20.02.2015.

Gasic and Veber on the promotion of defence cooperation

The defence ministers of Serbia and Slovenia Bratislav Gasic and Janko Veber concluded that there is significant potential for improving the cooperation in the field of defence. The meeting, which was conducted on the sidelines of the joint session of the governments of the two countries, it was stated that the level of cooperation in the defence field follows the overall bilateral relations between the two countries and that there is a positive trend in the development of political dialogue.

Minister Gasic recalled that Slovenia is among the top countries in the region with whom Serbia has intensive cooperation in the field of defence. Gasic said he was pleased with the organization of the first bilateral defence consultations between the defence ministries of the two countries and that, apart from the main fields of cooperation, there is room for its intensification also in the field of special units training and military economic cooperation.

Minister Veber reiterated the readiness of Slovenia to transfer the experience and knowledge gained during the process of their accession to the European Union. He assessed that there is room for cooperation also in the projects for development of the EU defence capabilities under the auspices of the European Defence Agency, through the cooperation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the defence industry, research and development. Minister Veber said that he expected the cooperation to be intensified also in the field of military education, as well as through continued exchange of officers at all levels of schooling.

Bratislav Gasic thanked his Slovenian counterpart for the continued support that Slovenia has been offering to Serbia in the European integration process. He informed Minister Veber about the activities that the Serbian Ministry of Defence undertakes in the field of the European Union Common Security and Defence Policy. Bratislav Gasic stressed that the focus is on the participation in the EU crisis management operations, which was praised in the Serbia 2014 Progress Report of the European Commission.

At the end of the talks, Minister Veber invited Minister Gasic to pay an official visit to Slovenia by the end of the year.