Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia
 
11.04.2009.

Regional cooperation a precondition for economic and security stability



Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac stated yesterday that the security and military cooperation with the countries in the region and EU was a precondition not only for security but for the economic stability of Serbia as well. In his statement to TANJUG news agency, after his recent visit to Slovenia, said that the defense was an important instrument of foreign policy, while the strengthening of regional cooperation in all fields including defense was Serbia’s foreign policy top priority.

In his words, this cooperation was extremely important in combating organized crime and other security challenges.
"No country can be seen in isolation in terms of security. The criminals don’t need to make bilateral agreements as they can effectively cooperate regardless of their ethnic and religious differences. While we are still heavily burdened by our historic problems, crime is slowly spreading in the Balkans and unless we soon unite against organized crime and all challenges and risks, especially against religious fundamentalism, I am afraid we will lose that war against organized crime and terrorism”, said Sutanovac.

“There are numerous challenges which go beyond state borders and we have to get involved in preventing these threats on time. This is the only course Serbia can take, both in terms of security and economy. For example, if you have not established cooperation within the Partnership for Peace Program which involves all countries in the northern hemisphere, then you have problems in other fields as well. I hope that this will become clear to all those involved in politics soon enough, TANJUG reports.

Sutanovac, who has signed four agreements since the beginning of the year in the field of defense with EU member states, stresses that it is very important to have an effective cooperation with those countries participating in KFOR, since these forces are the strongest guarantee of stability in Kosovo at this moment.

“Despite the animosity of part of the public towards KFOR, we have to come to terms with the fact that these are men on a peace mission spending the funds of their tax payers in order to provide stability. We have to respect that”, said Sutanovac
 
MOD
Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia, Bircaninova 5 street, Belgrade
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