Gocul: Serbian Armed Forces are key player in region

BELGRADE - Poland sees the Serbian Armed Forces as a leading and key plater in protecting stability in the region and beyond, Poland's Chief of the General Staff General Mieczyslaw Gocul said in Belgrade on Wednedsay.

Gocul met with Serbia's Chief of the General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic and stressed afterwards the relations between the two armed forces were good, but that there was room for further improvements.

He congratulated Dikovic on the Serbian troops activities abroad as part of UN and EU peace missions.

Cooperation with the Polish military has been particularly good in the past two years and this refers to education, nuclear, biological and chemical defence and religious service, Dikovic stressed.

The Polish delegation's visit to Serbia will be used to discuss experience with EU battle groups and the EU security policy, he noted.

"In following the country's strategical direction towards the EU, the Defence Ministry and the Serbian Armed Forces contribute to the national efforts to complete all the obligations on that road," Dikovic pointed out.

The meetings with the Polish delegation will include also cooperation in military economy and a number of issues of mutual interest, he said.

Polish troops are an active part of KFOR, numbering over 200 soldiers, and there are another 100 Polish citizens working for EULEX, which are both examples of shared issues.

The Polish delegation was welcomed formally at the Serbian military headquarters.

Photo Tanjug, N. Milosevic (illustration)