The 12th Balkan Chiefs of Defence Conference in Belgrade

 

Welcoming those gathered, Minister Vulin pointed out that Serbia is a country that, just like the countries participating in the conference, knows the value of peace.

 

– Only he who has been through wars knows how worthwhile it is to fight for peace. The future of our children is and must be in our hands, and peace is the most valuable and most important thing we can offer our children, and something of which they should remember us. Our forum was designed by soldiers out of the need to fight common threats, to recognise threats to our countries and to be ready to protect peace and security in the countries we live in.  After all, politicians are those who create most of the problems, not soldiers – Minister Vulin emphasised.

 

Addressing the gathering, Minister Vulin emphasized that they are in a country that honestly respects their countries, history and armed forces.

 

– The Republic of Serbia is militarily neutral and as such is open to cooperation with both East and West. The top political attitude that leads Serbia is the need to be free and to decide on ourselves, our country and the future of our children. There is no greater interest for us than peace in this region, there is no greater interest than the stability and security in this region. And that is why it is the utmost task of our policy and of our Armed Forces to preserve peace and stability in the Balkans. Whenever the Balkan peoples took care of themselves and of each other, there was peace in the region. We wish peace to last for a long time – Minister Vulin said.

 

Our armed forces, he added, recognise common threats, asymmetric threats that jeopardise the whole world and which we still need to learn about, and that is why Serbia is always ready to join any fight whose common values are freedom, resistance to terrorism, resistance to violence, organised crime, and human trafficking, drug trafficking and illicit trade in arms.

 

– Like most countries present here today, Serbia is facing the fallout of the migrant crisis and knows it must take care of human beings and show its humanity, but also take care of protecting its territory, the territory of the neighbouring countries and our way of life. Serbia is committed to participation in peacekeeping missions, whether UN-led or EU-led missions, thus trying to contribute to the preservation of peace throughout the world. The Serbian Armed Forces thus shows its training level, its organisation, and I am sure that you will agree with me, it is for the pride of our country and our people. The Serbian Armed Forces also take part in the European Union's HELBROC battle group and I am sure that we will be able to make a significant contribution also there showing how much knowledge the Serbian Armed Forces can offer also to other armies, just as the policy of our country, the policy of military neutrality, but also a policy of peace and stability, can serve also for the development and progress of other countries, not only in our region - Minister Vulin pointed out.

 

I am proud, the Defence Minister added, that you are here today, because I see that people who care about their countries have gathered, but they also care about security and peace in the region that we call our own.

 

– We who live here now and we who will live here tomorrow must ensure that anything that might disturb the people living here must not be a threat and must not be a permanent threat. We must take care about each of our countries as our own, because insecurity and instability in one cause uncertainty and instability in all countries. We share a too tiny space to be able to calmly observe a neighbour not being well believing that problems and troubles that might break out in his territory will never break out in ours. We are too small to be able to watch each other being in trouble and not helping and not wishing things to be better. That is why I am grateful for the perseverance, the diligence you show, I am grateful for the common conviction that only peace is what will preserve life in the area we call our own. There are a few places on the planet that value peace more, because they have experienced war so many times. Whenever we decided about ourselves, we decided to live in peace, beside each other, together, for the future of our children to be sure and certain – Minister Vulin said.

 

The host of this year's conference, General Diković, welcomed and greeted the participants and guests of the conference at the opening ceremony today.

 

Speaking about the significance of the gathering in Belgrade, host of this year's conference, General Diković pointed out that this is a regional initiative within the framework of the security cooperation programme.

 

– I am very pleased that it is for the second time that we host CHODs of eight Balkan countries, with representatives of the Slovenian Armed Forces, the EU Military Committee, the NATO Military Committee and the Allied Joint Force Command Naples, as observers. It is known that we pay special attention to regional cooperation. If we do not cooperate with neighbouring countries and do not solve, first and foremost, security problems, which is the goal of this conference, then we do not do enough to find solutions, and we are burdened with security problems, which is known to everyone. This is the only way to solve these problems by talking, following the political guidelines of the political leaders of our countries – General Diković emphasised.

 

He expressed particular satisfaction that all CHODs were extremely satisfied with the preparation of the Conference, adding that he hoped that he would also be satisfied when it was completed, with clear guidelines for further work, especially in the field of training, education and cyber security, as key themes which are being addressed at the Conference.

 

Participants in the Belgrade conference include Brigadier General Bardhyl Kollcaku of Tirana, Lieutenant General Senad Mašović of Sarajevo, General Andrej Bocev of Sofia, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis of Athens, Lieutenant General Metodija Veličkovski of Skopje, General Hulusi Akar of Ankara, Brigadier General Ilija Daković of Podgorica and Lieutenant General Adrian Tonea of Bucharest.

 

As guests, the attendees at the conference are also General Mikhail Kostarakos, Chairperson of the EU Military Committee, General  Steven Shepro, Deputy Chairperson of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral James Foggo, Commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, and General Alenka Ermenc, Slovenian Deputy Chief of the General Staff.