01.03.2016.

Regional Conference on Integrity in Procurement

In the House of Guards in Topcider the Regional Conference on building integrity in procurement for the needs of the defence system which, apart from the members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, was attended by representatives of OSCE Mission, NGOs and civil society institutions in Serbia as well as from six countries in the region – Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece.

The two-day meeting, whose opening was attended by the UK Ambassador Denis Keefe, was organized in cooperation with the United Kingdom Defence Attaché’s Office in Belgrade and with the support of the UK Transparency International. The conference was opened by the acting Assistant Minister of Defence for Material Resources Dr. Nenad Miloradovic who pointed out that the management of the Ministry of Defence provides strong support to the NATO Building Integrity Initiative and all similar projects of partnership organizations and countries.

- We believe that participation in the NATO programme for building integrity, as well as in the Tailored Programme contributed significantly to the development of cooperation with other countries in this field, where we express our special gratitude to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, their Defence Academy, international organizations such as UK Transparency International as well as civil society organizations of the Republic of Serbia. As a constructive partner at the regional and international levels we are striving to adopt positive experience and practice of others, just as we are ready to share our experience in the fields in which we have a sufficient level of knowledge. The aim of this conference is that professionals and experts, who come mainly from countries with similar nature of problems in practice, analyze current issues, identify key challenges with which our defence systems face and propose practical measures that can lead to improved transparency, accountability and integrity in the defence and security sector, Dr Nenad Miloradovic pointed out.

UKAmbassador Denis Keefe emphasized the importance of anti-corruption activities in the defence system.

- Serbia, in the recent years, has seen a significant progress in the implementation of the concept and building integrity, Ambassador Keefe stressed, adding that the goal of the regional conference is to find the ways to further reduce the risk of corruption in the field of procurement in the defence system. Thanks to the efforts made since 2012 to date, in the most recent international reports of the United Kingdom Transparency International Serbia was classified among the countries with "moderate risk of corruption" which certainly is testimony to the good way in the fight for building integrity.

The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia has participated in the NATO Building Integrity Programme since December 2011, when the work on a self-assessment of the state of integrity commenced, and in the NATO Tailored Building Integrity Programme on South Eastern Europe, which is implemented through cooperation of defence ministers of the South East Europe, it has been involved since it was initiated in December 2012. Since March 2013, when the Ministry of Defence submitted for the first time the Integrity Plan to the Anti-Corruption Agency, this document from year to year contains a growing number of activities in which special focus is put on education and training as well as work with business companies of the defence industry of the Republic of Serbia and other suppliers.

Participants in the conference, prominent representatives of the departments in the Material Resources Sector of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, have the opportunity during the two days of work also to point out the results achieved in the consistent implementation of the Law on Protection of Whistleblowers, education of the members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in building integrity and increasing cooperation with civil society organizations.