Washington: The Republic of Serbia bought a new Embassy building

As of today, the Republic of Serbia is the owner of a new building in a prestigious location in the centre of Washington. The building was acquired as a publicly owned property of the Republic of Serbia for the needs of the Embassy in Washington, which has not owned official premises until now and has been accommodated for many years in rented and inadequate provisional office premises since the breakup of Yugoslavia.

“Today in Washington we wrote a small but important line from Serbia’s diplomatic history,” said Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the United States Marko Đurić during the key handover ceremony.

„Today, Serbia is the owner of the new, beautiful palace of the Serbian Embassy in the centre of Washington, just a few hundred metres from the White House. This historic Neo-Renaissance Washington building belonged to former US Secretary of State Elihu Root and has now become the new building of the Embassy of Serbia,” Ambassador Đurić said.

Ambassador Đurić expressed particular satisfaction that after several decades of living in rented, unconditional premises where not even the Serbian flag could be raised and where there was no adequate or decent way to represent the country, Serbia finally found a new home.

“The vision of Serbia’s development, which is slowly becoming a reality, is shown here, together with our desire to constantly improve relations with the United States,” Ambassador Đurić said, adding that the new building would be an important meeting place for the Serbian diaspora and the Serbian community not only in Washington and the surrounding area but across America.

Ambassador Đurić added that new home of the highest Serbian diplomatic mission in the United States is a result of hard work in Washington over the past few months, as well as of significant understanding and support from Belgrade.

“I am grateful to the leadership of Serbia, led by President Aleksandar Vučić, for the vision to support this important achievement for Serbia here in America, both financially and politically,” he said.

“Such a solution to decades-old problems and a fresh start for Serbia in Washington is only possible thanks to the results that Serbia has achieved in recent years, and it demonstrates that we can really achieve anything together, as a society,” emphasised Ambassador Đurić.

Ambassador Đurić also expressed gratitude to the American hosts from the State Department and the City of Washington, who helped the Embassy with all the necessary administrative procedures.

“I am proud and pleased to be serving here, together with my colleagues who have put a lot of effort to make this happen, at a time of reconstruction and renewal of Serbia and work on improving the Serbia–America relations” concluded Ambassador Đurić.