20.02.2023.
President Vučić in Abu Dhabi: We will continue to invest in our armed forces and defence industry
Today, the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, who is visiting Abu Dhabi’s International Defence Exhibition "IDEX 2023" at the invitation of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited the "Yugoimport-SDPR" stand at the Serbian national pavilion, where a part of the product range of the Serbian Defence Industry was presented.
He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Miloš Vučević, who is in Abu Dhabi with Deputy Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, Lieutenant General Peter Cvetković, Assistant Minister for Material Resources, Nenad Miloradović, and a delegation from the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, to visit the defence exhibition in which representatives of the Serbian Defence Industry are also taking part.While visiting the "Yugoimport-SDPR" stand, President Vučić said that, based on what had been presented, it was clear that "we are making a great progress."
- An arms race has started and these products have their buyers right now. It is important that we do not work according to the old system, at predetermined prices, but that the market dictates our prices. I believe that we will achieve better results in the coming period. We will invest additional money in the Serbian Defence Industry. The Serbian Armed Forces will buy and the state of Serbia will immediately pay 300 million euros for armaments, namely for 200 pieces of heavy equipment and weapons, and we will allocate another 90 million euros, which have been added to the budget, and now the financial plan for 2023 needs to be approved. Those funds are meant for the integration of different systems, so we will have huge investments this year plus an additional 100 million we are granting to the Defence Industry for innovation, improving the quality of machines and modernization, said the President of the Republic, adding that by doing so we were giving support to the domestic industry, the economic growth of our country and the strengthening of our armed forces.
The President of the Republic also talked about the competition for admission to Special Forces, the 63rd Parachute Brigade, the 72nd Special Operations Brigade and the "Cobras" Special Operations MP Detachment, which is now open.- We will considerably increase the level of our combat readiness, that is, the level of operational and functional capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces. Special Forces will have the basic salary of 220,000 dinars, and they will get additional monthly payments, said President Vučić, inviting young people to apply for Special Forces saying: “welcome to your armed forces, to the institution that guarantees Serbia's survival“.
President Vučić also spoke about the fact that the arms race had begun and cited Poland as an example, which was considering increasing the budget for defence expenditure to five percent.
- Ours is two percent, and the way things are going, we will increase it to three. The countries that do not have strong armed forces will be attacked, the state will increase its capability, the president said.He said that another reason for his coming to the defence exhibition was to buy drones which would arrive in Serbia by the end of the year.
- We are buying killer drones and signing contracts soon, in the next few days. We expect them to arrive in our country by the end of the year, said the president, stressing the importance of “Noras” and the new weapon "Aleksandar", named after King Aleksandar.
He stressed the importance of arming the Serbian Armed Forces in the coming period.
- We are buying 109 "Miloš" AFVs, 39 "Lazar" fighting vehicles, we are modernizing 26 tanks, 26 BRDMs, 12 "Gvozdikas", we are working on rocket artillery - eight modular and 12 digital “Oganj” rocket launchers. We are buying all of that and the Serbian Armed Forces must receive all that by September 2024, President Vučić said.
During his stay in Abu Dhabi, Minister Vučević will have several meetings and bilateral meetings related to defence cooperation.
Under the auspices of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the 16th International Defence Exhibition "IDEX 2023" and the 7th Naval Defence and Maritime Security Exhibition "NAVDEX 2023" is held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), from February 20 to 24, 2023. These events, organized in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Defence, aim to showcase a wide range of latest products and equipment and attract leading exhibitors from the international defence industry.
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