The Chief of the Army’s General Staff, Major General Sashko Lafchiski, attended the solemn ceremony on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the South-Eastern Europe Brigade – SEEBRIG, at the Boro Menkov barracks in Kumanovo.
The Command of the South-Eastern Europe Brigade, which changes its location on a rotational basis, has been stationed in the Boro Menkov barracks in Kumanovo since 2020, and it will remain there until 2026. The Army participates with its units and staff leaders and supports the functioning of this brigade in all segments.
The Minister of Defence, Vlado Misajlovski, the Chairperson of the Political-Military Steering Committee and the Coordination Committee, SEDM, Simona Cojacaru, as well as the Commander of SEEBRIG, Brigadier General Bilbil Bitri gave speeches at the solemn ceremony.
The Minister of Defence, Misajlovski, in his address emphasized: “As a member state of this initiative, 4 years ago we achieved one of our strategic goals, full membership in the Alliance; our participation in this initiative significantly influenced the fulfillment of our goal… We remain focused and we are moving towards the fulfillment of the second strategic goal – full membership in the European Union, which will contribute even more to the stability and development of the region.”
SEDM Chairman Cojocaru said that: “Today, celebrating our 25th anniversary, we can say that the progress of the South-Eastern Europe Brigade, the operational pillar of SEDM, is a tangible proof of the commitment of the SEDM nations.”
General Bitri in his address to the audience stated: “Since its foundation, SEEBRIG has become a symbol of unity, uniting professional armies from countries with different origins, cultures and histories, but all united by common shared values and a common goal: promoting military cooperation, guaranteeing the security and safety of our peoples and contributing to peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
The ceremony was attended by the defence ministers’ deputies, the General Staffs’ deputies, the ambassadors and the military attachés of the countries participating in the brigade.
The South-Eastern Europe Brigade was established in 1999, based on the Agreement on Regional Cooperation in the Field of Defence, known as the Agreement on Multinational Peacekeeping Forces of South-Eastern Europe, which was signed in 1998 in Skopje by the Ministers of Defence of: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania and Turkey.
According to the agreement on the formation of the Brigade, the location of the SEEBRIG Command is on a rotational basis, and its hosts so far have been: Plovdiv, Constanta, Istanbul and Larisa. Units assigned to the Brigade remain at their permanent home base locations, and are bound by the principle of dedicated forces for exercises and operations as decided by the participating countries and the corresponding directive from the Political-Military Steering Committee.
