09.11.2012.
MoD delegation at the National Armaments Directors’ conference
Delegation of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia, headed by the State Secretary Zoran Djordjevic, on the 8th November 2012 attended the regular annual meeting of the National Armaments Directors’conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The meeting was attended by national armaments directors of NATO countries, the participating countries of the Partnership for Peace and Deputy Executive Director of the European Defence Agency.
The main topics of the conference were the so-called multinational project "smart defense" in the development of military capabilities and technologies, the prospects of joint research and development, as well as the contribution of the Programme to fight against terrorism in order to adapt to new security challenges of the project.The importance of avoiding overlapping of projects being developed under the auspices of the European Defence Agency was stressed including programs being developed under the auspices of the NATO Conference of National Armaments Directors, considering that 21 NATO countries are also EU member states.
-Such an approach in the application of uniform standards, procedures and doctrine also requires greater cooperation among national defense industries was one of the conclusions of the meeting.
Participants at the meeting agreed that the economic crisis and the reduction in defense budgets of European countries, further make multinational joint projects even more important, in order to maintain and further develop the necessary military capabilities and safe environment.
On the sidelines of the conference, Secretary of State Djordjevic spoke with the director of national armaments of the Slovakian Ministry of Defense Gabriel Mernjak and the NATO Support Agency General Director Michael Leiden.
In a conversation with his Slovakian counterpart, Secretary of State Djordjevic said that we are interested in developing cooperation in the fields of research and testing of weapons, standardization and military topography and also invited Mr. Mernjak to visit the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia in order to concretize further forms of cooperation.
- Promotion of cooperation among defence industries can create conditions for more intensive joint appearance on third markets, said Djordjevic.
He added that cooperation with Slovakia, in the framework of the Partnership for Peace, was very much important and was improving from year to year, especially due to the fact that Slovakia would early next year take over from the Czech government the role of a contact point between Serbia and NATO.
In an interview with the Director General of NATO support agencies Leiden, Secretary of State Djordjevic conveyed his interest in the field of logistics support, codification, destruction of surplus ammunition and logistics officer training program through NICOLOG.
- In order to create a legal framework for future cooperation, the Ministry of Defence should in the future complete the signing of Memorandum of Understanding with the NATO Support Agency, said Djordjevic.
The Serbian delegation at the meeting was also represented by Brigadier General Bojan Zrnic, Chief of the Defence Technology Department and Brigadier General Nebojsa Djukanovic, chief military representative of Serbia’s mission with the NATO.
