09.11.2015.

Minister Gasic and General Dikovic in parliamentary session of the Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs

At today's 43rd session of the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, a report was adopted on the work of the Ministry of Defence for the period July-September 2015. The session was attended by Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic, State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence Zoran Djordjevic, and for the first time since the establishment of the Committee, the session was also attended by Chief of the General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic.

In the introductory part of the session, chaired by Marija Obradovic, President of the Committee, Minister Gasic presented the Communication on the work, citing the activities of the Ministry of Defence in the mentioned period in the fields of international and bilateral cooperation, participation in multinational operations, human resources, material resources, the budget and finance, military health care, jobs of security of importance to defence, as well as cooperation with other authorities and entities in the Republic of Serbia.

Presenting the report, the Minister Gasic particularly referred to the fact that 138 activities had been realized in the field of international military cooperation, and the focus of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces are the activities that can contribute to the improvement of functional and operational capabilities of our army the most. According to him, 328 members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces are deployed in a total of 11 multinational operations across the world, who with their professional attitude towards the tasks worthily represent the Ministry of Defence, the Serbian Armed Forces and the Republic of Serbia.

Minister Gasic also pointed out that efforts are made to improve the equipment of the Serbian Armed Forces, with the aim of improving the operational capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces through equipping units, but also to employ local resources and improve the Serbian defence industry.

Discussing housing loans, the Defence Minister stressed that the program of long-term housing loans had proved to be a good solution, for which there was a lot of interest among members of the defence system, and by October this year subsidies to 394 persons had been paid. During this year, the issue of housing has been resolved for 963 members of the Serbian Armed Forces, Minister Gasic said, and announced that additional 70 apartments would be provided by the end of the year.

Responding to questions from members of the Committee, Minister Gasic said that in the previous period, the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces had achieved good results, functioning as a well-coordinated team. Responding to a question of whether the Serbian Armed Forces would cede barracks for the needs of migrants, Minister Gasic said that all capacities of the Serbian Armed Forces would be at disposal if needed, and that some 300,000 migrants had passed through Serbia so far.

Minister Gasic informed the members of the parliamentary body that a solution had been found for the problem of debt to military pensioners, whose implementation would already start with the December calculation of pensions and single payment of the said debt.
During several hours of discussion, the Committee members asked questions about certain segments of the presented Communication on work, but also about other topics related to the work of the Ministry of Defence, and what characterized today's session was the debate of General Dikovic and member of the Board Dragan Sutanovac.

Responding to questions from Board member, former defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac about filling of the units of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Dikovic stressed that it is at 86 per cent, which is at the level of occupancy of the armies in the region, and that the plan was for it to be more than 92 per cent in 2016. Minister of Defence of the previous Government Sutanovac was also interested in the procurement plan of arms and resources from Russia, and, according to General Dikovic, the Serbian Armed Forces, in accordance with the long-term development plan, had expressed the need in order to timely respond to potential risks and security threats. In the following discussion, which marked today's session, the insistence of Dragan Sutanovac on who is responsible for the advertising of surplus weapons and equipment, citing unexplained circumstances under which it had been done in the previous period, Minister Gasic and general Dikovic explained that although the Serbian Armed Forces announced the sale of these surpluses, it could not be done without the final approval and signature of the Minister of Defence.

When asked by members of the Committee about the implementation of UN SC Resolution 1325 on women in the defence system and about when the Serbian Armed Forces’ first woman would be promoted to the rank of General, Secretary of State Djordjevic said that currently three women have a rank of Colonel, and that those that meet essential requirements would then carry the rank of General.