Serbia admitted into SEDM
Serbia submitted its first Individual Partnership Programme (IPP) to NATO in early 2009. Areas of cooperation and specific events in which Serbia wishes to participate are detailed in this document, which is jointly agreed with NATO.
In 2003, Belgrade formally applied to join the Partnership for Peace (PfP). Cooperation continued, and a transit agreement for forces operating in Kosovo was signed by the country in July 2005.
The Allies invited Serbia to join the PfP at the November 2006 Riga Summit. The country formally joined the Partnership in December of that same year and the Allies opened a new Military Liaison Office in Belgrade. NATO’s Military Liaison Office in Belgrade was opened in December 2006, to support the implementation of the NATO / Serbia transit agreement.
Republic of Serbia was invited to join PfP at Riga Summit in December 2006 together with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. IN line with the invitation and the decision of the Government of Serbia, the President of the Republic of Serbia Boris Tadic signed the Framework Document in Brussels on 14 December 2006 which enabled Serbia to become a full member of PfP. The Presentation Document, presented by Vuk Jeremic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the NATO HQ on 5 September 2007 also underpins the participation of Serbia in PfP in line with its financial, material, human and other resources.
In the current security environment, Serbia is not able to respond to threats and security challenges posed against it independently especially to those threats of global and transnational importance. Furthermore, one of Serbia’s most important requests is to maintain its territorial integrity. Therefore the solution of the status of Kosovo and Metohija represents an important step for the future intensity and scope of cooperation between Serbia and NATO. Serbia is currently undergoing an all reaching transition and also a complete reform of the system of security and defense which is mainly in line with all the ongoing processes in all PfP partner countries.
Dedicated to promoting cooperation and joint action with NATO member states and other partner countries on developing a global, regional and national security, Serbia expresses its readiness to accept its part of responsibility for maintaining permanent peace and stability in the region, to participate in UN mandated peace missions in order to reach the level of interoperability of NATO member states’ armies. In accordance with this, Serbia chose the following eight priority cooperation fields:
1. DCF Democratic oversight of the defence system
2. DPS Defence Policy and Strategy
3. DPB Planning and financing of the defence system and resource management
4. TRD Military education, training and doctrine
5. PKB Conceptual, planning and operational aspects of participation in peace and humanitarian operations
6. NBD Nuclear/biological/chemical weapons defence
7. LNG Foreign language learning
Serbia joined the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) in 2007.
Kosovo is of course a key subject in NATO's dialogue with Serbia. The Alliance intervened militarily in early 1999 to bring an end to ethnic repression in Kosovo, subsequently deploying the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR) to provide a safe and secure environment and facilitate reconstruction. KFOR remains crucial to guarantee security in Kosovo and will remain in Kosovo on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 to ensure a safe and secure environment, including freedom of movement for all people, unless the United Nations Security Council decides otherwise.
The Serbian armed forces have also cooperated with KFOR for many years through the Joint Implementation Council (JIC), based on the 1999 Military Technical Agreement between KFOR and the Serbian Armed Forces (Kumanovo Agreement).
Over the years, KFOR and the Serbian military have established good and close relations.
“At this moment, Serbia is not interested in applying for a membership request, or has NATO ever posed such a condition for further enlargement of cooperation between Serbia and NATO”, as Serbian Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac underlined in his paper posted on the Serbian MOD web site.
Also the Minister said that: “NATO is an organization with the highest security standards in the world. Serbia has opted to develop the best system of defense by implementing NATO standards as such and which are in line with the neighboring countries given that the current threats rise above the national turning into a transnational problem and no state, regardless of its demonstrated power and size, can face these threats alone. Ful PFP participation will speed up the reform by exchanging experiences with the states which have already gone though it al.”
At the Southeast Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM) conference held in late October 2006 in Tirana Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Montenegro obtained the status of observers in this security initiative.
This regional initiative has a specific purpose – to strengthen security capacities in the region through cooperation and good neighbourly relations. During its ten-year existence the SEDM developed programs in several areas such as the prevention of proliferation of arms for mass destruction, cooperation of military industries, research, satellite links between military hospitals, etc.
Participation in the SEDM activities shall provide an additional incentive to the newly admitted observers in their respective security sector reforms.
To date, Serbia has participated as an observer country, in 2007 at SEDM ministerial conference in Kiev, Ukraine, Serbia applied for full membership.
On October 22 2009 the Republic of Serbia was admitted at the SEE defense ministerial meeting as a full member of SEDM (Southeastern Europe Defense Ministerial Process).
The State Secretary of the Republic of Serbia Mr. Dusan Spasojevic, who led the Serbian MOD delegation at the SEDM, stressed the importance of SEDM process and emphasized that admission of the country best testified the fact that Serbian Ministry of Defense (MOD) and Armed Forces (SAF) had been recognized as a reliable partner in strengthening regional peace and stability in this part of Europe. The Republic of Serbia is committed to give its unique contribution to boosting stability, and strengthening of regional, national, and global security, the regional cooperation being one of the main priorities of Serbia’s foreign policy.
The acceptance of Serbia into SEDM is the result of intensive international cooperation of the MOD and SAF in the previous period, as Spasojevic pointed out.
Besides Serbia, Montenegro was also admitted as a full member of the SEDM initiative at the SEDM in Sofia, Bulgaria.
References:
1. Ministry of Defense, Republic of Serbia http://mod.gov.sr
2. North Atlantic Treaty Organization http://www.nato.int
3. PIMS Members site https://members.pims.org
4. "Serbia and NATO", Dragan Sutanovac, http://www.mod.gov.rs/novi_eng.php?action=fullnews&id=1790