SERBIAN ENVOY SENT TO RUSSIA TO SEEK APPROVAL FOR ARMS EXPORT TO ARMENIA

FoNet news agency, Belgrade,
27 Dec 2006

Kragujevac, 27 December: Serbian President Boris Tadic said this
evening in Kragujevac in a meeting with employees of Zastava-Weapons
who are protesting in Kragujevac Town Hall [over the government-imposed
ban on arms exports to Armenia] that he had sent his special envoy
to Russia to seek permission from [Russian] state officials to renew
arms exports to Armenia, adding that this would be "the best solution
for the Kragujevac military factory".

My special envoy has already arrived in Moscow and we will know the
result of his activities in two days; it would be best if exports to
Armenia could immediately continue, because we would this way solve
a very pressing issue, Tadic said.

Tadic said that the Serbian government should compensate the factory’s
losses incurred by the ban on [arms] exports to Armenia, just as the
Cacak-based Sloboda Company and the Valjevo-based Krusik Company had
been compensated.

"It is my position that the damage should be compensated according
to the same principle as it was done with Sloboda and Krusik. If they
received compensation for an incomplete deal because a foreign policy
problem had appeared, the same should apply to you, too," Tadic told
protesting employees.

President Tadic noted that an agreement about the future of the
Serbian military industry should finally be reached at the level of
the state in order to "ensure long-term production, secure jobs and
good salaries".

"I deeply believe that Serbia with its military industry has a much
greater foreign political influence than without it. Our defence
capacities are much more stable if we have stable production of
weapons in our country," Tadic said.

Tadic noted that Serbia’s joining the Partnership for Peace would
ease exports of domestic weapons and military equipment to the world,
assessing that the Serbian Army would increase its needs for weapons
under new conditions [created in the wake of joining PfP].

"We have a problem that the Serbian Army is no longer acquiring
weapons from this factory. It is M-21 rifle that should be part of our
military’s standard arsenal as soon as possible," President Tadic said.

Serbian President Boris Tadic called on the employees of
Zastava-Weapons to stop their protest in Kragujevac Town Hall and spend
New Year’s Eve home with their families, but they refused his proposal.