14.10.2013.

Minister of Defence meets the head of the UN Office in Belgrade

Minister of Defence of the Republic of Serbia Nebojsa Rodic met today with the Head of the United Nations Office in Belgrade Peter Due. The topics of the talks were cooperation between the Ministry of Defence and the UN Mission in Belgrade, and the participation of the Republic of Serbia in the UN peacekeeping operations.

During the meeting it was pointed out that the cooperation between the Ministry of Defence and the United Nations and its specialized agencies and bodies is of great importance for the continuation of the reform process, to which the Ministry of Defence is truly committed, which is also important for the progress of Serbia towards full membership of the European Union. In this sense, the current cooperation was assessed as very successful, particularly in the area of Capacity Development Programme for Conventional Ammunition Stockpile Management for the Republic of Serbia, with the total value estimated at approximately $ 11 million.

At the meeting, the succe

ssful cooperation between the Ministry of Defence and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and the United Nations Development Programme was also highlighted. The cooperation takes place for the purpose of providing support to the Ministry of Defence to implement the National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 – Women, Peace and Security.

Part of the talks was devoted to the ongoing process of implementing the Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, and once again emphasized commitment of Serbia to permanently status-neutral presence of UNMIK in Kosovo and Metohija.

It was pointed out that the Annual Plan for the coming year, which provides for the increased participation in the UN peacekeeping operations, depending on the needs on the ground, is under preparation. Also, the Ministry of Defence has launched an initiative to hire civilian members of other state authorities in multinational operations.

Currently, the members of the Serbian Armed Forces participate in six multinational United Nations operations and two multinational operations of the European Union.