27.01.2015.
Improving cooperation in the field of defence with Macedonia
First bilateral defence consultations between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Macedonia were held yesterday in Skopje. Head of the Department for International Military Commperation Colonel Milan Konjikovac and Head of the Sector for International Cooperation Dr. Bekim Maksuti stated that cooperation in the field of defence is advanced, with room for its further qualitative and quantitative improvement of mutual interest. They expressed their expectation for the cooperation to continue improving in the field of military education, with exchange of students of various levels of education, and particularly stressed the importance of improving military economic cooperation by mutual participation in regional projects. A high level of agreement was reached on the challenges, risks and threats to regional and global security.
Colonel Konjikovac presented to his interlocutor the goals of the Republic of Serbia during its chairing over OSCE in 2015, activities of the Ministry of defence in the course of the process of EU accession and mechanisms of cooperation in the course of the Partnership for Peace Program. He presented the current deployment of MoD and SAF members in multinational operations, and the plans for their increased engagement in the future period. Konjikovac stressed the importance of regional cooperation, since the dynamic security environment demands firmer connections between states in the region in all fields, especially in the domain of combating transnational threats and responding to natural disasters.
Considering the restrictive budgetary means in the states of the region, it is necessary to develop shared capacities on a regional level. In the next period, it is vital to concretize the started initiatives, such as the continuation of regional cooperation in the field of military education, military medicine, public relations, destruction of surplus arms, and continuation of cooperation through further specialist education in the fields of CBRN, logistics and aviation.
Bekim Maksuti informed the Serbian delegation on the process of Euro-Atlantic integrations as the key priorities of foreign policy of the Republic of Macedonia. He stressed that members of the Macedonian Army contribute to reaching and sustaining peace with their deployment in multinational operations and engagement in EU combat groups, and engagement at the Brigade for preserving peace within countries of Southeastern Europe (SEEBRIG).At the end of the talks, they devised and signed the Plan of bilateral military cooperation for 2015.
During the visit, upon the initiative of the Macedonian side, the delegation of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia was received by Head of the Army General Staff of the Republic of Macedonia Lieutenant General Goranco Koteski.
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