12th class begins Advanced Security and Defence Studies

Today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Miloš Vučević and Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, General Milan Mojsilović, attended the Advanced Security and Defence Studies commencement ceremony for the 12th class that will be attending this course, at the "Field Marshal Radomir Putnik" National Defence School’s lecture hall. 



Minister Vučević welcomed the course participants, and said that, despite great political challenges and pressures, Serbia has its own political commitment and a clear policy of military neutrality. He also referred to the centuries-old issue of Kosovo and Metohija.
 
- The situation is very complex, which makes your task, as students of the Advanced Security and Defence Studies, even more challenging. Your task is to understand what is expected from you by listening to top lecturers, exchanging experiences, getting an insight into our country’s defence system, understanding how this government segment - which is an essential segment of every state - functions, because these studies have a dual purpose. The first one is personal, to make sure that you progress, improve, that you are better prepared, better trained and more educated. But it also has a general purpose, namely, to make sure that the state and society benefit from it, that you transfer the knowledge and experience you acquire to the institutions that have chosen you for this course - said Minister Vučević.
 
The Minister of Defence said that it gave him great pleasure that, in addition to officers of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence, parliamentarians, representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska and the Serbian Orthodox Church will also attend the Advanced Security and Defence Studies.



- I have gladly accepted the proposal of the Serbian Patriarch, Mr. Porfirije, for a representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church to be included, so that the Church could gain a better understanding of how the entire security and defence system works. When you complete these studies, you will understand, thanks to your commitment and primarily to the knowledge and dedication of your lecturers, what the tasks of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces are - said the Minister of Defence and added that this type of training offers an opportunity for the participants to become leaders in the national security system and to be able to make strategic and operational decisions at their places of work.
 
Minister Vučević said that this training program would give the participants new knowledge and experience, but also an opportunity to understand all the challenges in the domains of security, economy, energy, social affairs, as well as challenges related to health care system, stability in the region, fight against the pandemic and migration. 



- Your success in these special advanced studies depends primarily on you and your dedication. If you approach them seriously, and I believe you will, because your biographies are proof that you have been carefully selected for the Advanced Security and Defence Studies, our joint success is guaranteed. Your success here is the success of all of us - the state, the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, the entire community. We will make every effort to provide you with the best possible conditions and we will make sure that you attend the graduation ceremony at the end of your studies which is a privilege that not everyone can have. It is a special moment - said Minister Vučević.

He also welcomed the representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.
 
- Welcome to our course. We are always ready to share our knowledge with all our friends and we do it generously and wholeheartedly. I believe that you will also help us during these studies, to the satisfaction of our homeland, the Ministry of Defence, the Defence University, the National Defence School named after the famous field marshal, and I would say, to the satisfaction of the Serbian Armed Forces. I look forward to meeting with you again and I believe that you will get off to a good start and be successful in your studies, i.e. I believe that this project will be successful - said the Minister of Defence. 



Head of the National Defence School, Colonel Mićo Suvajac, stressed the importance of these studies, which have become the defence system’s trademark.

- These studies are the highest level of a special training program for generals, high-ranking officers of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, and civil servants appointed by the Government to perform its administrative duties. The aim of these studies is to educate and prepare course participants who come from the Republic of Serbia and partner countries to take on responsible roles in national security systems, to train them for multidisciplinary analysis of the modern security environment, to assess long-term security trends, to develop elements of the national security system and collaborate with other systems at the regional and global levels - said Colonel Suvajac.
 
The 12th class consists of 15 participants, including the generals and officers of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, representatives of government ministries and institutions, representatives of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ministries of the interior of the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska, Security Information Agency and Serbian Orthodox Church.