BELGRADE, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Interoperability in international disaster response operations between Serbia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a good example of how to develop the partnership in the future, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and visiting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said here Monday.
The two are in the Serbian capital to attend the opening of a three-day disaster response exercise of the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC), which gathered 2,000 participants from 38 countries.
Vucic noted that Serbia is a militarily neutral country and will remain so, but said it was ready to cooperate with NATO, disregarding a "painful and tough history for the sake of citizens", referring to the NATO bombing of what was formerly Yugoslavia in 1999.
"We are here to show how successful we are in coordination, cooperation and readiness to share responsibility and help each other to cope with consequences of disasters, as well as to prevent them. Moreover, the experience of other countries in this area is of extreme importance for Serbia," Vucic said, according to a press release from his cabinet.
Thanking Stoltenberg for organizing the exercise, Vucic stressed that there was no pressure during their conversations on Serbia's independent decision-making, and that Serbia wishes to nurture good relations with NATO, alongside its ties with Russia and China.
NATO stated that the aim of the exercise taking place in and around the Serbian city of Mladenovac, until Thursday is "to improve interoperability in international disaster response operations" with earthquake as a choice scenario.
Serbia and NATO began cooperation in 2006, and this exercise will strengthen their readiness to cope with disasters, as well as jointly develop new technologies, better communication channels, and joint command, Stoltenberg said.
He reminded that the NATO-led mission Kosovo Force (KFOR) was protecting the security environment for all communities in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija that unilaterally seceded in 2008, saying KFOR "fully supports the normalization of relations" between authorities in Belgrade and Pristina through dialogue.
Stoltenberg arrived in Serbia on Saturday and besides attending the exercise, he participated with Vucic in an event on "leadership for a secure future" of the soon-to-be-opened annual Belgrade Security Forum.
Vucic and Stoltenberg exchanged opinions on the future development of relations between Serbia and NATO and agreed that with the disaster response exercise opened on Monday "the two sides demonstrated how they can work together and strengthen their partnership in the best possible way". Enditem
