Belgrade - On May 15, 2018, the United States Government and the Government of Serbia signed agreements under which the United States will provide $22 million in assistance to Serbia. These funds will be used to help make Serbia's economy more competitive, strengthen the rule of law, bolster government operations, improve the media regulatory environment, and combat corruption.

“Since 2001, the United States has provided nearly $1 billion in assistance to Serbia,“ said United States Ambassador Kyle Scott. “I want to stress that our assistance is a partnership. We work directly with the government of Serbia, the Serbian private sector, and civil society to identify the challenges facing Serbia. More importantly we turn to Serbians to identify the solutions.”

Minister for EU Integration Jadranka Joksimovic said that Serbia has been engaged in EU accession negotiations and that “to reach its strategic goal, Serbia will focus all of its available resources toward adopting and implementing the EU aquis and attaining standards that will make it an equal member state. On this path, financial support and future collaboration with the United States as a partner in development, is of utmost importance to Serbia.”

USAID support to Serbia has:

• Made obtaining construction permits and complying with business inspections easier and more transparent—increasing construction activity and moving companies out of the shadow economy;
• Helped communities affected by the migrant crisis repair and improve infrastructure;
• Renovated misdemeanor courts throughout Serbia and improved court operations through case management systems and electronic registries—generating more than 100 million euros for Serbia’s budget and reducing case backlogs by up to 80 percent in some courts;
• Introduced e-governance solutions in 83 municipalities—making it easier for Serbians to change their official residences and to register marriages and births;
• Helped Serbia draft and implement its first whistleblower protectionlLaw—making it easier and safer to report corruption and fraud.