The delegation of the Armed Forces of Austria led by the Chief of General Staff, General Othmar Commenda, together with his host, the Chief of General Staff of ARM, Lieutenant General Metodija Velichkovski, after the meeting with the Minister of Defense Radmila Shekerinska, visited the southern border of the Republic of Macedonia today.
Members of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia deployed to the southern border informed the delegation on the security situation related to the refugee crisis, as well as the actions and procedures undertaken by ARM.
The presentation held in the area of the watchtower “Bogorodica” was attended by the last rotation of the police forces of the Republic of Austria carrying out tasks on the Macedonian Greek border together with the border police of the Republic of Macedonia.
The members of ARM presented data on the activities that ARM effectively had implemented in accordance with the assigned tasks for enhanced and continuous security of the southern and northern border in preventing illegal crossing of the state border.
The high Austrian Army delegation watched with particular interest the presented tactics and procedures of ARM, as well as the elaborated preventive operational plans for various situations that have so far proved to be very effective.
In fact, in the past two years since ARM members have been engaged in preventing illegal crossings of the state border, tens of thousands of such attempts have been prevented, which decreased the pressure of the migrant wave on the southern border.
The generals Velichkovski and Commenda expressed the need to exchange and share experiences such as dealing with the challenges of the migration crisis, as a form of deepening the further cooperation between the two armies.
Part of the delegation of the Austrian Armed Forces led by the Special Forces Commander toured the Army Training Area “Krivolak” observing the possibilities of the area for this type of training.
Tomorrow, in the General Staff of ARM official talks to discuss mutual forms of cooperation will be held between the delegation of the Austrian Armed Force and the representatives of the General Staff of ARM.
