20.05.2021.
Meeting on cooperation between Serbia and NATO
Acting Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Predrag Bandić held a video meeting today with NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations Jonathan Parish. At the meeting, which was held after the successful bilateral consultations as part of the Planning and Review Process (PARP), they discussed Serbia’s cooperation with NATO, the political and security situation in Kosovo and Metohija and other issues of importance for the relations between Serbia and NATO.
Bandić said that the cooperation with NATO within the "Partnership for Peace" Programme was the optimal framework for achieving security goals and improving defence capabilities in the context of Serbia’s strong commitment to military neutrality.He expressed his satisfaction with the results achieved at the recent meeting between the President of the Republic of Serbia and NATO Secretary General and stated that the high-level meetings contributed to building up trust and deepening mutual understanding.
According to Bandić, KFOR is chiefly responsible for maintaining peace and security in Kosovo and Metohija and it is the Serbian Armed Forces’ only partner in securing the administrative line with our southern province. It is therefore crucial that KFOR should execute its tasks responsibly through consistent implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and exclusively in accordance with the assigned mandate.
The interlocutors also referred to the talks on the harmonization of the new package of Partnership Goals through the Planning and Review Process (PARP), which were reached on a technical level on April 26 and 27 this year.Mr Pаrish assessed cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and NATO as very good and conveyed assurances that the Alliance is committed to maintaining peace and stability in the region and that the KFOR mandate remains unchanged. He also confirmed the Alliance is status-neutral and supports the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština. Apart from the aforementioned, he presented a number of details on the new approach to the partnership policy entitled "One Partner - One Plan".
