Overview

U.S. assistance to Serbia and Montenegro (SAM) is based on fundamental U.S. national interests in Europe. SAM is crucial to the economic development of Southeast and Central Europe and to the political stability of Europe as a whole. As a social, political and geographic crossroad amid Western and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and Greece, SAM occupies a key geographic juncture in the Balkans. With a large population, a potential for strong economic growth, and an important geo-strategic location, Serbia and Montenegro’s economic and democratic development remains central to the future prosperity and stability of the region. USAID’s role is to focus on democratic and economic reform and conflict mitigation.

Serbia and Montenegro in Action

The United States of America Donates Ten Solid Waste Collection Trucks to Public Communal Enterprises

On Thursday, February 5, 2004, Roderick Moore, Charge d'Affaires, U.S. Embassy Belgrade, will hand-over ten solid waster collection trucks donated by the people of the United States through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to the municipalities of Ruma, Sabac, Vladimirci, Arilje, Uzice, Bajina Basta, Pozega, Krupanj, Mionica and Valjevo. The donation was made possible under the USAID Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) program, a civil society program mobilizing citizens throughout Serbia to engage in improving their quality of life. In Western Serbia , the CRDA program is implemented through International Relief and Development (IRD). The hand-over ceremony will start at 12:00 noon on the parking lot in front of the Hotel Intercontinental in Belgrade. Read More...

$25 Million Raised for Balkans Through Public-Private Partnership: Donors Leverage Funds to Solidify Democracy

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation are pleased to announce a new $25 million initiative to support good governance in Southeastern Europe. The grant-making effort, called the Balkan Trust for Democracy, is a project of GMF made possible through a public-private partnership between GMF, USAID, and the Mott Foundation. Read More ...

USAID/Serbia & Montenegro Announces Launch of its New Website

USAID has been working in Serbia and Montenegro since 1997. The USAID program supports Serbia and Montenegro in their goal to be democratic, prosperous and moving toward Europe. Our strategy aims to strengthen democracy and governance, to support a large civil society program that fosters democracy at the local level, and to support sustained private sector growth and economic integration with Europe through broad-based policy reform. Visit their website ...

Serbia Heating and Energy Efficiency Program

In the immediate aftermath of the resignation of President Milosevic in October 2000, the new government of Serbia faced critical shortages of electricity in large part caused by extremely low prices that artificially increased demand. Serbia’s use of electric heating is much higher than elsewhere, where it is usually more expensive than other heating methods. In March 2001, USAID funded a Heating and Energy Efficiency program to help citizens deal with energy shortages as well as with the large increases in prices that were widely understood to be inevitable. Read more ...

Southern Serbia: Sowing Seeds of Change

The Presevo Valley is a remote finger of Serbia located between Bulgaria to the east, Macedonia to the south, and Kosovo to the west. Its gently rolling farmland lies nestled between mountains to the north that separate it from the rest of Serbia, even higher ranges on the east and west that demarcate its respective boundaries with Bulgaria and Kosovo, and a broad plain it shares with Macedonia to the south. The area is flecked with a few major towns and numerous small hamlets which are generally either ethnic Albanian or Serb. Read more ...

The Building Blocks of International Relations
(Read the write-up in the Bowling Green News, 9/12/02)

As we approached the airport the scene from above appeared one of tranquility and beauty. Small villages sprawled throughout a rural landscape, country houses with tiled roofs and farm animals roaming in nearby fields. Read more ...