07.03.2016.

Minister Djordjevic talks to Ambassador Chepurin

Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic met today with the Ambassador of the Russian Federation Alexander Chepurin and on this occasion he expressed his gratitude to the Russian side for the strong support to our foreign policy priorities.

Djordjevic said that full membership of Serbia in the European Union is our strategic goal, but that Serbia will continue in its own interest to pursue an independent foreign policy.

"We wish to cooperate with countries and organizations around the world that express an interest, but only on the basis of equal cooperation and mutual respect", the minister Djordjevic said, pointing out pleasure that all of our partners recognize and respect it.

The Minister conveyed to his interlocutor that Serbia fully implements the policy of military neutrality and that our active participation in the Partnership for Peace in no way represents the aspiration for full membership of our country in NATO.

Minister Djordjevic stressed that Serbia is the regional leader according to its participation in the UN and EU peacekeeping operations, and that in the coming period we will continue on the same level to give our full contribution to building peace and stability around the world. They discussed the recent developments in connection with the migration crisis and a number of regional and global security challenges.

It was noted that cooperation in the field of defence is constantly on the rise and has reached a high level of general and political relations between the two friendly countries, and that in the forthcoming period it is necessary to keep the continuity of high-level visits. Also, the interlocutors agreed that the cooperation has intensified in quantity and quality, and that this trend will be maintained in the future.

Both sides expressed satisfaction at the recent meeting of the Serbian-Russian working group on military-technical cooperation, as a great indicator that the relations in the field of military-economic cooperation are intensifying, which will contribute to the Serbian Armed Forces to reinforce its defence capabilities soon.