04.03.2016.
Meeting with representatives of the Transparency International United Kingdom
In the House of Guards in Topcider, a meeting was held between representatives of the organizational units of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces with representatives of the Programme "Defence and Security" of the organization Transparency International United Kingdom, attended by the representatives of the Anti-Corruption Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, as well as the defence attaché of Great Britain to Serbia, Colonel Simon Fitzgibbon.The aim of the meeting was to analyze the results achieved by the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in the field of building integrity and fighting corruption in the period from 2012 to 2015. During this period, the defence system of the Republic of Serbia has achieved remarkable progress in the normative regulation governing the fight against corruption, implementation of the adopted standards in the field of building integrity and increasing transparency of work. As a result, in the research Global Defence Anti-Corruption Index, which is conducted by the organization Transparency International, the defence system of the Republic of Serbia was rated significantly better than in 2012 and classified as state category "C" (medium risk of corruption), that is, according to data processed so far, it is among the 34 top-ranked countries in the world.
This paper also analyzes the areas where the risk of corruption in the defence system of the Republic of Serbia was rated as high, as well as measures through which further progress could be made in the years to come. The following issues were discussed: control over the budget and disclosure of revenue sources, strategies for the management of needs in procurement, the transparency of the financial package of procurement, the importance of public debate and the legitimacy of the work of institutions of the defence sector, contracting of procurement in multinational operations, standards for companies that bid for the signing contracts with the Ministry of Defence, the management of "war" commercial activities, engagement of military personnel in additional private jobs, education and training in the fight against corruption as well as improvement of the quality of staff.
Head of the Strategic Planning Department for Defence Policy, Brigadier General Slobodan Joksimovic pointed out that the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, among other things, aim to achieve a high level of development of institutions that will be recognized at the international level. Accordingly, building integrity is one of the partnership goals in the Partnership for Peace Programme.
