11.06.2011.
State Secretary Tanja Miscevic speaks for Danas daily about the upcoming Strategic Military Partner Conference
THIS IS NOT NATO SUMMIT
When someone says that in Belgrade there will be Summit of the Alliance, this is the proof of how he does not know the things.
Strategic Military Partner Conference is extremely strongly secured, but the citizens of Serbia will not feel it. There will not be closing streets in Belgrade and disruption of normal life, said Tanja Miscevic, State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry of Defence for Danas daily regarding the Strategic Military Partner Conference, which is to be held in Belgrade from 13 to 15 June.
The interviewee to Danas daily added that all those who are involved in any segment of the organization of this event have been meeting together for a year arranging all the elements, starting from "trivial" issues, such as who and when will be sending invitations, to the essential ones, such as security. Miscevic emphasizes that the costs of the organization of the Conference amount to about 200,000 euros and are covered by the NATO Allied Command Transformation, as an organizer.- Serbia is not the organizer, but the host. Our costs are about 700,000 dinars, and are primarily intended for transportation and logistics. All this has already been anticipated in this year's budget – Miscevic underlined.
She added that the topic of the gathering was an attempt to find answers to global challenges in the world.
- If the enemy is global warming, the response of a state cannot be the same as the response to security challenges during the Cold War, when the main threat was the possibility of conventional war. The biggest security challenges and threats in the world now are the possibility of internal conflicts, but also asymmetric threats such as terrorism, smuggling and organized crime - our interviewee indicated.
Miscevic emphasized that Serbia must be a part of the global security system, a stable partner, a participant in the EU- and UN-led peacekeeping missions, but also to be present when the discussions are held on all these security issues.
- Out of 69 countries invited, 55 responded. Those that will not come are the states of North Africa, because of the unrest in this area, as well as distant countries such as India or Argentina, with which we do not have enhanced military cooperation. There will be 18 CHODs and a dozen of DCHODs, while the others are Defence Staff representatives – Miscevic said.
As an indicator of good cooperation and partnership in the region, the Danas interviewee mentions the fact that the conference will be attended by CHODs of all countries in the region. The participants, among others, will be CHOD of Belarus, as well as DCHOD of the Russian Federation. She added that this is the highest military gathering in the world this year, which is a big challenge for the Serbian security services, but also for the protocol and the whole Ministry of Defence, which had to organize the Conference in accordance with the standards achieved in the previous four.
- The work on organization is supervised by the NATO Allied Command Transformation, so that all segments of the Conference, including security, are at a certain level – Miscevic pointed out.
Asked to comment on allegations by the opposition that the state is trying to "hide" this conference, Miscevic said that this information was published from the moment when this conference was planned.
- It is important to be precise. This is not a NATO summit. When someone says NATO summit, it speaks about his great ignorance of the things. NATO summit is the highest political gathering of this organization, which gathers NATO Members and is always organized in a Member State. Serbia cannot be the organizer of a NATO summit because it is not a member of the Alliance - Tanja Miscevic highlights.
Author: Ivana Pejcic
NATO as much as Russia, Istanbul, Mediterranean
On the question by Danas how this conference will bring Serbia closer to NATO, Tanja Miscevic said that this will bring it as close as to the Russian Federation, the Istanbul Initiative or the Mediterranean Dialogue.
- What may help Serbia in relations with NATO is the fact that with organization of this conference we can prove that we are credible, stable and reliable when it comes to organizing such meetings – Miscevic highlights.
