17.10.2013.
Meeting of Defence Ministers of Serbia and France
The Minister of Defence of Serbia Nebojsa Rodic met in Paris with the French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in a two-day official visit to France.Central topics of the discussion were possibilities to improve defence cooperation, particularly in the area of joint training and joint involvement in multinational operations, as well as the intensification of military education, military economic and military technical cooperation. At the meeting, they also discussed the efforts of the Republic of Serbia to strengthen the regional ties and faster integration into the European Union.
The ministers concluded that the conditions have been created for the full implementation and enhancement of defence cooperation in the framework of the strategic partnership between Serbia and France.
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Defence cooperation between Serbia and France is intensive, but there are opportunities for qualitative and quantitative improvement in the areas of mutual interest. The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia is strongly committed to continued cooperation with the Republic of France in the area of involvement in multinational operations.Le Drian commended the Serbian Government for the progress made in the negotiations with Pristina, and for the participation of Serbia in the international peacekeeping operations together with France.
Training of two Autonomous Vessel Protection Detachment (AVPD), conducted from 11 to 15 March 2013 in Loriana (Republic of France), is a significant step in the field of joint preparations and involvement in multinational operations and the most important item of cooperation between the two countries. France will be the leading nation in Operation ATALANTA as of December 2013, and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia plans to deploy one Serbian Armed Forces officer onboard the French military ship, within the multinational Headquarters (FHQ).
The Minister of Defence of the Republic of Serbia has lain today at 10 am, a wreath on the Serbian military cemetery in the place of Tier, just outside Paris, in honour of the Serbian soldiers killed in the First World War. The Serbian military cemetery in Tier was officially opened and consecrated in 1931. There are no completely reliable data about the total number of Serbian victims in the Great War and some estimates range from 800,000 to 1,250,000 killed and dead, and property damage is estimated at about 10 million gold francs.The visit of Minister Rodic to France is to be continued with participation in the interministerial meeting regarding the preparations for the celebration of the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. The meeting, convened by the French Minister Delegate for Veterans’ Affairs at the French Ministry of Defence, Kader Arif, has started this evening with the ceremony of reviving the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
