The officials agreed that the defense cooperation "should be taken to the level of general relations in all other areas of cooperation between Serbia and Russia".

They highlighted the need for considerable promotion of military, military-economic, and military-medical cooperation through better planning and realization of annual plans of the military cooperation.

The participants of the meeting said that it was necessary to continue military cooperation in the field of education, with greater presence of Russian officers in Serbia's military educational institutions.

The meeting also addressed other aspects of cooperation in the defense sector, stressing the interest in organizing joint activities at the highest level, the Defense Ministry said.

During the discussion today, described as "exceptionally open", the two sides "confirmed the harmonization of planned activities related to the preservation of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity in Kosovo and Metohija", the statement also said.

"Serbia will under no circumstances give up on its military neutrality proscribed by the Declaration of the Serbian parliament, and in line with this stance it would like to build partnership relations on equal footing with all friendly states in the world," the statement concluded.