Serbia's and Italy's defense ministers Dragan Sutanovac and Giampaolo Di Paola met in Rome to discuss joint participation of Italian and Serbian forces in EU and UN peacekeeping missions, and joint appearance of the two countries' defense industry in the markets of Africa, Asia and the Far East.

Sutanovac, who is on a working visit to Rome, told Tanjug that Italy is currently in the process of taking over the command of a large peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, where around 1,000 Italian soldiers are deployed.

"We discussed the possibility of joint involvement in the mission, where the Serbian army currently has six officers. We also want to take part in EU peacekeeping missions, and in Operation Atalanta (in Somalia) where Italy has its ships," said Sutanovac. He added the two countries have a long history of military cooperation.

"We have now laid new foundations for cooperation, primarily in education and training, both of our cadets and officers, and of special forces," Sutanovac said, adding he and his Italian counterpart also talked cooperation of military institutions and the possibility of marketing joint products in third markets. According to him, the goal is to market joint products of the Military Technical Institute and its Italian partners in large markets such as Africa, Asia, the Far East and South America.

In a statement for Tanjug after the meeting with Sutanovac, Di Paola pointed out the two countries have longstanding special relations which will continue to develop and strengthen. He said educational exchanges of military personnel will continue in the future, and added they discussed the possibility of Serbia taking part in EU or UN operations carried out by Italy.

We are more then open to working together, once the Serbian government decides to take part, said Di Paola. He added Italy strongly supports Serbia's accession to the family of EuroAtlantic institutions.

We are looking forward to it, we strongly believe in this and we will work on it inside the EU and bilaterally, he said. The minister added Italy strongly supports Serbia's European path and hopes candidate status will be granted in March, which is Serbia's key foreign policy and defense goal.

During his visit to Rome, Sutanovac also visited the Joint Command of the Italian Armed Forces, and will finish the visit Friday night at the closing of the Month of Serbian Culture in Rome, which presented Serbia's cultural heritage and art to Italian audiences.