18.11.2009.

Minister Sutanovac: for stronger cooperation

Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac stated today in his statement to FONET news agency after the America-Adriatic Charter conference held in Sarajevo, BiH, that Serbia accepted every initiative especially regional one which should add to stability and security in the South Eastern Europe (SEE), which meant that regardless of the parliament’s decision on Serbia’s neutrality it could develop cooperation within PFP.

Stressing that one of Serbia’s foreign policy priority goals was cooperation in the region, the minister said that all countries shared the same security risks, threats and challenges where one country alone cannot possibly counter these threats.

"Only through cooperation, understanding and dialogue can we reach a final solution. I am convinced that what is good for Serbia is good for the region too, and what is good for the region is good for Serbia”, as Sutanovac stressed, who is also leading the delegation of MoD at this conference, where Serbia has the status of an observer.

Remarking that within this regional cooperation, Serbia had ten officers from regional countries at the staff and command staff college studies, he also mentioned that Serbia wished to continue this trend.

Furthermore, as Sutanovac informed the press, Serbia also offered at the conference that the NBC center in Krusevac be turned into a regional center for NBC protection.

“We discussed about the possibilities for cooperation beyond the borders of our country. There is great interest in centers in Butmir and Skopje”.

Minister of Defense of Serbia also expressed his hope that next year, with the finalization of the reforms of the defense system of Serbia, it should also take a more active part within this initiative and to enable a larger number of regional armies to be present in centers in Serbia.

He added that the he had informed his colleagues from BiH, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, charter members, as well as from Slovenia, which was a guest at the conference, of the finalization of “Jug” (The South) base near Bujanovac, the largest infrastructural project in the last few decades, where soldiers could be trained for participation in peacekeeping operations.

"I consider this to be one of the best investments which the Ministry of Defense as made in the last few years and this will be a crucial point when it comes to training our regional partners for peacekeeping operations”, as Sutanovac remarked.

He voiced his support to the efforts invested by BiH and Montenegro to become NATO members and expressed his hope that this would happen soon enough.

BIH defense minister Selmo Cikotic, the host of the conference, also warned that we should never again allo to pay such a high price for the lack of cooperation and understanding as did BIH in the last twenty years.

Cikotic added that it was very important that the region was maturing as a whole, and that each country should be happy about the success of another country.

“A high level of understanding” was reached at the meeting as regards establishing regional training centers, where the success of the conference can be seen in the fact that the participating countries understood each other increasingly more.

USA Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow stressed that steps which both old and new members of the Charter could take in order to improve the reforms in the region were the topic of discussion where old member states expressed their readiness to convey and share their experiences with their members.

The need to conduct joint exercises was also another topic of discussion, as these joint activities would strengthen capacities of member states, acelreating Euro-Atlantic integrations.

Furthermore, as Vershbow stated, the presence of Serbia as an observer, and Slovenia as a guest bore great significance for the meeting.

FONET news agency

The meeting of defense ministers of member states of the American-Adriatic Charter started this morning in Sarajevo, BiH, which is also attended by the minister of defense of Serbia Dragan Sutanovac.

The conference was opened by the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH Nikola Spiric who remarked that this meeting was an excellent opportunity to give further boost to the stabilization in the region as this Charter proved to be a successful example of regional cooperation.

Serbia has the status of observer and the members of this initiative, established in 2003 are besides US, as the founding country, also Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro and BiH, the latter two entering full membership in December 2008.

The purpose of this initiative is strengthening regional cooperation, security and stability as preconditions for faster involvement into Euro-Atlantic integrations as well as promoting democracy and minorities’ rights.

The main fields of cooperation are curbing terrorism, cross-border crime and WMD, corruption and drug trafficking.

FONET news agency