16.11.2010.

Marking the Day of the Army

In the Nis barracks "Mija Stanimirovic" today the Minister of Defence Dragan Sutanovac and Serbian Army Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletic attended a ceremony marking the Day of the Central Army and the Day of infantry.

The ceremony was attended by State Secretaries and Assistant Minister of Defence, as well as commanders of the Serbian Armed Forces branches, heads of administrative districts, and the mayor of Nis, the Serbian Orthodox Church representatives, veterans' associations, schools and other guests.

A parade of commands and units formed from the following establishments: namely the Army Command, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Brigade of the Army, Special Brigade, Mixed Artillery Brigade, River Flotilla, Military Police Battalion, 246th NBC Battalion and 21signalling battalion. The motorized subechalons were also exhibited in the parade along with the declared units for multinational operations, armored unit from the 3rd Army brigades, artillery, air defense artillery-missile units and special units.

Of particular interest to observers were joint jumps of paratroopers from the Special Brigade of the Army and of the Italian "Folgore" special unit

At the beginning of his speech, Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac congratulated the day of the branch and welcomed the members of the Army who have joined the ranks as professionals, thus demonstrating that they have great confidence in the Army of Serbia and the Serbian state.

"Army is the most numerous branch of the Serbian army, which makes it the most important. Today the army is organized according to world standards, trained and adjusted to confront the changing security challenges and execute mission tasks, defined by law. Last year, the Army successfully carried out all its assigned tasks, the securing of the administrative line towards Kosovo and Metohija being of top priority. The Army, for many years, has been actively contributing to the stabilization of southern Serbia and to restoring confidence in the government and the Serbian Armed Forces", said Minister of defense minister.

He emphasized that the Army had provided selfless help for the population in the under-developed municipalities in Serbia, by building roads and bridges. Even as we speak, the minister said, the army is providing to the citizens of Kings who were struck by this devastating earthquake. "The energy that we are showing in Kraljevo and the Army is the energy of all citizens," he pointed out.

Speaking about the defense reform, Sutanovac said: "We believe that if we want to be better, we have to follow current trends in order to have a modern army, which means we have to change ourselves. So we did. The recent European Commission report bespeaks that the reform of defense in Serbia had received acclamations and acknowledgments by the commission and the report clearly states that we have fulfilled all the tasks in the reform process. We have rounded up the normative-legal regulation and have make organizational changes in MoD and SAF according to the latest world standards. "

We have completed the reform of military education and soon we will open a University of Defence, as a definite tendency to rounding off the educational and scientific activities in the Serbian Army, the minister said, adding that a development program in the field of producing and repairing arms and military equipment had been launched."We are very proud of the military-economic cooperation and the help we provided to the defense industry. The signed contracts exceed all previous contracts in scope and worth and now Serbia is the smallest country in the world with significant exports of arms and military equipment.

"We have improved the international military cooperation in all fields having established excellent cooperation with over fifty countries worldwide to develop an intensive military cooperation. The fact that last year we had the army chiefs of the Russian, Chinese and U.S. armies visit our Ministry and the army and their praise bespeaks of the fact that we have become an important factor of stability not only in the region but also worldwide. I would like to emphasize in particular our participation in multinational operations, where actually the members of the army participate in largest numbers, "said Minister of Defense.

In the framework of UN peacekeeping missions, a month ago we sent members of our armed forces to Cyprus, and there is the upcoming participation in the UN mission in Lebanon, while we have participated independently in Chad for months now, "as Sutanovac stated.

"We want to get closer to integrations in the European Union by participating in the peacekeeping operations of the EU. Today the citizens of Serbia want to see Serbia in the EU and we want to see Serbia as an important factor of security in the EU."

Sutanovac has announced that starting next year there will be military chaplains who will also undergo military training, but will not be armed. "It is a tradition of the Serbian army, and the need of modern armies," the minister said, adding that all the legal requirements for the presence of military chaplains are completed.

"The most important thing is to restore our reputation and trust returns, as can be seen in the fact that today we have four candidates for one vacant position of a professional soldier. In the future we can expect complete professionalism,as the deadline for professionalization is set for the end of the current year. The fact that here today only professional soldiers are present suggests that this process will be successfully completed.

However lack of funds and the financial crisis have slowed the implementation of the equipment plan. We expect that in the future provide the necessary resources and direct them to purchase modern weapons and military equipment. I want to emphasize that the defense system is not only a consumer of the budget, and that it provides job for tens of thousands of citizens in Serbia, not only those in SAF but in the defense industry as well.

In his speech, the commander of the Army Lieutenant General Dikovic said that Army has half the number of all professional soldiers in SAF and performs the majority of tasks of the SAF. In particular, he pointed out that members of the Army have carried out 392 tactical exercises and 117 tactical exercises with live ammunition target practice.

"We are coming close to training a declared unit for multinational operations thus proving that the Serbia is also being defended in the world and is the first line of defense of in peacekeeping missions," said General Dikovi?.

The celebration of the Day of the Army will be marked by a number of other events like the photo exhibition "The Serbian army in the lens in the First World War," by a parade of the Nis military orchestra, by a piece performed at the Belgrade Drama Theatre, the "March to the Drina , and by laying a wreath at the monument of King Alexander in Nis and an academy