US envoy: Serbia faces many burdensome political decisions; marks 9/11

Speaking to the state RTS TV, he added the US President Donald Trump's decision to appoint the special envoy for the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on the normalisation of relations was a clear signal that Washington wanted to accelerate things and focus on the economy and better life for people.

Godfrey said he was not happy with the current level of US – Serbia economic cooperation, and that he wanted it to be higher and better. Still, he was glad about the American developing agency DFC coming to Serbia.

"We're all planning. We work a lot, trying to get it ready to start functioning immediately. This a new page in the history of our cooperation," the ambassador said.

Godfrey recalled that a common US – Serbia story lasted for a long time and that a part of that cooperation was the Halyard Mission, in Serbian known as Operation Air Bridge, form July 1944, when the then guerilla Chetniks force rescued 417 Allied airmen who had been downed behind the Axis lines.

"I'll attend the anniversary" planned for the next week, the ambassador said, adding he hoped President Trump would soon visit Serbia.

Trump faces re-election race on November 3, and the latest opinion polls showformer vice-president Joe Biden, the Democratic party's nominee, polling ahead of him, though Biden has seen his lead narrow in some states since the summer, according to the London Financial Times report.

Commenting on the part of the agreement (or a letter of intent as some describe it) reached in Washington last week with Belgrade and Pristina related to the diversification of gas supplies, Godfrey described it as "important for all."

"We cannot depend on one energy source. That is an important and political topic. Russia clearly uses the dependence on a single energy source to achieve its political goals. It's vital for Serbia to have a freedom of choice based on own interests and aims," Godfrey said.  

Later in the day, he gave blood at the Belgarde Red Cross, thus marking the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Pentagon which claimed over 3,000 lives.

 Belgarde Red Cross has been making the 9/11 victims for ten years with that humanitarian act.