19.10.2010.
Meeting between Minister Šutanovac and the Norwegian Foreign Minister Gar Stere
Serbian Defence Minister Dragan Šutanovac and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Jonas Gar Stere assessed today in Oslo that it is necessary to start the talks between Belgrade and Pristine as soon as possible in order to address the daily issues of the citizens in Kosovo."Norwegian officials give full support to the talks between Belgrade and Pristine in order to solve problems oppressing all the citizens in Kosovo", the minister told reporters after the meeting with the head of the Norwegian diplomacy, adding that the postponement of the talks is just accumulating problems.
Stating that the issue of Kosovo is very big issue for Serbia, Šutanovac said that the Norwegian officials welcomed the adoption of the Kosovo Resolution, which was adopted by acclamation at the UN.
Šutanovac said that Norway is a very important foreign partner of Serbia, not only because of the time in which it supported the democratic processess and development of democracy in Serbia, but also for the future where it wishes to be an important political player who would support Serbia.
The Norwegian Foreign Minister, according to Šutanovac, supported further European integration of Serbia."In my talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, I got a confirmation that Serbia should finally be a member of the EU, but must address the issue of the Hague Tribunal, which is important for all the European countries, not only for the Netherlands," said the minister.
The issue of strategic cooperation between the two countries and opportunities for mutual engagement of the capacities with which they could access the third markets and the third areas, where necessary, was also discussed. Šutanovac and Gar Stere also discussed a joint strategic approach to engagement in peacekeeping missions.
"Serbia has the capacity when it comes to military health care. It is not an asset of a large number of countries in the world and Norway is interested to make this capacities operational for the purpose of the future collaboration", he said and added that there is opportunity for education of the Norwegian cadets at the Military Academy in Serbia.Šutanovac also talked with the third president of the Norwegian parliament Marit Nubak about the parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.
Defence Minister of Serbia laid a wreath on the memorial at the town cemetery in Oslo marking the death of 3,000 Yugoslav soldiers during the Second World War who were killed in Nazi concentration camps. He also delivered a lecture at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
