The Serbian government signed a 99 year lease agreement with Kushner's investor company on Wednesday (15th), allowing the company to renovate two buildings where the former Yugoslav People's Army headquarters are located.
The headquarters was bombed when NATO attacked the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999.
Reuters reported on the 17th that Serbia rented the former military headquarters in Belgrade to the company of Trump's son-in-law.
After signing the agreement, the Serbian Ministry of Construction said in a statement that it was an "American company with good reputation" that undertook the renovation task. Ministry of Construction officials stressed that this transaction is not a sale, but a lease, with the purpose of revitalizing the former military headquarters with investment. If the project is not completed on time, the investor will return the land free of charge.
The statement said that the agreement also included building a memorial center at the site to commemorate all victims of NATO bombing, and Serbian architects and designers would be invited to submit design proposals for the memorial center. The construction fund is provided by the investor, and the memorial center will be owned by Serbia after completion.
The picture below shows the two bombed buildings. In 1999, these two buildings were bombed by NATO forces led by the United States. Today, in the capital of Serbia, where the city has undergone great changes, this is an undeveloped gold property in the center of the city.
The plan to renovate these two buildings was not actually Kushner's idea. According to the New York Times on the 16th, this was the idea of Greiner, a partner of Kushner.
During the Trump administration, Greiner was a diplomat and served as the special envoy for the Balkans. At that time, he proposed that American investors should develop the old site of the military headquarters of the former Yugoslavia, which had been idle for a long time after the bombing.
Recently, Grenell said in an interview that the United States should help rebuild the bombing site 25 years ago, and said optimistically that the reconstruction project could be part of the healing of "bilateral relations".
Kushner's external attitude remained in the perspective of businessmen. After the agreement was approved, he issued a statement saying: "Serbia's economic development in the past decade is impressive. The construction of this project will further enhance Belgrade's position as the leading international tourist destination."
Kushner released the "early design pictures" of the project on his social account Instagram in March this year, showing two luxurious glass towers standing on the original site of the bombed out buildings. The New York Times reported that Kushner's plan was to build a luxury hotel, 1500 homes and a memorial center for the victims of the explosion. The report also said that the project was estimated to cost 500 million dollars, and Kushner's company was supported by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
The project met with opposition in Serbia. According to Reuters, up to now, more than 22000 people in Serbia have signed a petition calling for the protection of the two bombed old buildings.
These two old buildings were designed by Serbian architect Dobrovic and built between 1957 and 1965. The design concept at that time was to imitate a canyon in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During World War II in 1943, the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army (the predecessor of the former Yugoslav People's Army) under Tito's leadership had severely defeated the fascist army of Nazi Germany there. In 2005, the Serbian government declared the destroyed site in downtown Belgrade as a protected "cultural asset".
The opponents' reasons also include that the site is a painful symbol of NATO bombing. Although the Kosovo War has long ended, the division of Kosovo still plagues Serbia.
After the Serbian government signed the lease agreement with Kushner's company, four members of the Serbian opposition party held a protest in the street on Thursday (16th), holding placards, trying to interrupt the traffic near the former military headquarters.
"Some people are trying to clean up the mess they created, and they are not qualified to do anything here," said Jonic, a member of parliament who participated in the protest on Thursday. "We will continue to use all legal means and citizen protests to prevent such acts."
Source: official media/online news
Editor in charge: Zhang Yu
