Panel Discussion on Military Diplomacy
24. 10. 2018
On 23rd October, a panel discussion dedicated to military diplomacy was held on the stand of the Ministry of Defense and Serbian Armed Forces at the Belgrade Book Fair. The members of the Military Intelligence Agency, Colonel Sasa Perovic and Lieutenant Colonel Goran Milosevic, Colonel PhD Veljko Blagojevic, scientific associate at the Institute for Strategic Research and our diplomat and former Serbian ambassador to Belarus Srdjan Djukic participated at the discussion.
Participants in the panel have agreed that military diplomacy was always an indispensable support to state foreign policy.
"In the past, military attachés were people of the greatest confidence of the rulers, while today it is a specific profession for which the selected officers are educated. The fact that diplomacy in peace is as strong as the state and its economy are, while in a war the diplomacy is as strong as the army is-was truth in the past, as well as nowadays”, said diplomat Srdjan Djukic, adding that his experience shows that the members of the army are the readiest part our diplomatic composition.
Colonel Veljko Blagojević has reflected on the beginnings of the formal military diplomatic representation of Serbia in 1878, saying that at that time, due to specific historical circumstances, military diplomacy was the essence of the foreign-political performance of the Principality of Sebia and later of the Kingdom of Serbia. He reminded that all military envoys at that time had to be general staff officers and represented the elite of the Serbian Army.
“Colonel Saša Perović has said that the most experienced officers are appointed to the defence attaché offices today where they perform complex tasks." The Military Intelligence Agency, as the bearer of the military diplomatic function in the MoD and SAF, pays great attention to this segment of its work. Currently, 27 officers in 23 countries represent and protect the interests of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Armed Forces and are working to strengthen military-military and military-economic cooperation”, Colonel Perovic emphasized.
Milosevic has stressed that, besides the impeccable knowledge of the defense system of Serbia and the country to which they are referred, they must have knowledge in the fields of international relations, security, protocol, communication, etc. Special attention is paid to the preparation of entire family to live in a new environment. "Above all, the defence attaché has to be a professional, an honorary officer, ready to serve the interests of all of the country and work hardly throughout his mandate. Therefore, the selection of personnel is the most important segment of this work, „Lieutenant Colonel Milosevic conluded.
This year the Republic of Serbia marks 140 years of military diplomatic representation, that is, the anniversary of appointing the first military attaches to the post. The first military attaché of the Principality of Serbia, Major Konstantin - Koka Milovanovic, was referred to Vienna in 1878.
