28.11.2012.

Minister Vucic meets Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Rogozin

First Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic met with Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin. After the formal welcome and talks in the Palace of Serbia, Minister Vucic and the guest from Russia held a press conference at the Great Warriors’ Hall.

Speaking about the importance of today's meeting, Minister Vucic pointed out that it was one of the most important visits of the Russian Government representatives to the Republic of Serbia in the past few years, because it is a delegation of the political and economic and military type aimed at improving relations between the two countries.

- Serbia and Russia are very friendly countries and we are grateful to the Russian Federation for assisting the Republic of Serbia in protection of our territorial integrity, but at the same time we would like, and that is I'd say a mutual desire, to improve not only our political, but also economic and defence cooperation between the ministries of defence – Minister Vucic pointed out, adding that the Russian delegation consists of the most important representatives of the Russian industry, singling out representatives of the defence industry.

As announced by the Minister Vucic, during the day the discussions will be held about all the major issues, and the Russian delegation will also be shown everything what Serbia can offer and produce in terms of military and economic cooperation. He also pointed out that the teams have been formed with the participation of representatives of the entire defence industry and all those who are able to offer something more.

- We intend to exchange goods, to buy and sell, but also to jointly produce and to export to third markets together – Serbian Minister of Defence emphasized announcing that the mentioned teams will come out with a complete analysis of the improvement of military-economic cooperation on 1st February. During the talks, he added, it was agreed that improving military-education, military-economic and military-to-military cooperation.

According to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Rogozin, today one cannot speak only about intentions, but also about important achievements, assessing that in the framework of today's talks with President Nikolic, the Speaker, and the first Deputy Prime Minister they discussed many topics as continuation of the August talks with Russian President Putin.

- I believe that by arrival of the new government at the head of the country Russia got a reliable and stable partner in all areas of cooperation, and we still need to continue to improve this cooperation – Rogozin pointed out.

ANSWERS TO JOURNALISTS’ QUESTIONS

Responding to questions from journalists, Minister Vucic announced that by the end of the year, in Velika Plana, a new factory which will produce several versions of the model of combat armoured vehicles for export to Kenya and Bangladesh, for the needs of the Serbian Armed Forces, and for finalisation of Nora missile system, will be opened.

- We expect to make a final agreement with our Russian partners that they give the chassis and body, and we to give components for various types of combat vehicles. Initially, the factory will employ about 130 people, and we expect that, according to our calculations, we will have 192 employees by June next year – Minister Vucic emphasized adding that when it comes to the possible purchase of fighter planes from Russia, the Russian delegation staying in the Serbian capital includes representatives of the United Aviation Corporation MiG-Sukhoi and that certain offers demanded by Serbia as early as in 2010 arrived now.

- They talked about ways and possibilities to improve our capabilities to improve our defence powers – Minister Vucic said, adding that the Russian side is interested in ammunition, explosives, gunpowder and the development of small arms, and joint participation in third markets was also discussed.

Rogozin told journalists that the leadership of that country considered the implementation of the mentioned projects, adding that Serbia is fully capable to manufacture military equipment, bearing in mind that the point is in the way of modernization of samples of weapons and military equipment. He added that there is a plan for joint production, both for Russian market and for the markets of the third countries, mainly ammunition.

- This will be included in the contents of the protocol on cooperation which will be signed – Rogozin said, assessing that today's negotiations meet national interests of both countries.

Commenting on today's talks, Rogozin pointed out that these were preliminary results of the contacts, and as he pointed out, it has been long time since there were any contacts between the two ministries of defence. He added that they should sign an agreement on cooperation, and in the future, also the Declaration on joint strategic cooperation between Russia and Serbia, saying that it was crucial to establish a comprehensive cooperation.

In the follow-up of the visit, the Russian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Rogozin, attended presenting capacities of the defence industry of our country in the "Top?ider" barracks.