EMAIL DETAILS

Last September, NDI's director for Central and Eastern Europe, Rob
Benjamin, together with our local staff, participated in a 'close-out' of
our USAID-funded program in Serbia, along with the USAID mission, IRI, and
key Serbian partners. The Belgrade event culminated not only the four years
of NDI's current program, but the entirety of the Institute's in-country
efforts, which have been supported continuously by USAID, spanning nearly
20 years. NDI maintains a modest presence in Belgrade as the headquarters
of a USAID-funded regional program.

Fittingly, the gathering was held in parliament, and it was an opportunity
to reflect upon the progress and promise of Serbia's democratic
transition. There was a series of speeches and then panel discussions
outlining the accomplishments of our Serbian partners, as well as the work
remaining to be done. Both are considerable.

Belatedly, I am attaching Rob's core remarks at the event, in which he paid
homage to all that has occurred rather than offer a valedictory, or
benediction, or evaluation.

Rob reports that he was very proud, and not a little emotional, to
represent NDI on this occasion. So much of has been done -- Cesid (our
local civic partner) and election monitoring, LGBT support, empirical vote
analysis, televised candidate debates, internal party training,
parliamentary work -- was pioneered in Serbia, and subsequently shared
throughout NDI. The role played by our civic and political party partners
was central to the events that triggered and then advanced Serbia's
democratic transition.

With best regards,

Ken


Kenneth Wollack
President
National Democratic Institute
455 Massachusetts Ave., NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20001
202-728-5500 (Tel)
888-875-2887 (Fax)
email: ken@ndi.org
website: www.ndi.or