After 25 Years – Serbia is White House Guest

Belgrade, Nov.30, 2009 (Serbia Today) - Today, Serbia will have reached one of the most important milestones in its return to the international stage when Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac makes Serbia’s first official visit to Washing D.C. since the dissolution of Yugoslavia. “Considering that the invitation for the official visit came after 25 years it is clear that both countries have great expectations,” said Suranovac before leaving for the US.
Sutanovac received the official invitation from the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, so the two countries can further develop defense cooperation.“The U.S. has donated over USD 500 million since the democratic changes in Serbia through different projects and that makes it the biggest donor after the EU. Some of those donations were even used by the Serbian Military,” said Sutanovac to Serbian daily Politika.
Sutanovac pointed out that the dialogue for defense cooperation started some time ago with the establishment of security agreements.
“Serbia joined Partnership for Peace in the end of 2006 and we have signed a security agreement this year which has opened the door toward further cooperation. The appointment of Branislav Milinkovic as our ambassador to NATO's Partnership for Peace program represents a step towards the future, and more better relations between Serbia and the U.S.,” Sutanovac said.
Sutanovac was not surprised that he was the first minister in the Serbian government to receive the invitation to Washington. He views the role of his ministry as the basis for good US – Serbia relations."The Serbian Ministry of Defense has stable relations with the U.S. military and the cooperation in defense is the backbone of relations between the United States and Serbia at the moment," Sutanovac continued.
Sutanovac struck a realistic note when describing the growing cooperation between US and Serbia’s defense interests. “It is naive to believe that the partnership in defense is restricted only to the cooperation between the two defense programs. Considering the fact that the U.S. defense budget is as large as the defense budget of the rest of the world, it is crystal clear what the most important thing is to the U.S. foreign policy and international relations. I am absolutely convinced that all other possibilities, first of all economic ones, would open up to us much easier if we can harmonize our defense interests,” commented Sutanovac to Serbian daily Politika.
Sutanovac sees open dialogue and partnership as the only method to solving Serbia’s current problems in the international arena. In a promising flicker of levity he added, “if we manage to achieve friendship as well, we have realized everything from this opportunity.”