Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic introduced that his nation is near reaching an settlement on the acquisition of 12 French-made Rafale fighter jets, in a swap from its conventional provider Russia.
Vucic spoke throughout his two-day go to to Paris and talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in addition to French protection officers, together with Rafale producer Dassault Aviation.
Vucic mentioned that he had an excellent dialog with Macron on Monday evening, which lasted greater than three hours, and that they “reached concrete agreements relating to the acquisition of the Rafale fighter jets.”
He mentioned contracts might be signed within the subsequent two months in Macron’s presence, including that the acquisition of the subtle jets will drastically widen army and different cooperation between the 2 states.
Financial particulars of the potential deal haven’t been introduced, however the pro-government Serbian media estimated it at about 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) for the entire package deal.
Serbia has been contemplating the acquisition of the brand new Rafale jets for greater than two years, since neighboring Balkan rival Croatia bought 12 used fighter jets of the identical sort for about 1 billion euros.
The potential acquisition of Rafale jets would enable Serbia to modernize its air power, which consisting primarily of Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters in addition to getting old Yugoslav fight plane.
Russia has been a conventional provider of army plane, together with fight helicopters, to Serbia, which has refused to hitch worldwide sanctions in opposition to Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
The fast arming by the Serbian army has been worrying a few of its neighbors following the bloody breakup of the previous Yugoslavia within the Nineteen Nineties. Serbia, a European Union candidate, is nearly utterly surrounded by NATO member nations.
Critics of the Western arming of Serbia say the sale of subtle French jets might encourage Vucic to presumably intervene militarily in neighboring Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, which Serbia doesn’t acknowledge. The populist Serb chief has made a number of such veiled threats in latest months.
During his talks with Macron in Paris, the 2 additionally mentioned the simmering tensions in Kosovo as properly cooperation within the area of nuclear know-how and doable building of a nuclear energy plant in Serbia.
Source: www.dailysabah.com