24.05.2017.
Meeting of Serbian and Greek Defence Ministers
The Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic and the Greek Minister for National Defence Panos Kammenos confirmed at the meeting today traditionally friendly relations between two countries and commitment to further development of defence cooperation.
The Greek Defence Minister stressed that the political support of Greece to Serbia was unambiguous. “The relations between our two countries are more than excellent and it is up to us to use that to maximum for the enhancement of bilateral military cooperation”, Minister Kammenos emphasized.
Two Ministers agreed that defence cooperation followed the level of total bilateral relations and is mainly implemented in the field of military education and training, thus the first joint exercise of the special units of two armies “FALCON 2017” is ongoing. It is the concrete result of the official meetings of the chiefs of general staff and agreements made by the army commanders. Therefore, it is necessary to continue with meetings at the highest level in order to find new possibilities for the increase of number of exercises and the improvement of military cooperation to the highest quality.
Minister Djordjevic and Kammenos signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of two countries on cooperation within the Athens Multinational Sealift Coordination Centre (AMSCC).
At the meeting the expectation was stressed that more agreements would be signed in the following period since Serbia and Greece strive for further intensification of relations in all fields of mutual interest including the continuation of political dialogue, as well as further enhancement of economic cooperation.
“Serbia appreciates the traditional support of Greece in achieving strategic objectives of the Serbian foreign policy, mainly the EU membership, as well as preservation of territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country”, Minister Djordjevic emphasized in the talks. He especially thanked members of the Greek contingent KFOR for the professional engagement and contribution to security in Kosovo and Metohija.
It was concluded that taking the role of the Contact Embassy for cooperation of the Republic of Serbia with NATO by Greece since 1st January 2017 positively influenced the cooperation both at bilateral and multilateral level. Mr. Djordjevic highlighted the significance of the continuous support of the Greek Ministry for National Defence in relation to participation of Serbia within the HELBROC EU Battlegroup, which confirms and strengthens the joint collaboration.
During the meeting security challenges nowadays were also discussed with a special emphasis on terrorism and migrant crisis. It was concluded that the excellent collaboration of intelligence and security services should be the backbone of the joint fight against contemporary threats, as well as an incentive for closer linkage of all countries in the region.
After the meeting the Day of defence industries was held with representatives of the Serbian and Greek defence industries companies as participants aiming at the exchange of information on production programmes and consideration of possibilities for military technical and military economic cooperation. After that Minister Kammenos laid a wreath at Rigas Feraios Monument.
