01.10.2010.
Serbia to get a new, modern army
Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac stated to TANJUG news agency today, on occasion of the Government’s decision on canceling the conscript duty as of1 January 2010 that this means that Serbia will get a modern defense system with a professional army.
“After ten years, the promise of the Democratic opposition of Serbia is finally being fulfilled, as Serbia is just months away from getting a fully professional system, standardized according to the best world standards in order to be capable to counter current risks and threats, as he said.
Minister of Defense stressed that Serbia today could be ranked as one of those countries with a modern, strong and fast army."I wish to congratulate everyone for their participation. Including my predecessors and my current staff which has been engaged on this project for the past two years”.
The fact that we have managed to improve the status of the SAF members in the last two years and to reclaim the trust of our citizens has been an impetus to finish this process even before the deadline”, as Sutanovac said.
He emphasized “bearing in mind that in September alone we had 98% of applicants for conscript duty which was unimaginable only a few years ago”.
"However, we hope that in the years the to come the number of those signing up as for professional duty will be rising, as this will enable them to get certain skills and knowledge which cannot be used in the civilian sector”.
The personnel plan defines that the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Armed Forces should have 36000 members, and another 2000 at voluntary service.
Then there are military academy cadets, a little under one thousand, as well as a certain number of military and military income generating institutions under the defense system, as he said.
On Thursday, 30 September, the Government adopted a decision on canceling military duty as of 1 January 2010.
This obligatory military service will be discontinued after the last generation of conscripts have served their duty in 2010, while also pertaining to conscripts who have opted to serve the army within military institutions.
