Cooperation must be improved to boost regional security

BELGRADE - The chiefs of staff of the Serbian and Montenegrin armed forces, General Ljubisa Dikovic and Admiral Dragan Samardzic, said on Tuesday that further improvement of the good cooperation would contribute to strengthening peace and stability in the region.

The defence cooperation and the cooperation between the two armed forces are good, but there are always possibilities to improve them in various areas, including in military-economic cooperation. Dikovic noted.

Establishing an even higher level of trust will contribute to ensuring peace and stability in the region, Dikovic told a joint press conference with Samardzic.

Joint training and education are also areas where the cooperation can be improved, said the Serbian Armed Forces chief of staff.

Dikovic thanked Montenegro for the assistance to Serbia during the May floods, when seven teams - five medical, one diver and one rescue team - arrived from Montenegro.

He said that Serbia and Montenegro are bonded by a traditional, historical friendship that dates back to World War I.

Samardzic noted that the cooperation between the two armed forces is very good, and that it is underway at multilateral as well as bilateral level.

Samardzic said that the two armed forces are cooperating within the Partnership for Peace programme and in regional initiatives through various exercises and workshops "of very large significance to regional stability."

Montenegro is also interested in boosting cooperation in education and in CBRN defence, he noted.

Samardzic also urged establishment of mechanisms that would pool the capabilities of the regional countries and their armed forces for cases of large-scale natural disasters.