Military conference ends in Belgrade

Source: Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Participants of the Strategic Military Partner Conference in Belgrade adopted conclusions and wrapped up the conference on Wednesday.

Participants of the conference (FoNet)

Representatives of 60 countries, including members of NATO, Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, took part in the conference.

The conference dubbed “After Lisbon – implementation of transformation” discussed joint training, partnership and mutual help, access to global resources and efficient development of armed forces’ capacity.

Serbian Army (VS) Chief of the General Staff General Miloje Miletić said earlier today that analyses from the conference would contribute to further development of military partnership.

“What's specific is that the conference does not draw conclusions and determine tasks, but instead certain teams in the Allied Command Transformation analyze all discussions, proposals and documents after the meeting ends,“ he pointed out.

Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac, Miletić and Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Stephane Abrial opened a working part of the conference on Tuesday.

Serbian officials said that our country was committed to preservation of regional and global security and that the entire region would benefit from strengthening of relations between NATO and Serbia, which would not affect Serbia’s neutrality.

The defense minister said that Serbia was committed to regional cooperation, security and good neighborly relations as well as global peace by participating in UN and EU peacekeeping missions.

He stressed that the Defense Ministry had been completely aware of the emotions that NATO triggered in Serbia when it accepted to host the military conference.

Abrial pointed out that Serbia was a key security factor in the Balkans and added that strengthening of relations between Serbia and NATO would help the entire region. He said that official Belgrade would decide on possible membership in NATO and added that NATO wanted a level of relations that Belgrade wanted.

The conference started on June 13 and was organized by the Allied Command Transformation. Macedonia, Norway, Albania and Finland had previously hosted the military conference.