(ANSA) - BELGRADE, OCTOBER 8 - Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic confirmed today his country's military neutrality, and said that Belgrade intends to improve collaboration with Nato and maintain good relationships with Russia and China.

Speaking at Mladenovac (south of Belgrade), where an emergency exercise was beginning, along with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, whom Vuvic officially thanked on behlaf of Serbia.

"I want to thank the Secretary General for his support in organizing this exercise and for the fact that he never wanted to to influence Serbia's independent decision to remain neutral", Vucic said. The international emergency exercise, named 'Serbia 2018', was organized by Serbia's Interior Ministry and the Nato Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC), with the purpose of testing emergency preparedness. About two thousand men from 38 countries will take part in the expercise and will be engaged until 11 October in the areas of Mladenovac, Sopot and Arandjelovac.

Vucic, in his speech, pointed out the importance of solidarity and international aid when dealing with disaster events, underlining the strong support Serbia was given during the disastrous floods in 2014. The president said that he is proud of the fact that an international exercise is taking place for the first time in Serbia. Nato secretary general Stoltenberg started his visit to Serbia on Saturday, and in the afternoon he will continue his tour in the Western Balkans: the next stages will be Croatia and Slovenia. (ANSA).