06.07.2009.

Minister's visit to Romania

Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac thanked the Romanian government today for its support to Serbia’s path towards European integrations and for the principled stance regarding the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence.

At the press conference after the talks with the Romanian minister of defense Maihai St?ni?oar?, Sutanovac said that Serbia had the best bilateral relations in the region with Romania, which have grown even stronger with Romania’s principled support to Serbian stance regarding Kosovo.

"The modern world is based on respect for the international law and we are certain that we are protecting this international law with our principled stance, as Sutanovac said, expressing great respect of Serbia for Romania’s support to visa liberalization knowing that the support is genuine.

Serbian Minister of Defense also expressed discontent with the announced reduction in the number of KFOR troops, estimating that the presence of military personnel should not be reduced in the Serbian southern province as the rate of organized crime is exteremly high in this area.

"KFOR guarantees security and safety in KiM, yet what the international community seems not to recognize is the need to crack down on the organized crime., added Sutanovac, explaining that Kosovo is not at risk in military terms, but rather that is an unsafe area due to organized crime, corruption, drug and human trafficking, weapon smuggling and illegal migrations.

With the bilateral relations at a nigh level, there is still room for improvement in the areas of military education, training and exchange of experiences which Romania has acquired during many international peace mission it participated in.

Answering to journalists’ questions, Sutanovac said that the world economic crisis had hit the Serbian Ministry of Derfense too, which is why the army had to give up on modernization and some infrastructure projects.

The trust in SAF is on the rise, however, confirmed by the fact that 4 applicants from civilian schools applied for admission to the Military Academy, while in 2006, only one applicant who finished a civilian school applied to 10 places.
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The Romanian minister of defense stated that his country would be happy to share its experiences in integrating into EU, joining PfP and the experiences in peace missions. He added that its country would remain part of KFOR and that Romania would continue to advocate the adherence to UN Resolution 1244 as well as for keeping EULEX neutral.

Today Drgan Sutanovac will meet with the Romanian Minister of Foreign Cristian Diaconescu.

Beta news agency