Serbia Aims to Maintain Constructive Ties With Both NATO, CSTO – President Vucic

Belgrade will maintain constructive relations with both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Sputnik Sunday.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) – In accordance with the 2007 parliamentary resolution, Serbia is a neutral state. However, the country’s parliament ratified on February 12, 2016, the document on diplomatic immunity for NATO representatives and logistical support for the Alliance.

"Serbian remains a military neutral state. We have constructive relations with both NATO and CSTO, they will be maintained, with nobody choosing for us, whose weapons we should purchase," Vucic said in an interview.

The Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) for Serbia entered into force in March 2015 implying the developing educational and technical cooperation, holding joint drills and creation of a positive image of NATO in the Serbian society.

The CSTO alliance was established on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty, signed by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states on May 15, 1992. The bloc comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The organization's key objective is to fight against "international terrorism and other nontraditional threats to security," according to its website.

In 2013, the Serbian parliament gained an observation status in the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.