28.05.2015.
General Dikovic at the Balkan Countries Chiefs of Defence Conference
Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces General Ljubisa Dikovic attended the two-day 9th Balkan Countries Chiefs of Defence Conference, which was opened yesterday by Chief of General Staff of Montenegro Admiral Dragan Samardzic.
.JPG)
The Conference is an important initiative for strengthening military cooperation among the Balkan states. The main activities of this initiative are training and education, the activities with which the demanded level of interoperability is achieved, which allows for joint actions in various situations. Special emphasis was placed on cooperation in battling and preventing situations caused by natural disasters, since these are the countries that have lately faced very serious problems of the sort.The member countries are Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro. The held Conference confirms the importance of regional cooperation and good neighbouring relations between the Balkan countries, for maintaining and strengthening the stable security environment in the region and in Europe.
Guests of this year are Deputy Chairman of NATO's Military Committee, Mark Schissler, Allied Joint Force Command Naples commander, U.S. Navy Adm. Mark Ferguson, and the Deputy Chiefs of Defence of Croatia and Slovenia.
In the course of the initiative, a joint exercise is held each year. This year, it is the exercise supported with computer simulations “Balkan Bridges” held in Bulgaria, while in 2016, an exercise of special units is planned to take place in Greece.
At this year’s conference, Colonel Mirjana Milenkovic presented the improvement that the Serbian Armed Forces has achieved in the field of deployments in UN and EU multinational operations. National presentations were also held by delegations of Montenegro, Greece and Turkey.
General Dikovic held separate talks with Chief of General Staff of Albania Major General Jeronim Bazo, Chief of General Staff of Bulgaria Vice Admiral Rumen Nikolov, and Allied Joint Force Command Naples commander Admiral Mark Ferguson.
