10.05.2017.
General Dikovic at Balkan Countries Chiefs of Defence Conference
The Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic has participated in the 11th Balkan Countries Chiefs of Defence Conference opened today in Athens by the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis.
Besides General Dikovic, the Conference is attended by the Chiefs of General Staff of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey and Montenegro, as well as the Deputy Chief of the Albanian Armed Forces General Staff.
After discussing the annual reports of the Coordination Group and working subgroups for asymmetric threats and for education, training and exercises, the participants of the Conference expressed belief that their work provides further development and implementation of projects and activities, which will make this type of regional military cooperation more successful.
For the first time during the Conference there was the address of the visiting lecturer. The lecture on the topic “Geopolitical stability in the Southeast Europe – energy routes” has been delivered by the OSCE Secretary General His Excellency Ambassador Lamberto Zannier.
The participants of the Conference were addressed by the President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
At the Conference this year the Chairmen of the NATO and EU military committees participated as guests, as well as the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces, the Director of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces and the Commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
Holding the Balkan Countries Chiefs of Defence Conference once again confirms the significance of the development of regional military cooperation and maintaining good neighbourly relations between the Balkan countries in order to further improve the security surroundings in the region and Europe.
General Dikovic had bilateral meetings with the host of the Conference Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis about further activities within the engagement in the HELBROC EU Battlegroup and with the Chief of the General Staff of the Montenegrin Armed Forces about the possibilities of the enhancement of bilateral military cooperation bearing in mind that this is their first meeting since the appointment of Lieutenant General Ljubisa Jokic to this post.
After the Conference the Chief of General Staff had a bilateral meeting with the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Petr Pavel.
Within this initiative every year the joint exercise is conducted. In October 2016 the Balkan countries special units exercise “Balkan Shield” was executed in Athens whereas this year the host of the exercise “Carpathian Eagle” will be Bucharest.
Next year the Republic of Serbia will be the host of the Balkan Countries Chiefs of Defence Conference for the second time.
