13.05.2025.
Minister Gašić attends UN Peacekeeping Ministerial
Minister of Defence Bratislav Gašić attended a United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin today.
Opening speeches were given by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, Johann Wadephul and Boris Pistorius, German federal ministers for foreign affairs and defence, respectively. After the conference opening, Minister Gašić expressed his gratitude to the Federal Republic of Germany for organizing the conference in collaboration with the UN Secretariat and other co-chairing countries and congratulated ministers Wadephul and Pistorius on their recent election as members of the new German government and wished them much success in their important new roles.
According to him, the Republic of Serbia, as a significant troop and police contributor, views unwavering support to the preservation of peace and a tangible contribution to joint initiatives aimed at maintaining peace and security as mandated by the UN Charter, as constituent elements of foreign policy.
- Regardless of the increasingly complex security situation in the world, as well as internal challenges it faces while striving to preserve its territorial integrity, Serbia, as one of Europe’s most significant and one of the bigger troop contributors in the world, remains firmly committed to building and maintaining peace under the auspices of the United Nations and continuously builds its peacekeeping capacity – emphasized Minister Gašić.As he pointed out, Serbia is very interested in the future and reform of peacekeeping for two reasons - firstly, as a significant troop and police contributor, and secondly, as a host country of one of the peacekeeping missions, in which capacity it invariably insists on a consistent respect for Security Council Resolution 1244, the principles of international law and the territorial integrity of Serbia, as well as on the continuation of UNMIK’s engagement in an undiminished scope and with an unchanged mandate.
- Serbia supports the efforts of the Secretary-General and the UN Secretariat regarding the future and reform of peacekeeping, and in this context, remains firmly committed to the Declaration of Shared Commitments on UN Peacekeeping, which it endorsed in 2018, as well as to the implementation of the Action for Peacekeeping initiative. At the same time, we have high expectations of the ongoing UN peacekeeping review process, which is being carried out by the Secretary-General in accordance with the Pact for the Future - said Minister Gašić.
According to him, we must not allow the concept of peacekeeping, which has been carefully built and refined over nearly eight decades, to be abandoned or weakened, but rather to be strengthened through ongoing and future reforms.- Member States must have a shared vision for the future and reform of UN peacekeeping operations and define priorities in the most important areas, such as the provision of greater protection and security of peacekeepers, as well as the use of new technologies, including AI and renewable energy sources. Serbia devotes much attention to this issue and trains and equips its units for peacekeeping operations accordingly - the Minister of Defence said, reaffirming Serbia's commitment to remaining a reliable peacekeeping partner to the United Nations in the coming period, including support for the UN Secretariat’s ongoing initiatives and efforts regarding the future and reform of peacekeeping.
United Nations peacekeeping ministerials are high-level international conferences aimed at strengthening peacekeeping operations. In practice, they primarily provide a platform for defence and foreign ministers and other senior representatives of member states to get together and make new pledges to make peacekeeping more effective and efficient.