23.11.2023.
Assistant Minister Bandić Meets Chief of the Defence of Bulgarian Armed Forces Admiral Eftimov
Today, Acting Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Predrag Bandić met Chief of the Defence of Bulgarian Armed Forces Admiral Emil Eftimov who is paying official visit to the Republic of Serbia.
At the beginning of the meeting, Acting Assistant Minister Bandić conveyed greetings from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Miloš Vučević, and pointed out that the meeting was an opportunity to exchange opinions on politico-security situation in the Western Balkan region, and to consider, at a strategic level, the modalities significant for the continuation of successful defence cooperation.
As Acting Assistant Minister Bandić stressed, the foreign policy priority of the Republic of Serbia is the membership of the European Union , while military neutrality is its strategic orientation, which does not hinder cooperation and development of good relations with all interested parties.
According to Acting Assistant Minister Bandić, Serbia appreciates the presence of the Bulgarian Armed Forces within KFOR forces, which contributes to the enhancement of regional security and good-neighbourly relations which have been accompanied of late by a positive trend in the military domain.
At the meeting the interlocutors concurred that the defence cooperation is good, with room for further advancement, and they agreed that regular signing of the Programme for Bilateral Military Cooperation gives additional impetus to the cooperation between the two ministries of defence. Furthermore, they highlighted that military-to-military and military educational cooperation make the main areas of the cooperation.
They singled out Joint Live Firing of members of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence and the Bulgarian Armed Forces at the ‘Shabla’ Live Firing Range as the crown of our military-to-military cooperation.
The interlocutors agreed that the bilateral relations between the two countries are characterised by a positive trend, and that high-level political dialogue is well-developed and continuous.
