26.02.2009.

Greek Defense Minister met with Dragan Sutanovac

After today’s meting with Evangelios Meimarakis, Serbian Defense Minister, Draga Sutanovac stated that the talks were sincere and heartfelt, since both ministries had established good cooperation. He also thanked Greece for supporting Serbia in protecting its interests within international law. “We are certain that abiding international laws in the case of KiM protects it in general”, said Sutanovac.

Serbian minister expressed a joint stance that the military cooperation had been intensified and that the stability of the region depended largely on the relations between Greece and Serbia. Both sides were interested in regional cooperation, as Sutanovac said, since the defense system does not depend solely on one country alone. Minister thanked Greece for its support to Serbia’s future efforts in PfP.

Sutanovac alos extended his gratitude for the donation Greece had made to the Military Academy adding that there were 60 attendants from Serbia who were learning that language. A strategic step would be linking these armies.

Minister also supported Greece in its decision not to downsize its contingent within KFOR. Furthermore, Sutanovac said that he had received the approval of his Greek counterpart for participation in the air show organized by our military.

The Minister of Defense of Greece Evabngeilos Meimarakis expressed his thanks for agreeing with his colleagues from the Serbian MoD on many issues pertaining to military cooperation.

– “We took this opportunity to confirm a high level of cooperation between the tow countries and I am sure we will maintain this level of communication and cooperation”, stated Defense Minister Meimarakis He reminded that his visit to Serbia was occurring in the period of crisis in Afghanistan, Caucasus, and Gaza which are endangering security at a global level. Greek is trying to support the dialogues and peace procedures, stated Meimarakis stressing that his country was chairing OSCE this year.

The Greek minister also stated that the events in the western Balkans should be of great concern to us all. Both Serbia and Greece shared the same vision of the South Eastern Europe as a stable and safe region where countries respect and cooperate with one another.

– Greek also supports Serbia’s European path not only out of friendly feelings it has for Serbia but also because Serbia makes an integral part of Europe. Furthermore, NATO believes that Serbia a very important country in the region, which is why we believe it should participate in all regional organizations, since we cannot imagine this region being safe without Serbia, said Meimarakis.

Greek is interested in finding a balanced solution to Kosovo issue, which would enable stability and security in the wider SEE region.

Answeringt he question regarding Kovacevic case, Minister Sutanovac said that all those who leak top secrets of the government should bear the full brunt of law and should be punished. In the previous period these leaks of governments secrets were used for daily politics in order to gain political points. He said that last Thursday he was holding a meeting with the Portuguese defense minister which made it impossible for him even be in contact with confidential data and that he was represented by the State Secretary. Minister of Defense said that there was no doubt that any MoD member was involved in the revealing of the top secrets in the Kovacevic case.

Also Defense Minister of Greece toured the Military Academy and the classrooms for learning the Greek language.