17.07.2013.
Round Table on Relations between NATO and Serbia
Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Miroslav Jovanović has today taken part in the Round Table in the organization of the “New Magazine“ on the subject “Will the relations between Serbia and NATO change after start of the negotiations on accession of Serbia to the European Union“. Discussion was held on the premises of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. Jovanović gave his speech within the panel “Development and perspectives of the relations between Serbia and NATO and possibilities for cooperation within Partnership for Peace Programme“. On this occasion he pointed out that the Republic of Serbia declared its military neutrality in December of 2007, and that the cooperation between Serbia and NATO was formally regulated by signing the 2006 Framework Document and joining the “Partnership for Peace Programme“.
– The framework allowed for the international cooperation in the area of defence includes the participation in the security arrangements of the United Nations Organization, the active participation in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the participation in the activities of the European Council, then the participation in the NATO Partnership for Peace Programme, the participation in the EU Joint European Security and Defence Policy, the participation in regional security initiatives and bilateral cooperation with interested and democratic states, said the Assistant Minister.
He added that the cooperation of Serbia with NATO is carried out by the engagement in the Partnership for Peace mechanisms, such as the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), Planning and Review Process (PARP), then Individual Partnership Cooperation Programme (IPCP), Operational Capabilities Concept (OCC) and the Building Integrity Programme and Reducing Risk of Corruption (BI).
- The Cooperation is also conducted through the work of the Serbia – NATO Defence Reform Group (DRG), participation of our country`s representatives in the NATO Parliament, the committees and working groups available for partners, then through the participation at the meeting of the US-Adriatic Charter (A-5) in which our country holds the observer status, as well as through joint activities of the Serbian Armed Forces and the KFOR mission.
The participants of the Round Table were also the Head of the NATO and Partnership for Peace Department at the Security Policy Sector of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dijana Ivančić, the Ambassador of Slovakia to Serbia, H.E. Jan Varsho, Defence Attaché of Austria, Brigadier General Reinhard Schöberl. The theme “Serbia, NATO and Europe“ was discussed by the Professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Predrag Simić, the Director of Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, Sonja Stojanović-Gajić, Director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies, Jelena Milić and Project manager at the Atlantic Council of Serbia, Boris Viculin.
During the debate, the researcher at the Ipsos Strategic Marketing, Marko Uljarević, presented the results of the research on the opinion of the citizens of Serbia on NATO and European Union according to which 53 per cent of citizens is for the membership in the Union, while 13 per cent is for the accession to the Alliance.
