04.12.2017.
Minister Vulin: Romania and Serbia Have no Open Questions
Today, Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin met the Minister of National Defence of Romania Mihai-Viorel Fifor in the building of the Old General Staff.
After the ceremony of the official reception, the ministers held a meeting that was also attended by the chiefs of general staff of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Romania, General Ljubiša Diković and General Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă, after which they signed the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Defence.
Minister Vulin pointed out that Serbia and Romania were friendly countries and he took the opportunity to thank for the position of the Romanian Government and Romanian people regarding Kosovo and Metohija.
- We know the significance of the support of Romanian people, we know to what extent the international law should be thankful to Romania because one so important and great country strictly observes the international law and because in that way it preserves the right of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija to live on their soil, and the right of the state of Serbia to believe that the international law will eventually prevail. I wish to thank the Government and people of Romania for the principled position and assistance in the European path of the Republic of Serbia since Romania has always been with Serbia whenever it was needed. There was not a single international forum and not a single opportunity that the Romanian Government and Romanian people missed to express their support for the European path of Serbia and for Serbia as such – Serbian minister of defence said.
He also thanked for the support and understanding rendered by Romanian friend when it came to the issue of military neutrality of Serbia.
- They fully understand the position of military neutrality of the Republic of Serbia; they understand our need to be on our own in our own home, to strengthen our defence, and that we pose no threat to anyone. Today, by signing the Agreement on defence, we committed ourselves to even better communication and cooperation which represents a significant progress in the relations of our countries and our armed forces. We also talked about the areas of common concern, such as the consequences of the migrant crisis, religious fanaticism, organised crime, and we discussed how to improve the combat readiness of the both armed forces through the process of exercises and mutual education, and we talked about how our services are to cooperation, about how to connect our people working in defence industry, and about how to find together the ways to create a new value, like we used to do in some even more difficult times, and to help economies of both countries – Minister Vulin stated.
According to his words, another subject at the meeting was how to be ready to help each other in case of natural disasters, how to make the big rivers that connect us safe, protected and controlled by our authorities.
- We talked about how to improve our cooperation. Romania and Serbia have no open issues and they will always have mutual support and assistance. Anyway, as it is said both in Romania and Serbia, Romania has two friends – Serbia and the Black Sea. I do not know what could happen with the Black Sea, but I know that Serbia cannot but be your friend – Minister Vulin emphasised.
Minister of National Defence of Romania Mihai-Viorel Fifor thanked Minister Vulin for the invitation to come to Serbia and stated that the cooperation of the two countries was of extreme significance.
- Today we had a highly important and productive meeting, together with the chiefs of General Staffs of the both countries. The Republic of Serbia is one of our best friends and we maintain the bilateral defence relations at a high level and we strengthen them, which is vital in current complex security challenges in the environment. Also, the Western Balkans is of strategic significance for us and it is in everyone’s interest to maintain peace and security in the environment – Romanian minister of defence said and stressed once again that his visit on that day was a confirmation of a strong friendship between the two countries.
He added that signing of the Agreement in the field of defence was an opportunity to make efforts to establish concrete projects in the areas of exercises and military education. He underlined the efforts of the Republic of Serbia aimed at supporting the fight against terrorism and he praised the participation of the members of the Serbian Armed Forces in the EU and UN peacekeeping missions.
