11.10.2018.
Annual Conference of SEDM Regional Initiative
The annual conference within the South East Europe Defence Ministerial Process (SEDM) and the Coordinating Committee (SEDM-CC) was held at the Palace of Serbia today, with presentations of the activities realised in the previous period and defining the guidelines for further work.
Addressing the audience on behalf of the host, Mr Bojan Jocić, State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, underlined that the process of cooperation of the South East Europe Defence Ministerial represents very important regional initiative, taking into consideration that it gathers the states of the region and possesses a respectable institutional potential.
- Today's meeting was very useful for all the participants as we had opportunity to be updated on all the activities of the South East Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM) and South-Eastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG) over the past year and to make some important decisions for further functioning of this regional initiative – State Secretary Jocić said reminding that at this moment, all the states of the South East Europe are facing the same or quite similar challenges and risks that call for joint response in order to solve them.He expressed his belief that it is through a unified and joint approach that we can fight extremism of any kind, considering that the cooperation is the best response to the dangers that our societies face.
- It is extremely important that within the framework of SEDM we continue working actively on the promotion of the ideas of confidence building, enhancement of dialogue and promotion of good neighbourly relations, and also on coming up with initiatives and activities which would in their content respond to current security challenges – Jocić said, adding that regular dialogue, on the basis of transparency, long-term cooperation and joint and synchronized efforts, as well as continuous exchange of information on contemporary security challenges represent a good framework for finding answers to challenges.
Speaking about the future cooperation, State Secretary Jocić stressed that the Republic of Serbia will continue to actively participate within the framework of SEDM, especially in the Interconnection of Military Hospitals (IMIHO) project, and in the next year we will start cooperation in the framework of Female Leaders in Security and Defence (FLSD) project.
Maria Kollia-Tsaroucha, Deputy Minister of National Defence of the Hellenic Republic, commended the organisation of the ministerial meeting in Belgrade, adding that at the annual meeting they discussed the ongoing programmes and the current activities of the South-Eastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG), and that the participants exchanged opinions on the future of the initiative.