First visit of the Chief of Defence of the Kingdom of Belgium

Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces General Ljubisa Dikovic met with Chief of Defence of the Kingdom of Belgium General Gerard Van Caelenberge at Banjica 2 barracks today.

As General Dikovic stressed, this was the first visit of a chief of defence of the Kingdom of Belgium to Serbia, which would encourage the cooperation between the two countries, for which there were possibilities and reasons.

— By this, I primarily mean the cooperation between our special units, land force training centres, logistics and engineering teams. We consider it important to have good cooperation, especially as Belgium is an influential member of the EU, with influence in the region of Benelux, with seats of many international institutions, and representatives of our Armed Forces in various missions in Brussels — General Dikovic stressed.

According to him, he will discuss with his Belgian colleague the capacities of the training centres where members of foreign armed forces can be trained, such as the CBRN Centre and the Center for training of units for multinational operations at the South Base, which have been recognized outside the borders of our country.

General Dikovic also announced that they would discuss the security situation in the region, and other areas of mutual interest, assured that good cooperation between the two armed forces would give added impulse to overall relations between Serbia and Belgium.

Conveying his content with the visit to our country, General Van Caelenberge stated that it was clear that the Serbian Armed Forces was facing times full of challenges that the Armed Forces of Belgium were facing as well.

— In the past years, Serbian Armed Forces has fulfilled its commitments and conducted all necessary reforms in order to transform into a modern and credible military, and by doing so, it has contributed to the regional and global stability — General Van Caelenberge stressed, conveying his respect and gratitude to the Serbian Armed Forces for its contribution to international peacekeeping operations under the UN and EU auspices.

Discussing the security challenges that modern states are facing today, General Van Caelenberge stated that one of the ways to overcome them was to intensify bilateral and multinational cooperation.

— With this in mind, the Kingdom of Belgium is ready to intensify the dialogue with Serbia and create a new driving force for initiation of all fields available for cooperation — General Van Caelenberge concluded, adding that the visit was an opportunity to exchange views and opinions on new fields and ways of cooperation.

During the visit to Serbia, the delegation of the Kingdom of Belgium will visit the Military Museum, and the Second Division of the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade in Jakovo.