20.10.2021.
Meeting of Minister Stefanović and Minister Tanner
Today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović PhD met Federal Minister of Defence of the Republic of Austria Klaudia Tanner, who is paying an official visit to Serbia. Minister Stefanović took the opportunity to thank Austria for the support to Serbia on its path to European integration.
The talks between the delegations of the two ministries were preceded by official welcome on the plateau in front of the Old General Staff, with the guard of honour of the Guard of the Serbian Armed Forces and playing of the anthems of the two states. After the meeting, Minister Stefanović expressed gratitude to his Austrian colleague on her decision to visit Serbia in complex conditions of Covid-19 outbreak and other challenges that exist in entire Europe.
- I am glad to have an opportunity to repay your hospitality, which our delegation enjoyed during our visit to Austria in September. This visit is taking place in the moment when the European Commission has completed its report on the progress of Serbia, which is evaluated by our country as one of the most positive ones in the previous years, and Austria is one of the European Union member states that strongly supports Serbia on its European path. I take this opportunity as well to express my gratitude for such kind of support, because Serbia wishes, as its most important foreign policy goal, to be granted membership of the EU, not only symbolically but in the sense of achieving the standards and values – Minister Stefanović said.
He underlined that the cooperation between our two countries in the field of security was very important on that path and reminded that the Agreement on military cooperation between the two governments had been signed the month before.
- Apart from the enhancement of cooperation in the field of military education and military health, today we talked about the training of our special units in the conditions of mountain warfare, which is an area where Austria has an immense experience, and the continuation of cooperation in the field of CBRN. We believe that Austria can assist in our centre in Kruševac reaching even higher level, and we considered opportunities for joint participation in the UN and EU peacekeeping missions, since the confidence in friendship that exists between our two ministries and two armed forces, guarantees that the mission would be highly successful – Stefanović evaluated.
Minister Stefanović pointed out that the issue of regional stability is greatly important for Serbia.
- We are grateful to Austria which makes effort to contribute to building partnership both in this region and entire Europe. Today we discussed the challenges that Serbia faces, and even the topics on which our two states do not share common views, such as the matter of Kosovo and Metohija. I familiarised Minister Tanner with the current situation in our southern province and stated the position of Serbia that we consider the negotiations as highly important, that peace and stability are absolutely important and that we wish to continue the talks for the purpose of the security of our people, which are under a threat – the minister said adding that Serbia insisted on honouring the Brussels Treaty, whose guarantor is the very European Union.
He thanked Austria for the stable contingent within KFOR, which, as he pointed out, is significant for the Serbian people, because the KFOR presence in Kosovo and Metohija is the only guarantee of stability and security.
Today, the two ministers talked about the possibility of reintroducing mandatory conscription in Serbia and about the experiences of Austria in which the conscription already exists.
- The experiences of Austria in this domain can be very useful if Serbia decides to reintroduce the mandatory conscription. That will be a topic of our future discussions. I thank Madam Tanner once again for the strong support to the Republic of Serbia, and of course to the Ministry of Defence. Thank you and your delegation for coming to Serbia for the first time, and I hope that, in the months and years to follow, we will have a serious, fruitful and successful cooperation between the two ministries and two states – Minister Stefanović stated.
Federal Minister of Defence of the Republic of Austria Klaudia Tanner, thanked Minister Stefanović for the hospitality and the talks that they had had. She reminded that last September, during his visit to Austria, the talks had been held on the stability of the region and EU, and bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
- Western Balkan countries are significant for Austria, not only because of their economic importance, but because of their security and foreign policy role. Without the states of the Western Balkans, the European Union, sadly, is not whole and complete – Minister Tanner assessed.
She underlined that it was the reason why Austria would continue supporting both Serbia and other Western Balkan countries in the process of their accession to the EU. Tanner highlighted that on that day, she and Minister Stefanović analysed important topics for out two states.
- I would first of all like to point out the good cooperation between the armed forces of the Republic of Austria and Republic of Serbia, particularly the cooperation in the field of CBRN training. Today we have agreed that Austrian soldiers will continue their training in Serbia, and I offered Minister Stefanović that members of the Serbian participate in international exercises of our CBRN units in Korneuburg – Tanner underlined.
As she pointed out, the cooperation in the field of military health was also an important topic of the talks.
- The fact is that the challenges in Europe will change, and our armed forces will have to not only undergo modernisation, but be trained to provide quick response. Austria will not be able to resolve on its own the tasks ahead of us, which are difficult and complex. It is precisely why it is very important to lead intensive talks with our European partners and Serbia too, in order to be able to respond to the challenges of the 21st century together – the federal minister of defence said thanking Minister Stefanović on comprehensive talks led in Belgrade.
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