The distinguished delegation from the federal state of USA, Vermont led by the Deputy of the Governor, Molly Gray and the commander of the National Guard (NG), Major General Gregory Knight, who are on three-day official visit to Republic of North Macedonia, today visited the General Staff of the Army and the Ministry of Defense.
During the visit of the Ministry and the General Staff, the delegation had meetings with the Minister of Defense Radmila Shekerinska, where also the ambassador of the USA, Kate Marie Byrnes, was present, also Major general Knight had meeting with his host, the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Vasko Gjurchinovski.
The Generals Gjurchinovski and Knight, during their meeting discussed the partnership and the cooperation which with our full membership in NATO demonstrated the successfulness of this program of cooperation, which is the most meritorious for the achievement of the NATO standards by the army members.
Among the rest, the Generals also discussed about process of transformation of the Army of Republic of North Macedonia, the participations in peace keeping missions, training and exercises as well as for further planned cooperation.
Minister Shekerinska stressed that the cooperation with Vermont left a strong impression on the careers of many soldiers and officers of the Army. “The big number our soldiers and officers who participated in the cooperation with Vermont is a strong recommendation of the Army of Republic North Macedonia in NATO. Their military education in the USA positively changed the Army” said Shekerinska
The Deputy Governor Molly Gray noted that the door of Vermont for trainings of the Army stays open and also mentioned the necessity of greater inclusion of women in the security sector.
During the visit, ten members of the military police battalion were presented with medals of special merits by the Major General Knight, which are recognition for the high level of professionalism in the performance of their tasks during the last visit of the delegation of the NG to our country.
In the period from 1995 till today with the NG of Vermont have been realized big number of activities by which members of the Army were familiarized with the standards and were trained with the tactics and techniques of working of the AF of the USA, which contributed in the fulfillment of the necessary standards for full membership in the NATO Alliance.
The partnership program for cooperation is realized by different forms of training, such as; seminars, conferences, visits to military bases, school centers and institutions in the USA, performance of mutual exercises etc.
