Statement by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic at the Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping held in New York yesterday:

“Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The contribution of my country to United Nations peacekeeping makes me feel proud, as well as pleased and honoured to participate in this Summit, organized to discuss the promotion of the efficiency and effectiveness of the performance of United Nations peacekeeping operations. Also, I thank the organizers for staging our discussion at an exceptionally important and challenging juncture for international peace and security.

Mr. President,

Maintenance of peace is our joint responsibility and calls for a continued contribution by all actors. Serbia attaches great importance to the key role of the United Nations in promoting and maintaining international peace and security and considers peacekeeping operations as one of the most important instruments to ensure lasting peace in the world.

Political support by all of us is instrumental in making sure that missions’ mandates are fulfilled and that the gap between the goals that we set ourselves and the results that we achieve in the field is eliminated.

Generation of new and concrete capacities is of paramount importance if we want missions to be efficient and effective in the field. Political and security conditions change continually and intensively and we must make sure that financial and human resources within the United Nations system be used timely and in an optimum way.

Mr. President,

Making peacekeeping missions efficient and effective is our goal. Targeted and partner activities call for a strategy within which to pool efforts to maintain and build peace. In that, we must intensify cooperation among regional actors and coordinate and harmonize our priorities and endeavours.

Serbia agrees that it is necessary to reform institutions and supports the efforts aimed at increasing the efficiency and operability of peacekeeping missions, including the use of modern technologies. We concur with the recommendations from the Report of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations and the Report of the Secretary-General on the future of peace operations and consider that they provide a good basis for our future activities. It is also necessary, Mr. President, to include the entire United Nations system in the process of implementation of the recommendations of the Reports and upgrade the training of peacekeeping participants. We strongly support the strengthening of the comprehensive approach to the interrelated questions of security and development and the greater participation of women.

Mr. President,

I am proud to speak on behalf of the country which is among top 8 European troop-contributors to United Nations peacemaking and peacekeeping operations. Almost 350 men and women from Serbia, take part in peacekeeping missions all over the world today. And, as a country aspiring to become a member of the European Union, Serbia takes part in EU missions as well.

We plan to increase our participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations and, in that context, pledge to contribute an engineering general support company and an air medical evacuation team in the coming period, as well as up to 3 staff officers in MINUSMA.

In view of the above and in light of the experiences of Serbia and the region as a whole, we are committed and clearly devoted to the process of building and maintaining peace. In this context, regional cooperation, reconciliation and understanding constitute the basis for our action.

As the current OSCE Chair, Serbia attaches increased attention to the role of regional organizations in peacekeeping missions and considers that partnerships between the global Organization such as the UN and regional organizations are becoming increasingly important. Guided by this idea, we shall organize a side-event of the current 70th UNGA general debate devoted to OSCE peace operations to take place on 1 October.

Mr. President,

Today, Serbia partners every United Nations Member State contributing by active engagement and cooperation to lasting peace and prosperity in the world. We are firmly committed to promoting sustainable peace and development, which is the basis for reconciliation, understanding, stability and prevention of conflicts from recurring. Let us unite therefore, in will and effort, on the challenging, yet lofty road to peace in the world.

Thank you for your attention.”