Defence department

Defence attaché: LtCol. Ben Steinebach

Assistant defence attaché: Mr. Erwin Muetstege

Interpreter: Ms. Jelena Šimić

The head of our department is the Defence attaché who works with the help of his assistant and a local employee.

The main task of the Defence department is to assist and develop military cooperation between the Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro, to assist with the development of security and democracy; and to help with their military reform process. Through bilateral agreements with both countries the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands supports numerous activities and projects, to mention some:

LOAC

The LOAC course, licensed by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo is organized annually in the PKOC (Peace Keeping Operation Centre) in Belgrade. Participants from different countries in the region have been taught on the laws on armed conflict by eminent staff from Canada, the Netherlands, Austria and Serbia

CIMIC course

The regional course on civil- military cooperation took place in 2008 for the first time at the PKOC (Peace Keeping Operation Centre) in Belgrade. This year there were 32 participants from Serbia, Montenegro and surrounding countries.

HRSF

25 participants from several countries and various ministries took part in the seminar for Human Rights and Security Forces which was held in September this year in the Leonardo centre for the first time.

ISOOC

The course takes is organized at the NDC (Netherlands Defence College) in The Hague. The ISOOC Balkans course, which first took place in the spring of 2006, is aimed at (potential) PfP-members in the West-Balkan countries. The aim of the ISOOC SE Europe course is to provide insight into how the defence organisation of a NATO member state, such as the Netherlands, is organised and how it operates in a continuously changing environment. Also the type of leadership this requires is addressed.

PELT

The defence department contributed to the opening of 7 self-access centres for learning English in garrisons across Serbia, enabling young officers and soldiers easier learning of the English language. The PELT project also includes English language courses for members of the Serbian and Montenegrin Ministries of Defence and Armed Forces.

NCO project

The Ministry of Defence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands provides assistance to the reform process in Serbia by providing support to the forming of an NCO corps in Serbia, in cooperation with the Royal Military School in the Netherlands.

NATO/PfP Trust Fund project

The NATO PfP Trust Fund provides further assistance to the discharged defence personnel by giving loans or grants to enable them to start their own business. For further information click here.

multimedia centre

The Netherlands is sponsoring the reconstruction of a historical officers’ club into a multimedia facility in Vranje. This facility should create conditions for open press communication in order to reduce regional tensions. For further information click here.

MONDEM

MONDEM is a joint programme of the Government of Montenegro, UNDP and OSCE. It was established in April 2007, as a result of an earlier request by the Ministry of Defence to UNDP for an independent assessment of the demilitarization and safe storage capacities for SALW and a request for assistance made by the Ministry of Defence of Montenegro to the OSCE’s Forum for Security Co-operation in February 2007.

The Netherlands has donated 1.3 million USD for the MONDEM program in Montenegro; the destroying and storaging of surplus and old ammunition and arms.

4th School for International Security in Montenegro

This course is organised by the Centre for International Relationship. By interactive teaching, discussions and workshops, the school contributes to the development of newly appointed personnel within the MoD and other government institutions in the area of Security Sector Reform.

Internship Project in Montenegro 

Organised by the Centre for Democratic Transition (CDT) with the aim to enable final year students at the University of Montenegro to meet, through the program of direct practice, with the work and functioning of the Ministry of Defence. In the meanwhile the first project has finished and the intention is to continue the project and to have another 4 students in the Internship Programme for 2010. Click here to read about the certificate issue ceremony.

Coastguard

At the moment a number of organisations, like the Navy, the Maritime Unit of the Police, the Maritime Safety Department and the Harbour Masters from Kotor and Bar, are responsible for the protection of the long coastline of Montenegro. Many task and responsibilities overlap, therefore Montenegro is considering a Coastguard that includes most of the tasks and responsibilities. The Netherlands will help the Ministry of Defence with the development of the strategic plans. The fact that Montenegro is one of the countries with borders on the outside of the European territory makes this project even more important.

News:

Signing bilateral agreement between the Netherlands and Serbia.

Signing bilateral agreement between the Netherlands and Montenegro.