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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Cooperation of Serbia with NATO in multinational operations

Belgrade, 6 July 2015

Minister of Defence Bratislav Gasic said today that Serbia's cooperation with NATO, under the auspices of the Partnership for Peace, is becoming more intense and comprehensive, and underlined that Serbia is a militarily neutral country.

File photo of Bratislav Gasic

Author: Tanjug

Presenting to Serbian MPs the Agreement of the Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty and other states participating in the Partnership for Peace on the status of their forces, with additional protocols, he explained that the signing of this document does not mean Serbia's entry into NATO, nor getting closer to that organisation.

Serbia wants partnership and friendship on both the East and the West. With this agreement we will significantly facilitate the organisation and going to the military missions. This is only an agreement that will facilitate our operations, Gasic said, adding that some countries members of the Partnership for Peace are not members of NATO.

The Defence Minister recalled that Serbia's cooperation with NATO is implemented under the auspices of the Partnership for Peace programme, which Serbia joined in 2006.

Gasic pointed out that a special form of cooperation between Serbia and NATO represents a group Serbia-NATO Defence Reform, which was established in 2006 to ensure support for the implementation of reforms in the defence system of the Alliance and the countries that are its members, and a new moment in that cooperation is opening of the Mission of Serbia to NATO together with a Serbian military representative office, as well as increasingly intensive cooperation with NATO committees and working groups.

According to the Minister, the agreement was made in 1995 and represents the primary mechanism for defining the privileges and immunity of forces of a state signatory of the agreement on the territory of another state signatory of the agreement.

Implementation of this agreement, Gasic added, enables smooth military cooperation, primarily in terms of preparation and carrying out of military exercises and builds the necessary capacity to engage in multinational operations, engaging in certain mechanisms established under the auspices of the Partnership for Peace, as well as transit of military forces through the territory of signatory states and providing the necessary logistical support from the host country.

Accessing to this agreement is one of the priorities of Serbia in the process of engaging in the Partnership for Peace programme, precisely because past experience shows that this agreement, together with the agreement relating to information security, provides the optimal extent of cooperation with NATO aimed at support of reforms of the defence system and at achieving interoperability of the Serbian Army to engage in multinational operations, Gasic concluded.