Garčević Co-Authors Letter Calling for Increased U.S. Engagement with Western Balkans
Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, co-authored an open letter to members of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Relations, the Department of State, and the National Security Council calling the U.S. to be more engaged in the Western Balkans.
The letter – co-signed by a group of high-profile intellectuals and leaders from Albanian-American, Bosnian-American, and Montenegrin-American communities – urges U.S. leaders to pressure Serbia to stop undermining regional security and get more involved in the Western Balkans. Garčević specifically argued for “more political power behind the State Department envoys” and for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “visit our region to demonstrate that we’re on the U.S. map.”
Garčević and other signatories will be meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers this week to discuss the matter further.
The open letter can be read on Medium. The letter was also the subject of news stories in the National Journal and Voice of America.
During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Vesko Garčević dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School. Learn more about Ambassador Garčević on his faculty profile.