19.03.2016.

Workshop on international military cooperation and multinational operations

Organized by the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Defence and the Embassy of the United Kingdom, the workshop "International military cooperation and multinational operations" is being held in Zrenjanin, with participation of more than 50 representatives of print and electronic media, ministries of defence and foreign affairs and the Serbian Armed Forces. The workshop is an opportunity for journalists to get a first-hand information on current topics and processes, but also to get answers to questions that preoccupy the attention of the public.

Welcoming the guests, the Head of the Public Relations Department Navy Captain Petar Boskovic recalled that this was the third gathering of this kind, noting that the goals of the two-day workshop are presentation of international military cooperation, the importance of multinational operations under the auspices of the UN and the EU in which our members are engaged around the world, as well as the clarification of doubts regarding the Partnership for Peace Programme in the context of cooperation with NATO.

In the first part of today's workshop participants discussed the international military cooperation from the perspective of partner countries. The Head of the NATO Military Liaison Office in our country, Brigadier General Cesare Marinelli spoke about the structure of that organization, as well as about the previous modalities and perspectives of the cooperation with the Republic of Serbia.

UK defence attaché Colonel Simon Fitzgibbon dedicated his speech to specific forms of cooperation which that country cherishes with the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, stressing in particular the importance of education and training of our members in the UK. Noting the importance of interoperability for efficient cooperation of the armed forces of partner countries, the of Defence Attaché of the United States Armed Forces in Belgrade Colonel Taft Blackburn spoke about the cooperation so far, pointing out South Base as a successful example of a regional pre-deployment training centre for members to participate in peacekeeping operations.

The second panel was opened by speech of Ambassador Branimir Filipovic, Acting Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Security Policy, who spoke about the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) in the framework of cooperation of the Republic of Serbia with NATO, and then the representatives of the Ministry of Defence presented cooperation with that organization in more details.

Head of Department for Defence Technologies Major General Bojan Zrnic spoke about the recently signed logistics agreement with NATO, Head of the Strategic Planning Department Brigadier General Slobodan Joksimovic presented the framework of cooperation of the Republic of Serbia and the Serbian Armed Forces with NATO within the Partnership for Peace Programme, and Major Dusan Mrdak from the Department for International Military Cooperation spoke about concrete forms of cooperation with NATO.

Today's workshop was concluded by questions of media and thorough answers by the panellists.