22.04.2015.

Successful cooperation with the Kingdom of Norway in the field of defence

Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence Zoran Djordjevic met today with Secretary of State of the Ministry of Defence of the Kingdom of Norway Oystein Bo.

For Serbia, Norway is an important and reliable political partner, and it is thus necessary to maintain the continuity of high-level meetings and develop cooperation in all fields, State secretary Djordjevic stressed. Relations between Serbia and Norway are traditionally good and friendly, and the Kingdom of Norway is the second largest foreign direct investor in Serbia. Since 2000, Norway has donated around 250 million euros in non-refundable aid to Serbia, primarily allocated for the process of democratization and for the support to European integrations. Furthermore, the Kingdom of Norway sent significant aid to our country after the last year’s floods.

Djordjevic and Bo agreed that the cooperation in the field of defence is very good. Djordjevic thanked for the continuing expert and financial support of the Kingdom of Norway to the Serbian Defence Ministry, which is of substantial importance for the reform of the defence system, primarily in the fields of military medicine, military education and defence planning.

Norway supports Serbia as the leading nation of military medical forces in the Balkans, and the donation of Norway for the only Serbian level 2 deployable medical facility worth around 1,250,000 euros is especially important. Since 2007 to this day, the Kingdom of Norway has supported the defence system reform with around 27 projects and donated means in the value o around 5 million euros, which makes it one of the largest and most important donors to the Ministry of Defence, for which we are particularly grateful.

The interlocutors agreed that it is necessary to continue with the regular bilateral defence consultations between the Chiefs of International Military Cooperation Departments, considering their importance for the improvement of strategic cooperation in the field of defence.