20.12.2012.

New Year and Christmas reception organzied by the SAF CHOD and minister of defence

First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army Lt. Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic gave a traditional reception to celebrate the upcoming New Year and Christmas holidays in the House of Guards last night.

Among the many guests, the reception was attended by the President of the Republic of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, ministers, representatives of the legislative, executive and judicial power, diplomatic and military representatives accredited to our country, members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, representatives of religious communities, denominations, as well as well-known people from cultural and public life and the media.

Minister Vucic thanked the guests for their support in the previous year to the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Army stating that he was proud of the members of our military, especially those who work in the toughest conditions.

- Serbia, our military, our ministry will be forever grateful to them for everything they have done for our country. We know how big our country is, how many people live in it, but what no one can take away from us is what we are celebrating here today - pride, the power, the will that we bear in our hearts and minds, as well as the desire to have an army where we are all proud of the citizens of Serbia, the minister said, adding that Vucic we have such a bold, but also better-equipped army, and we had to state.

General Dikovic stressed that the Serbian Armed Forces, in the year that is behind us, carried out their respective tasks with the main purpose to strengthen the country's defense capabilities and security of its citizens, and to improve its reputation in the world.

- When we say the Serbian Armed Forces, it is not a general in a ceremonial uniform who is here standing before you and addressing you, but rather picture a soldier in the Ground Safety Zone, carrying 25 or more pounds of equipment performing tasks, at temperatures of minus 30 to plus 40 degrees. Let us remember our soldiers stationed in Lebanon, Cyprus, Somalia and Uganda, who proudly bear the flag of the Republic of Serbia - said General Dikovic.