15.12.2020.

Minister Stefanović meets with Italian Minister of Defence Guerini

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, met today with Italian Minister of Defence Lorenzo Guerini in the Old General Staff building, and the two ministers agreed that the cooperation between the two countries had already reached a strategic partnership level.

Minister Stefanović thanked his Italian counterpart for the visit in these difficult times when our countries were facing the coronaviurs pandemic.

- Our strategic partnership is clearly reflected in the close economic cooperation because Italy is one of the leading investors in our country, but also in the fact that Italy strongly supports Serbia’s EU accession. Our cooperation in the field of defence is at an extremely high level, and today we talked about the possibilities of its further enhancement – said Minister Stefanović.

Minister Stefanović points out that one of the topics in the meeting was joint participation of our armed forces in multinational operations, especially our joint engagement in Lebanon, which is a great experience for members of the Serbian Armed Forces, but also an example of good cooperation between the two armies in the field.

Then he thanked Minister Guerini for years of Italian Armed Forces’ participation in KFOR’s mission, and especially for their protection of the Serbian population in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija.

- For us, the protection of the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as our monasteries and churches is extremely important, to which Italian soldiers have been highly dedicated so far, and we would like to thank them again for the help in that mission - emphasized Minister Stefanović, assessing that Serbs in our southern province were satisfied with the cooperation so far and that they were pinning their hopes on the new KFOR Commander, Major General Franco Federici in terms of preserving their security.

Speaking about bilateral cooperation between Serbia and Italy in the field of defence, Stefanović noted that 57 different activities had been realized over the last four years.

- Besides joint exercises, we discussed the enhancement of our military-economic and military-technical cooperation, as well as the cooperation in the field of equipment provision. Other important topics we discussed were military-educational cooperation and military-medical cooperation – said Stefanović.

He noted that although the armed forces of both countries were involved in providing assistance to civilian population due to the coronavirus pandemic, they did not allow this kind of challenge to disrupt their main mission, which is to provide security for our countries.

- I would like to thank Minister Guerini once again for Italy’s readiness to continue being our strong partner in achieving key goals in the field of security – concluded Minister Stefanović.

Minister Guerini emphasized that today’s meeting was an opportunity to point out once again the closeness between the Italian and Serbian governments which were facing the Covid-19 crisis whose effects were dramatic.

- Italy and Serbia have always been close, even during this pandemic. Medical equipment donations that Serbia sent to Italy in April this year were very important to us and we thank the Serbian people – said Italian Minister of Defence.

He emphasized that the bilateral relations between Serbia and Italy had strategic importance and were one of the pillars of stability and prosperity in the Balkans “which is important for both Italy and Europe“.

- We think highly of Serbia's constructive role in supporting regional cooperation, as well as Belgrade's efforts in the Belgrade-Priština dialogue. Italy encourages this process and is ready to support all activities aiming to achieve that goal. I want to confirm our engagement in KFOR, given that KFOR's role is to be an impartial guarantor of stability. I also want to confirm Italy's full support for Serbia’s EU integration process, we are working on it in the European Union and we believe that is important for achieving regional security - Minister Guerini emphasized and thanked Minister Stefanović and the representatives of the Serbian Armed Forces participating in peacekeeping missions in Somalia and Lebanon.

He pointed out that cooperation in other fields was discussed at today’s meeting – the fields of training and education of our service members, joint military exercises and the possibilities of cooperation in other areas such as the military industry.

He thanked Minister Stefanović for today’s talks about the issues of common interest and invited his Serbian counterpart to meet in Rome in order to continue long-term cooperation.

Let us remind you, Minister Guerini began today's visit to Serbia with a meeting with the President of the Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić. At the meeting, which was also attended by Minister Stefanović, they agreed that the two countries had stable friendly bilateral relations and close cooperation in all important areas, in accordance with the established strategic partnership.