21.02.2012.

Minister Sutanovac visits the Czech Republic

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac met today at the start of one-day working visit to the Czech Republic, with the Czech Republic’s Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra. On this occasion, the ministers discussed the cooperation between the two countries in defense, as well as sharing experiences in implementing reforms in the defense system.

SAF received an official invitation today to join the Visegrad Group (V4), which will start in 2016 which will include the defense systems of the European Union and the Eastern region covering Europe, Middle East, northern Africa and the Caucasus.

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac said in a statement to Tanjug news agency after meeting with Minister of Defence of Czech Republic Alexander Vondra during which SAF received an official invitation, that this was a good initiative, and that in future on possible participation of Serbia would be discussed.

According to him, these are countries that were once more or less part of the eastern bloc and therefore have full understanding for Serbia.

"These countries are now more developed than Serbia, but they all hold Serbia in high respect for the Serbian Army. However, it is not the only group that offers that would like to cooperate with the Serbian Army, and we will in the future consider and decide about it," Tanjug said the minister.

It is a combat group that gathers V4 member states - Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland – which even upon establishing the group on 12th May 2011 expressed particular interest in cooperation with the armies of Serbia and the Ukraine.

V4 will be under the command of a Polish general with 2,500 to 3,000, a third-country military contingent will be part of a member of V4.

During a visit by a delegation of the Serbian Army and Defense Minister Sutanovac in Prague both sides agreed on a number of other projects of cooperation between the two countries, including the framework of peacekeeping missions in which the Czech Republic has deployed 800 of its members, as well as in the field of military industry through joint actions in third markets.

"The former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were among the biggest producers in the field of defense industry in Europe. Today, this tradition is cherished both by Serbia and the Czech Republic which is why we discussed the possibilities of production, both for the Serbian and Czech army, and the markets where we are not present or the Czech Republic" Sutanovac said.

Army of Serbia and the Czech Republic also signed an Agreement on Cooperation in the field of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense (CBRN).

The agreement, signed by generals Goran Radovanovic and Bohuslav Dvorak, envisions exchange of information and products, realization of joint research and development projects, exchange of experts, participation in military exercises ...

We talked about cooperation in the field of CBRN defense between our center in Krusevac and the center in Liberec, which is the center of the area for the whole of NATO, which means it provides an extremely high level of training and education, said, minister Sutanovac .

He said that at today's meeting long-term cooperation and strong armies of the two countries.

"The depth and quality of relationship between the Czech and Serbian army is best seen in the fact that the first founder of the MA in the Principality of Serbia was an officer of the Czech Army Franjo Zah. It was today that we confirmed the times when we had a very strong and good cooperation so we believe that the agreements that we signed today will serve as a basis for better cooperation, "said the minister.

He recalled that the Serbian Defense University is established based on the experience of the Czech Republic, which, as he noted, is one of the few countries that has the University of Defence and Military Medical School that also exists in Serbia.

Furthermore, Sutanovac reminded of the support of the Czech Republic and European integration of Serbia, adding that at today's meeting, defense minister of that country had confirmed that when it comes to the Czech Republic, ahead of Serbia there are no conditions for candidate status in March.

"The President of the Czech Republic, the foreign minister and now defense minister have all confirmed that Serbia should have no further requirements for becoming a candidate when it comes to the Czech Republic," the minister told Tanjug.

He said that this is one of the important results of the recent visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic to the Czech Republic, as well to the present-day talks in Prague.

Minister of defense of the Czech Republic Alexander Vondra pointed out after the talks with Sutanovac to the Czech Republic and Serbia has always been friendly to each other and will remain so in the future.

He stated that the plan was that the cooperation of the defense system of the two countries is developing in the areas of education, CBRN defense, and in the field of logistics.

" We appreciate the progress Serbia has made in defense reform and professionalization of the army," said Vondra.

Czech defense minister said there was no reason for not granting candidate status to Serbia, Kosovo, because a positive opinion of the European Commission made last year was enough for Serbia to gain the support of the Czech Republic for the European integration process.

After the meeting with Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac Minister Vondrea confirmed unconditional support of the Czech Republic to Serbia while commending it for the reforms carried out by Belgrade, especially in the reform of the country's defense.

"We support Serbia now, we will support it next week, and in March as well," said Vondra.

Answering Tanjug’s question whether Serbia has met all the requirements for becoming a candidate, he said that Serbia had fulfilled the conditions late last year, which was confirmed by the European Commission which has given its opinion in that respect.

At the end of the visit to the Czech Republic Sutanovac met with first Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg the country.

Minister Schwarzenberg said that his country was doing everything possible to mobilize all the "friends of Serbia," the European Council to make a decision to grant candidacy status and expressed the hope that Belgrade and Pristina will reach an agreement in Brussels.

In a statement to Tanjug, Swarzenberg, after meeting with Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac ,said that he "hoped that an agreement would be reached."

The Czech minister could not say whether Serbia could hope to get candidacy, if an agreement on the status of the regional representation of Kosovo should be reached.

"I would not say anything further, but I very much hope that an agreement would be reached," said Schwarzenberg.

He also believes that Germany is no longer an obstacle to Serbia’s EU integrations.

"I think Germany is perhaps the biggest obstacle on Serbia's path towards the European Union at this time. We contacted Germans, as well as all European countries," said Schwarzenberg.

He said that he just returned from a visit to Rome and Madrid, and that in both capitals have received confirmation of support for Serbia.

"We are trying to mobilize all friends of Serbia," as the head of Czech diplomacy undelined.