Today at the National Assembly House, the Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Defense and Security Committee Dusan Bajatovic talked to the NATO Assistant Secretary General in charge of defense policy and planning Jiri Šedivy.

In the meeting, the officials discussed the situation in the region and Serbia’s cooperation with the military alliance, while one of the topics was whether Serbia’s integration in the European Union was conditional on its NATO membership. Šedivy repeated that Serbia’s European integration was in no way conditional on its membership in the military alliance and that it would not cause impediments.

The Defense and Security Committee delegation briefed that NATO guest on Serbia’s new regional initiatives aimed at increasing stability in the region. Dusan Bajatovic stressed that the activities were directed towards decreasing regional tensions as well as establishing cooperation on security issues i.e. the fight against organised crime, terrorism and human trafficking. He added the realisation of the initiatives of the Serbian President, Serbian Government and security structures were aided by the ministries of defense and police.

Dusan Bajatovic pointed out to the NATO representative that after the ruling of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo Albanian extremists might destablise the region if the ruling were not in their favour.