21.02.2017.

Minister Đorđević at the Conference “Financing Security for 21st Century”

Today, the Minister of Defence, Mr ZoranĐorđević spoke at the conference “Financing Security for 21st Century” at the first panel under the title “Smart Defence: How to achieve more by using less”.

At the event held in the Zira Hotel, the organiser, the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, gathered relevant speakers from security sector institutions, independent regulatory bodies, international experts and civil society representatives.

After introductory address by the Head of Operations - Justice, Home Affairs and Social Inclusion at the EU Delegation to Serbia, Mr Nicolas Bizel, and Mr Predrag Petrović, Executive Director of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, Minister Đorđević spoke with Ms Katarina Đokić from the Belgrade Centre for Security Policyabout how the Ministry of Defence had adapted to the budgetary changes in previous several years, and how Serbia reflected and enhanced defence capabilities, and what the priorities were for development of defence system.

Speaking about the manner in which the savings are made in the Ministry of Defence, the Minister mentioned more economic joint procurement, which is conducted with other institutions and which provides more favourable prices but he particularly pointed out the greater control and transparent spending of the budgetary resources.

As for the mechanisms for the control of spending within the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces as it is today, Minister Đorđević mentioned that all public procurement is overseen and controlled at several levels and that the savings are a reality to which we arrived by strict compliance with the procedures and building integrity, and that the controls conducted by auditors unequivocally demonstrated that evrything is done in line with law.

- It is precisely why the Ministry of Defence is taken as an example of good practice, and the same applies when it comes to planning, the Minister pointed out, and, responding to the questions about the future of the project “Supergaleb g-4”, he announced development of other assets as well, apart from three capital projects planned for this year.

When asked what he expected from the new strategic documents in defence system that are in the process of development, Minister Đorđević replied that it was dealt by an inter-line committe based on expressed requirements of defence system, after which an entire procedure would follow, including a public debate and Government decision, upon which the documents will take their final form.

- As the Minister I can talk about the plans for the following two years, which include equipping the Air Force and Air Defence, as well as the Army with new artillery weapons, predominantly of domestic production. These are “Nora”, “Lazar”, “Morava”, but we also have some new assets that are to go through the procedure in the Technical Testing Centre – the Minister said and reminded of the plan to equip 1500 soldiers, who are to have the state of the art rapid reaction equipment.

The Minister also reminded that during 2016, the state invested 46 million euros in defence industry and that the effects on the Serbian economy were closely monitored, and that the most pronounced effect was the growth of export, which in next 5 to 6 years could exceed the amount of a billion euros.

The second panel of today’s conference was focused on risky and inefficient procurement in security sector and the possible consequences for the functioning of security institutions, the rights of their employees and safety of citizens. The goal of discussion was providing recommendations to effect smart procurement in security sector until 2020, while the discussion at the third panel was dedicated to easier practice in procuring security from private sources by the Serbian public institutions.

Today’s gathering was carried out as a final conference of the project „PRO-CURE: Strengthening civilian oversight over public procurement in security sector”, which is implemented by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and the Anticorruption Association with financial support of the EU Delegation in the Republic of Serbia and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of Serbia.