13.11.2014.
General Dikovic at the meeting of the EU Military Committee
Head of the General Staff of Serbia General Ljubisa Dikovic is visiting Brussels, where he participated in the work of the EU Military Committee today.
At the meeting of the EU Military Committee, a panel was held titled “Serbia and partnership” where General Dikovic spoke about contemporary security challenges, risks and threats, engagement of the Republic of Serbia in the concept of the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union, most important activities of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia related to international military cooperation and contribution to global and regional security, and the capacities the Armed Forces of Serbia can offer other armed forces in the course of various activities of international military cooperation and activities of EU Common Security and Defence Policy.Reminding of the fact that today’s security challenges, threats and risks are more difficultly predicted than the past conventional threats, General Dikovic pointed to the common need and obligation to fight and prevent them.
- We are talking about a varied specter of security issues, but they have one thing in common: we can successfully and permanently respond to them only by joint engagement – General Dikovic said.
General Dikovic stressed that, when it comes to security, Serbia has set its priorities by defining its foreign and security policy in a way that is greatly adjusted to the position and actions of EU.
- Serbia is openly and selflessly dedicated to obeying the International Law, strengthening the role of the United Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union, and to creating mechanisms for preserving security in the world. Serbia’s chairing over OSCE that will begin in January 2015 is an opportunity for Serbia to show it can engage in solving numerous challenges, and the principle it will follow is that concrete and sustainable solutions can be reached only by constructive political actions and dialogues – General Dikovic said, stressing that active involvement in the EU Common Security and Defence Policy concept has contributed to improvement of Serbia’s foreign political position. He added that it has been proven that soldiers have good mutual understanding, that they “speak the same language”, and that military cooperation with certain states, primarily states from the region has been improved faster than cooperation in some other fields.
Conveying the intention of the Armed Forces of Serbia to continue developing capabilities of special forces for combating terrorist threats, and special purpose forces for supporting civilian governments, Head of the SAF General Staff said that particular attention will be given to developing response forces and development of capabilities for deployment in multinational operations. He reminded the participants of the panel that SAF currently deploys 237 of its members in multinational operations of UN and EU across the world and he mentioned the fact that around 500 MoD and SAF members have participated in 12 international exercises in 2014, and that 400 of our members will participate in three international exercises by the end of the year.General Dikovic also stated that the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia support further development of the network of regional training centers and that, in that respect, Serbia offers capacities of the CBRN Training Center in Krusevac that last year received the status of a partner center for training and education. General Dikovic also stressed the significant capacities of “South” base as a center for training and preparation of units for deployment in multinational operations and conducting of international exercises, and the capacities of the Medical Staff Training Center in Nis and Center for demilitarization of surplus ammunition and arms in Kragujevac.
- In the further course of concretization of cooperation, we have started the initiative for submitting the Technical Research Center into the Base of Research Centers of the European Defence Agency. Our offer to declare the motorized infantry company, military police platoon, CBRN platoon and medical teams in the EU Forces Catalogue has been accepted. Also, we have offered the autonomous teams for vessel protection to be declared in the Catalogue – General Dikovic said.
Commenting on the territory of the Western Balkans, General Dikovic pointed out that the issues of transition, security heritage, organized crime and corruption and illegally declared independence of Kosovo negatively reflect in the dynamics of security consolidation of the region.
- There would be no permanent solutions without the engagement of all Western Balkan countries, sincere support and help from the international community, based on the International Law – General Dikovic concluded.
Photo: EU Council
