Djuric: Croatia-Slovenia military agreement not conducive to greater trust within region

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Marko Djuric said on Monday a recent agreement on military cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia was not conducive to greater trust and closer cooperation within the region.

The region needs new bridges of cooperation, not walls, Djuric told the RTS.

There is no dispute about anyone's right to engage in defence cooperation, but the lack of transparency and inclusiveness is "striking", he said.

"We are in a region that has gone through many things in the last 30 years. Creation of additional alliances without consultations and discussions with neighbouring countries raises many issues and causes concern," Djuric said, adding that many other countries had also not been consulted about the alliance.

Djuric said that, in view of what had been going on in the region 30 years ago, it was necessary that countries in the region communicated about security issues transparently and that non-transparent relations should not become a rule.