18.12.2009.

Reception of the Minister of Defense

Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac and SAF CHOD LTG Miloje Miletic gave a reception on occasion of the approaching holidays in the renovated Grand War Hall of the old VS HQ.

The reception was attended by Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, MPs, ministers, representatives of the legal, executive and court powers, of the military diplomatic corps, the Police, religious communities, political, economic and cultural life and the media.

In his address to the present guests, Minister Sutanovac reminded of the promise given on the last year’s reception that this year’s festivity would be given in the renovated hall of the old HQ, since this building is of great cultural and historical value and ranks as one of the most beautiful buildings in the Balkans.

– Risking to forget the successes we achieved last year, I want to point out just some of the activities which had marked 2009, and the whole system in general, as Sutanovac said. He stressed that after several years of contrasting the military base Jug, this year had also seen the accreditation of the Military Medical Academy and the Military Academy. For the first time in history, we have enrolled the first generation of medical students at MMA, and sending the first medical team to Chad represents another step forward in comparison to the previous year.
Our foreign political activities, in the field of defense, as well as in the field of defense industry, have caused the products of our defense industry to find their place in foreign markets.

The Minister reminded of the large number of military exercises successfully conducted home and abroad, as well as of numerous visits with foreign politicians and high military representatives. There was no segment where there had been no advancements in the defense systems.

the Minister thanked his closest co-workers for being subjugated to his criticism, or to the public’s eye, yet who remained committed, and doing her job well. Sutanovac also thanked the Parliament for passing two strategies and six laws.
Thanking President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Cvetkovic, he also extended his thanks to the Minister of Finance Diana Dragutinovic for understanding when it came to the military budget issues.

Congratulating the upcoming holidays, Minister said that this day should be marked in history, as after almost two decades the citizens of Serbia would be finally able to travel without visas.