June 23, 2006
Embassy of the United States of America
Belgrade

Remarks by Ambassador Michael C. Polt - Friendship Ceremony at the Air Base Batajnica

Two F-16s in Serbia
Friendship ceremony, Air Base Batajnica

Today is an important day in the growing security relationship of Serbia and the United States. Today you see behind me members of two armed forces, working together in peace. This is a most welcome sight and an appropriate reflection our long history of friendship. We were close allies in two world wars. Serbs and Americans fought Nazism in Europe and many American servicemen owe their lives to their rescuers from Serbia.

Since October of 2000, when Serbia rid itself of the poisonous influence of Slobodan Milosevic, many Serbs and Americans have again been working together to defeat the still active forces of ethnic hatred, xenophobia, and corruption. For over six years we have worked together to restore democracy, justice and prosperity to the Serbian people.

Today our two militaries are again beginning to cooperate in a new kind of fight: in the global war on terrorism and in combating the increasing number of threats which recognize no geographic boundaries like narcotics smuggling or human trafficking.

Mr. Minister, we are pleased that your Ministry of Defense requested the presence of these American aircraft to signal this growing cooperation and to highlight the budding relationship between the Serbian Air Force and the United States Air Force. Over the past year, the U.S. Air Force and leaders of the Serbian Air and Air Defense forces have held discussions both here and in Ramstein Air Base in Germany on how we can make this relationship ever more productive.

And we've got some great plans. This coming year U.S. Air Forces Europe will be sponsoring training for the Serbian Air and Air Defense forces here and in the United States, dealing with safety, logistics and maintenance, pilot training, and search and rescue. Also, while very competitive, attendance to the U.S. Air Force academy at Colorado Springs is now open for applicants from Serbia. We are hopeful that the first-ever Serbian officer will be attending the US Air Force academy beginning in 2007.

Among our most significant recent achievements in improving our security relations are the just completed negotiations on a Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA. We hope to sign the agreement in the coming weeks. This will serve to open the door for a strategic partnership with the National Guard and other State offices of the U.S. state of Ohio.

And we are moving ahead in still other areas. Next week, a high level delegation from your Ministry of Defense and General Staff, led by Acting Chief of the General Staff, General Ponos, will visit at our invitation, the Pentagon in Washington. There they will continue discussions on how we can continue to work together on Serbia’s defense reform efforts.

Also, in the coming weeks, the United States European Command will be delivering over one million dollars in equipment and supplies, which will be used to provide relief to recent and future Serbian flood victims.

The United States is willing to move forward as fast as Serbia is able to remove any remaining obstacles to our security relationship. We have established a firm foundation and the future holds much promise.

Finally, I believe we should mark this date, June 23 as a special day in the relationship between our Air Forces and to build from this date a yearly event. To commemorate this first year, our pilots have a small gift to provide their counterparts in the form of a lithograph from the U.S. flying squadron, signed by its squadron members as a sign of friendship and goodwill.

Ambassador Michael C. Polt and Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Stankovic

Ambasador Majkl K. Polt i Ministar odbrane Srbije Zoran Stanković

From Left to Right: Assistant Defense Minister Snezana Samardzic-Markovic; Defense Minister Stankovic; Hallie Polt; Ambassador Polt

S leva na desno: Pomoćnik ministra odbrane Snežana Samardžić-Marković; Ministar odbrane Stanković; Hali Polt; Ambasador Polt

US and Serbian aircrafts: F16 and MIG

Američki i srpski vazduhoplovi: F16 i MIG

US and Serbian pilots

Američki i srpski piloti

F16

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