14.07.2015.

Meeting of Minister of Defence and US Deputy Secretary Assistant of Defence

Minister of Defence Bratislav Gasic spoke today with US Deputy Secretary Assistant of Defence for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Dr. Evelyn Farkas. The meeting was attended by Chief of General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic and State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence Zoran Djordjevic.

Gasic stressed that the Republic of Serbia built a policy of reconciliation, cooperation and economic prosperity of all states in the region, for further continuation of the process of the European integrations. He underlined the negative nature of the brutal assault on Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic during the commemoration in Srebrenica. As Minister stressed, regardless of such events that do not benefit regional reconciliation, Serbia remains constructive about the calming of the situation and improvement of relations in the region.

The interlocutors agreed that the bilateral military cooperation was constantly improving and that it was the best part of the overall relations between the two countries. The United States is the largest individual donator to the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces. The donations are realized in the form of the education programme for MoD and SAF members in the U.S., equipping and modernization of the Serbian Armed Forces, equipping of the Centre for Training of units for multinational operations at the South Base and the AIDS prevention programme. In the future period, the focus of the cooperation will remain on joint exercises, aimed at the improvement of operative and functional capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces. Gasic and Farkas stressed the importance of regional cooperation and regional initiatives, within which national capacities are promoted into regional centres. In such way, the CBRN Centre gained the status of a Partnership Centre for education and training.

Minister of Defence informed Dr. Evelyn Farkas that an agreement had been made recently on the proposition on joint deployment of medical teams of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ohio National Guard in Angola in 2017. Serbia is the leader in the region for the number of deployed members in multinational operations, and plans have been made for this year for the referral of around 670 members in all rotations. Gasic thanked for the continuation of the project “Humanitarian Assistance”, which brings the continuation of renovation of schools in the territory of the Municipality of Bujanovac.

Gasic and Farkas also discussed the cooperation between Serbia and NATO under the auspices of the Partnership for Peace Programme. With the adoption of the Individual Partnership Action Plan, Serbia conveyed its readiness to strengthen partnership and cooperation within the proclaimed military neutrality. Gasic said that cooperation between Serbia and KFOR was excellent, which was the guarantor of security in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija.

They also discussed the upcoming Bilateral Defence Consultations, and the continuation of high-level visits.