21.01.2016.

Bilateral defence consultations with Israel

Bilateral defence consultations with the State of Israel were held in Tel Aviv, during which Head of the International Military Cooperation Department Navy Captain Milan Konjikovac and Head of the Section for Europe of the Bureau for Defence Policy of the Ministry of Defence of the State of Israel Dima Golub stated that the level of established political relations between the two countries provides excellent basis for improving cooperation in the field of defence.

With the harmonization of the text of the Memorandum of understanding on military, defence and defence-industrial cooperation, the legal framework was created for promoting cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the political and security situation in the Middle East and the Western Balkans, with emphasis on the current migratory crisis and other asymmetric security threats and challenges. They agreed that the new security challenges impose the necessity of intensive bilateral cooperation in the field of defence.

According to Dima Golub, the Ministry of Defence of the State of Israel is committed to especially improve military-to-military, military-medical and military-educational cooperation with the Republic of Serbia in the coming period. The importance of concretization of previously planned activities of military-economic cooperation and cooperation in the defence industry was also stressed.

Navy Captain Konjikovac conveyed satisfaction with the accepted initiative for organizing a meeting at ministerial level in the coming period, during which strategic guidelines for the development of future military cooperation would be established. He informed his interlocutor with the process of reform of the defence system of the Republic of Serbia, deployment in UN and EU multinational operations, as well as the activities undertaken by the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in the EU accession process.

During the bilateral defence consultations, the interlocutors agreed on and signed the Bilateral Military Cooperation Plan for 2016.

The delegation of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia was also received by Dr Haim Gartner, Director of the Archives of the Memorial Centre Yad Vashem, which keep memories of the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust. During the talks, it was concluded that the negotiated agreement on cooperation of the Memorial Centre Yad Vashem with the Military Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia in the best way reflects the good cooperation between the two countries.