about everything that makes Serbia's foreign policy principled, constructive and predictable.

In a guest appearance on the Radio Television of Serbia, Starović said that, in the week of the UN General Assembly session, New York would become the focal point of world diplomacy and that Serbia was present in New York at the highest level. 

President Aleksandar Vučić and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selaković have already travelled to New York, where they were joined by Marko Đurić, Ambassador of Serbia to the USA. Their activities are starting today, with dozens of bilateral meetings. If we look back ten years, there has never been greater interest in meetings with the President of Serbia and members of our delegation. The coming week will be intense, including President Vučić's address to the UN General Assembly, which is expected on Wednesday afternoon, 21 September,“ said Starović. 

According to him, it is quite clear that many countries in the world are interested in hearing the views of Serbia, taking into account the fact that Serbia is among the few countries that consistently follow the course of a sovereign foreign policy. 

„Unfortunately, there are only a few countries in the world that are in a position to completely independently and sovereignly define their foreign policy priorities and follow them subsequently in practice, and Serbia is among them. Hence the desire to hear Serbia's views on the most important regional and world topics,“ said Starović. 

„When it comes to Serbia, everyone is acquainted with the principles by which Serbia is guided and what can be expected from us,“ he noted. 

„It is clear to everyone that we cannot give up our positions and we will not depart from our supreme national and state interests, and that we will consistently protect international public law. Only a few countries have that kind of principled position. Many of our partners' positions sometimes border on hypocrisy since they support the principles of international public law such as respect for independence and territorial integrity in the case of, for example, Ukraine, but they were ready to violate it in the case of the Republic of Serbia. We will remain consistent to our policy. I am sure that President Vučić will do it in the best way, as he has done so far,“ said Starović.

According to him, the UN General Assembly is being held in the atmosphere of the biggest war on the European continent after 1945. 

„Trumpets of war are heard from many other meridians as well, the situation is quite stressful. The UN General Assembly session is being held in these circumstances and it will affect the atmosphere and the tone of the session. It is up to us to protect Serbia's interests in the right way in such uncomfortable circumstances,“ Starović stressed.