Acting Assistant Foreign Minister for security policy Ambassador Branimir Filipovic was among the panellists at the Conference “A Comprehensive Approach to National Security: Facing Challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Light of NATO Cooperation and Partnership”, held in Sarajevo on 26 September 2017.
The conference, organized by the BiH Council of Ministers Commission for NATO Integration Process and the BiH Centre for Security Studies, with the support of NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, was held concurrently with a joint exercise of NATO member and partner states in the field of emergencies, hosted this year by Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The panellists included representatives of relevant sectoral branches in foreign ministries of the regional countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia), as well as NATO representatives from its Political Affairs and Security Policy Division and the NATO Commander in BiH.
The panels dealt with main security challenges facing countries in the region, regional cooperation in addressing security challenges and non-military aspects of NATO cooperation and partnership, particularly when it comes to cooperation in the field of emergency situations – such as natural disasters and similar incidents. The conference included participation by MPs in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, representatives of the academia and the diplomatic corps as well as undergraduates studying humanities.
Ambassador Filipovic presented Serbia’s priorities in the field of security policy and pointed out that Serbia was taking an open and solidary approach as it developed cooperation at all levels, regional, European and global, while assuming and sharing responsibility towards the achievement of the common objective to successfully face the ongoing security challenges and threats.
He underlined that relations in the region were among Serbia’s key foreign and security policy priorities as well as the need that they be built on the basis of peace, stability, mutual trust and understanding. Ambassador Filipovic underscored Serbia’s efforts towards identifying common interests, adding that Serbia proposed a number of initiatives in this context aiming for best possible interconnectivity in the region, primarily in the context of economy, but in other spheres as well, since this was our common interest that, at the same time, strengthened the economic prospects of the WB countries and the region as a whole.
He pointed out that Serbia, in the process of EU accession, actively participated in the concept of EU security and defence policy, through its contribution and solidary burden sharing, as a partner of all EU Member States, because security is an area that knows no boundaries or memberships.
Ambassador Filipovic presented Serbia’s accomplishments in the framework of NATO cooperation achieved by pursuing the policy of military neutrality, yet with a clear orientation towards developing political dialogue and practical cooperation with the Alliance, in the interest of peace and stability in the region. He underlined in particular the importance of the role played by KFOR in Kosovo and Metohija under UNSC Resolution 1244, not only in the contexts of interests of Serbia, but of the region as a whole as well.