04.11.2011.

Visit of the Minister of Defence and Sports of the Republic of Austria

Minister Sutanovac met today with Minister of Defence and Sports of the Republic of Austria Norbert Darabos in the House of Guards in Topcider. It is the second official visit of the Austrian Minister of Defence in office. The meeting was attended by Minister Sutanovac and his staff, the Austrian Ambassador to Serbia Clemens Coya, and defense envoys of that country.

Speaking about the significance of today's meeting, Sutanovac said that Austria is a friendly country, and as a member of the Partnership for Peace and the European Union, is extremely important to us as an example for Serbia's further integration into European society.

- We have a signed agreement on defense cooperation with Austria since 2006. Since then, 56 members of the Army of Serbia went to Austria to continue their education, training or exercises, which is a very important experience for us. Although the number of soldiers in the Austrian army is far smaller than the Serbian army, the Austrian army is one of the top countries present in peacekeeping missions, and about 1,500 Austrian soldiers are currently deployed around the world - said Sutanovac, adding that this experience is very important and can be of much use to the Serbian armed forces.

The Minister also expressed his gratitude to the Austrian Ministry of Defense, and the Government of that country for the support they give not only to the reform of the defense system, but also on Serbia’s path to EU integrations.

- The desire of Serbia to find itself on this path was reconfirmed at today's meeting, and it is clear that Austria would support Serbia's candidacy on 9 December thus confirming that Serbia has completed the reforms that suit the EU.

Austria, as the Serbian Minister of Defence said, is today very present in Serbia through economic projects, and he expressed hope that this country would remain one of our main partners in the future.

- We have excellent cooperation in the field of defense, and we also cooperate with representatives of Austrian troops in the KFOR whose deputy commander is a general of the Austrian army now and we hope that such cooperation will continue in the future – as Sutanovac underlined at the end of his address.

According to Minister of Defense of Austria Darabos, today's visit was friendly, the cooperation with the Serbian ministry could be termed as excellent..

- We have about forty to sixty activities on an annual basis, and what matters is not only the number of activities but the quality of cooperation as well. Austria helps the Serbian Armed Forces by advising Serbia on how to the meet the standards that will help our country on its way to the European Union, and for me it was very interesting to hear about the experiences Serbia has had in the process of creating a professional army. I was able to get very interesting ideas for the professionalization of the Austrian armed forces, which has currently reached a sort of an impasse in this process- as Minister of Defence and Sports of Austria remarked.

He said that Serbia has a key position in the security in the Western Balkans and in Europe, and expressed satisfaction that Austria had an important advisory role.

- In my own and on behalf of the Federal Government of Austria I can say that we support Serbia's EU integration 100 %. With all the arguments that speak in favor of Serbia becoming a part of the European Union, I think the element of security is one of the most important factors to be considered - the minister said Darabos.

He said that, despite the economic crisis, the European Union is a factor of stability on a global scale.

- It offers both security and political stability, and this is a very important element and we are ready to use our influence in terms of Serbia's security and political organizations. Austria has a significant role in the missions in Europe, with 600 soldiers in Kosovo and 400 in Sarajevo. We support the measures of stabilization and security, which is why we are represented in KFOR. Conflicts can not be solved by military means, but must be resolved primarily through diplomatic channels and Serbia's efforts to find a peaceful solution are positive, so in this respect we will always support Serbia. The Austrian federal army is always ready to broaden cooperation with the Serbian army and we will always strive to support this – as Minister Darabos concluded.

ANSWERS TO REPORTERS’ QUESTIONS

Asked about the importance of experience of the Austrian army for the process of professionalization of the army of Serbia and the possibilities for future cooperation between the two armies, Sutanovac expressed satisfaction that Serbia has an upper hand in some reforms when compared to Austria, stating, however, that the Austrian army does not lag behind the Serbia armed forces.

"The Serbian army still has too many problems, especially when it comes to material resources that are far better in Austria. The process of professionalization is a process that changes the whole society and this process should have the full support of the company and therefore I hope that both Austria and Germany which have not yet formed a professional army, will soon realize that professional armed forces, as the word itself suggests, is better than conscript duty. Today we talked about the different modalities and offered all possible assistance to avoid those problems which Serbia had faces so Austria does not repeat our mistakes, and gave ideas and suggestions that we believe can be applied in Austria, "said the Minister Sutanovac, adding that it is important that this reform is not just a reform of the armed forces but also the reform of the whole country, seen as the choice of young people, which is why today there is increased interest in the Army, without the imposition of liability.

According to Minister’s expectations, there will be a continuation of cooperation, further exchange of experience and a return visit of delegations of two countries.

"We are interested in sharing experiences with Austria, especially when it comes to experiences in peacekeeping missions, as the Austrians have the largest number of soldiers in peace missions. We want to use that experience, knowing that the future lies in the fact that today Serbia has great potential energy that has not yet been used” as the minister of defense said.

Answering the same question, Minister Darabos said that due to the efforts of conservative forces in parliament the process of professionalization of the army has stopped, but he hopes that people will understand the importance of the concept of a professional army.

"I want to start a pilot project from 2012 where I would like to show that it is possible to have a combination of professional soldiers and military conscripts. It is impossible to apply literally the experience of countries with whom we have worked, but we must slightly modify this. however, during this visit to Serbia we got some interesting and useful ideas that we try to present to our fellow countrymen in Austria to accept the idea of professionalization of the army as useful ", said Darabos.