28.06.2010.
Miletic meets with his Italian colleague
SAF CHOD LTG Miloje Miletic met today with the Italian chief of staff General Vincenzo Camporini who is heading the Italian delegation during its visit to Serbia.Wishing his Italian colleague a warm welcome, SAF CHOD stated that the bilateral military cooperation between Serbia and Italy was at a satisfactory level, stressing that this visit represents the wish and interest of both sides to promote the cooperation even further.
In the previous period, as Miletic stated, the cooperation focused on education and training, confirmed by the fact that since 2005 58 member s of SAF and MoD have been at studies in Italy. Furthermore, according to LTG Miletic, the cooperation in training Special Forces had also been intensified.
“Special contribution to this cooperation can be seen in the 600.000 EUR worth donation of weapons made by the Italian army, as well as the training included for using the said weapons performed by the Italian Special Forces”.General Miletic reminded that the bilateral military cooperation agreement signed between Italy and Serbia has been in force since 2003, and that since then both armies have also signed an agreement on cooperation of its security institutions. In his words, the harmonization of the agreement in the area of military geography was under way.
"We are very proud of the achievements made so far, but there are many good suggestions to improve the cooperation, as the Italian chief of staff, General Camporini remarked adding that the friendship between Italy and Serbia has deep historic roots. He also expressed his belief that it was in both countries’ best interest to strengthen this friendship even more.Stability in the Balkans is of paramount importance for Italy, as he emphasized, observing that this was one of the most important elements of the Italian foreign policy.
He hoped that Italy was facilitating Serbia’s path to EU integrations significantly and in other international organizations.
During the talks, both chiefs of staff talked about improving the bilateral military cooperation. The Italian high delegation will visit some of Serbian army units.