Kosovo hopes for American investment

David Marchick, Director General of DFC Operations, told the Voice of America in a written statement that “The DFC is strongly focused on our commitment. Our officials, finance experts in Washington, will continue to deepen co-operation with embassy officials and our partners in the region to identify new promising investment opportunities in the Balkans and in the Aegean”.

The DFC was founded thanks to a two-party law signed by former President Donald Trump in October 2018. With a financial capacity of $60 billion, The DFC is tasked with supporting private sector capital and skills in developing less affluent countries. The agency's founding statement is said to be “tasked with an important role to help advance the foreign policy of the United States by opposing the increasing influence of authoritarian regimes”.

Observers note that the agency could function as America's strategic arm to control investment and Chinese influence abroad, while increasing the commercial and strategic interests of the United States worldwide.

In September 2020, The DFC founded its first regional office in Belgrade, Serbia's capital. US officials travelled to Serbia, Kosovo and Greece to discuss ways of co-operation through the DFC. Building power in Washington several months later, it is reported to have caused a degree of uncertainty in the Balkan and Aegean capitals about the fate of the projects that were discussed, as well as the general direction of American government's support for investment in the region.

As to ease such concerns, Mr. Marchick said in his written statement to the Voice of America that “The DFC is committed to supporting private sector investments in Serbia, Kosovo and the wider region. We are willing to work with renewed DFC Investment Agreements with Kosovo and Serbia, for which we remain committed and continue our focus, which began last year with the creation of a regional DFC presence” in Belgrade.

Named the region a “core priority”, Mr. March said the DFC “continued to work closely with American embassies in the Balkans and Aegean, especially with the embassy in Belgrade, to select personnel at the DFC regional office while working with the State Department and Congress for the general DFC strategy and resources for our presence abroad “.

“We are working to help cope with the impact of COVIDD-19 in the Balkans and Aegean pandemic with a focus on building essential infrastructure to support economic growth; expand access to renewable energy, technology and health care; and advance financial inclusion, especially for small businesses and women entrepreneurs”, he stressed.

For the public in the Balkans and the Aegean, more DFC, more America, is welcome news.

For Greece, The DFC is “a very important geoeconomic and geostrategic tool in a wider region that includes the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. It can prove very productive in promoting major infrastructure projects, including energy security, renewable resources and clean energy”, chief of the public diplomacy sector at the Greek Embassy in Washington told Voice of America.

Valdet Sadiku, who arrived a month and a half ago to lead Kosovo's diplomatic mission to Washington as in charge of work, said his country expects to expand ties with America “in any possible way”.

For us, this is a priority” Mr. Sadiku told the Voice of America in a telephone interview. Although the Kosovo elections brought a new government to power in Pristina, Mr. Sadiku said that, “can assure you that nothing has changed in our relations with the United States in general and the DFC in particular in this case”.

“We want to honour Mr. John Jovanovich's work (the first director of the DFC regional office). He was truly wonderful and contributed to the effectiveness of this” office, Marko Djuric, Serbia's ambassador to the United States, said in an interview with the Voice of America. “We will do our best to make our co-operation with the new director even more successful”, he said.

Serbia's “Want to establish as strong ties as possible with the United States is non-party”, he stressed. “We want to work very intensively with the new administration to promote economic ties”.

“actually, the entire region has been unilateral in supporting the work of the DFC”, he said. “We are eager to see the DFC engage in as many concrete projects as possible”. / VOA/