The US ambassador in Athens Daniel Speckhard advised that Greece and the US need to review the priorities in their relationship. “The dispute over the name of a neighboring country, the tension in the Aegean Sea and the Cyprian problem and not the only topics of discussion, they are not even the most important ones we should cooperate upon,” said Daniel Speckhard. Iran is one of the main priorities of the foreign policy of the new American administration and this is also a priority for the Greek security, because Athens would not be happy with one nuclear Iran. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan are another priority of the new US president and those countries are also extremely important to Greece as well. Last year, 150 000 illegal immigrants have arrived in Greece and 50 thousand of them are from the above mentioned countries. According to ambassador Speckhard, the economic crisis and the piracy in the oceans are another two priority topics of discussion between Greece and the USA. The US diplomat stressed that the Balkans as a whole are also a priority for Washington. He reminded that one of the first foreign-political visits of the new American president was to Turkey. Soon after that, the US vice president visited Belgrade, Pristine, and Sarajevo and in about a month the Secretary of State will participate in a forum in Greece.

“In the last few months, the Serbian people had presidential and parliamentary elections and both times they voted in favor of a European future for Serbia. Our membership in the EU is our strategic and vital interest and we will not let anyone discourage us,” said from the round table the Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic. He called the European Union to respect the sovereignty and inseparability of Serbia. “Kosovo is a Serbian province and no one can change that,” also said Vuk Jeremic. He called for abstention when it comes to recognizing Kosovo until the court procedure is taking place in the International Court in Hague.

Laza Kekic, director of The Economist Intelligence Unit for Central and Eastern Europe talked about the seriousness of the global financial crisis and the slow recovery from it. According to him, the crisis evoked in the US and the US will have put an end to it.