26.03.2021.
Ministers Stefanović and Fenghe: Cooperation in the field of defence at the highest level
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, stated tonight that the first official visit of the State Councilor and Minister of National Defence of the People’s Republic of China General Wei Fenghe to Serbia had been an excellent opportunity to talk about the continuation of the comprehensive cooperation between the two ministries.
Minister Stefanović welcomed his Chinese counterpart this afternoon, with the highest state and military honours in front of the Palace of Serbia. At a separate meeting, he thanked General Fenghe for his three-day visit to Serbia, while Minister Fenghe once again said he was glad to visit friendly Serbia and invited Minister Stefanović to visit China this year and attend the International Xiangshan Security Forum.- This was a really good opportunity for us to discuss the continuation of cooperation and all those projects that Presidents Vučić and Xi Jinping launched by joint agreement. We talked about several aspects of our cooperation, because it is really all-encompassing, about the possibility of improving our cooperation in the field of military education, about military-medical cooperation and of course about establishing the Chinese Traditional Medicine Centre at our Military Medical Academy, a project that has already been agreed on, but its realization has been slowed down by the Covid-19 pandemic. We are also preparing the first exercise involving the Serbian special units and the Chinese armed forces which will hopefully be held by the end of the year in China. That would be an opportunity for us to learn from our Chinese colleagues, but we would also show our military skills – Stefanović said.
He also notes that, by donating medical equipment and vaccines to us, China has helped Serbia be one of the most successful countries in the world in the fight against Covid and a leader in the region in protecting our citizens. He also says that he talked to Minister Fenghe about another donation of vaccines.- That donation involves the two Ministries of Defence that will carry it out. China will send us a new donation of vaccines in the nearest future, primarily intended for members of the armed forces and their family members. China will thus help and support Serbia once again, for which we are extremely grateful - said Stefanović.
After the meeting, the two ministers signed a donation agreement.
- We signed an agreement today with the People's Republic of China on the donation of primarily medical equipment, but also the equipment that is already part of the Serbian Armed Forces. We are very grateful for this support, because it helps our military be more efficient, and it helps us protect our service members and our population better.According to him, both parties are interested in continuing the military-technical cooperation.
Stefanović also expressed our gratitude for China’s unwavering support for Serbia in its efforts to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as our interests in Kosovo and Metohija.
- Also, Serbia strongly supports the “One China“ policy which President Vučić has pointed out several times – Minister Stefanović said.
- We talked about how we can improve our "Pegasus" project and we hope our experts from the Military Technical Institute will pay a visit to China this year, where they will continue talks about this very important project for us - said Stefanović.
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