The foreign policy and diplomatic tradition of Serbia derive from its independent state in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Specific foreign policy and diplomatic experience of the Serbian state was drawn upon the vassal or autonomous state of the Serbian people during the various periods of the Ottoman domination in the Balkans, from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

Berlin Congress in 1878

Among the states with which Serbia established diplomatic relations first (before that time diplomatic relations were limited to certain diplomatic functions) were Russia, Austria, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and a number of other European countries. The diplomatic relations with the United States, however, were established only in 1882, through the ratification of the Convention on trade and navigation and the Convention on consular relations.

Krsmanovic House in which the State of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was set up on December 1, 1918

Nemanjic Dynasty - Major medieval Serbian Royal House

In the nineteenth century, when the movement for independence from the Ottoman Empire became irrepressible, especially after the First (1804) Serbian Uprising under Karageorge and the Second (1815) Uprising under Milos Obrenovic, Serbia embarked upon an ever broader diplomatic rapport with the Porte in Constantinople, with Russia, Austria, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other European nations and neighbouring states, such as Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. Serbia became fully independent and internationally recognized at the Berlin Congress in 1878.

After the end of World War I, in which Serbia fought on the side of the Entente, the State of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was set up on December 1, 1918. This state was later (1929) renamed to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In the interwar years the Kingdom was a founding member of the League of Nations and of the Little Entente with Romania and Czechoslovakia as well as of the Balkan Treaty with Romania, Greece and Turkey. The Kingdom's joining of the Axis three power pact on March 25, 1941 was revoked, by the will of the Serbian people, on the streets of Belgrade two days later.

During World War II, in which Yugoslavia was allied against the Axis Powers, a new Yugoslav federal state came into being that was proclaimed and internationally recognized in 1945.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 and of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1975. It was also one of the founders of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, which held two summit conferences in Belgrade, in 1961 and 1989. In the early fifties Yugoslavia was a member of the Balkan Treaty with Greece and Turkey.

Following the disintegration of the SFR of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was promulgated on April 27, 1992.

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On February 4, 2003 the Yugoslav parliament adopted the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, marking the beginning of a new reformed state, replacing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Serbia and Montenegro is a country in dynamic transition in all respects, rightfully seeking its place in the family of free nations. Regional stability and partnership, economic freedom and the enjoyment of the richness of diversity are the goals aspired to by its people. It combines a long tradition and new identity.