Vucevic attends presentation of Defence White Paper

BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy PM and Defence Minister Milos Vucevic on Monday attended the presentation of the White Paper on Defence of the Republic of Serbia.

"I would like to remind you that, after many decades, another key strategic document was adopted before this document - the Total Defence Concept. Those who have been in the defence system far longer than I have been say that we practically had not had that since the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that our country had not had such a document and that, with it, we are not filling a formal void but substantially providing a foundation for further elaboration of the defence of our country, understanding all the circumstances surrounding us," Vucevic said at the Home of the Serbian Armed Forces.

The White Paper aims to bring closer to the public everything the Defence Ministry and all subjects - including, of course, the Serbian Armed Forces - are doing, and that part of transparency and a democratic overview should be a confirmation that nothing is being done secretly and behind someone's back and that there is nothing unclear about that, a Defence Ministry statement quoted Vucevic as saying.

He noted that, on the other hand, transparency and democracy must not pose a threat to defence and that there must be a correlation between those relationships.

"We must not be stuck in the past, we must not pretend to be naive or clumsy and pretend we are not living in times of change. As much as anyone might be trying to deny that or say that nothing is changing - things are changing very much and we are witnessing major geopolitical changes, regardless of whether we are aware of them or not. Serbia must understand that and keep up with that and avert what needs to be averted. By strengthening the Total Defence Concept and the Serbian Armed Forces, we are also strengthening our potential as a factor of deterrence to all potential jeopardies to our state, Vucevic said.

The Republic of Serbia remains a militarily neutral state, which does not exclude cooperation with other states and other organisations in terms of security, be it bilateral or multilateral cooperation, he said.

We remain committed to all peacekeeping operations and missions we have the capability to join, he said.

"By preserving our military neutrality, we are also preserving our sovereignty and the independence of Serbia and we believe in a state that makes decisions on its own, in a state that thinks independently and looks after its national and state interests and the people's interests," Vucevic said.