The Chief of General Staff of the Army, Lieutenant General Vasko Gjurchinovski had a meeting today with the Commander of the South-Eastern Europe Brigade, Brigadier General Tudorica Petrache, who leads the delegation of this brigade, which is on an official visit to the Republic of North Macedonia.
At the meeting, the Generals discussed the activities of this Brigade, the readiness of our declared units which are part of this Brigade, and also they discussed the relocation of the Command of the Brigade which is predicted to be in our country from the next year.
During the stay at the Ministry of Defence, General Petrache also met the Minister of Defence, Radmila Shekerinska.
Besides the expert talks at the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff where the State Secretary of Defense, Dragan Nikolikj was also present, the delegation from the Staff of SEEBRIG today will pay an evaluation visit to the declared Engineering Platoon within the Engineer Battalion at the “Ilinden” barracks in Skopje.
The delegation will also pay a visit to the Joint Operations Command (JOC), where besides the meeting with the Commander of JOC and the Commander of the First Mechanized Infantry Brigade, they will have an evaluation tour to the declared Mechanized Infantry Company within the Second Mechanized Infantry Battalion. Besides the evaluation visits, the delegation at the Training and Doctrines Command will perceive the capacities of the Simulations Centre for the possibilities to perform the exercise organized by SEEBRIG – “Seven Stars” in 2020.
During June this year, the annual meeting of the Deputy Chiefs of General Staffs of the Armies of the member nations of the South-Eastern Defense Ministerial (SEDM) was held in Skopje, when the sixth additional protocol was signed, which refers to the functioning of the Brigade.
SEEBRIG was formed in 1999, as a result of the regional cooperation agreement in the field of defence, known as agreement on multinational peace forces of South-Eastern Europe. According to the agreement, the location of the Command of SEEBRIG is on four years rotational basis. The position of Commander of SEEBRIG rotates among the nations participants in period of two years.
The declared units within the Brigade remain on their permanent home base locations and are bound by the principle of task forces for exercises and operations with decision of the participant nations and an appropriate directive from the Political-Military Committee.
Besides the long years of experience in the SEEBRIG, the Army of North Macedonia will also host the seat of the Command from 2020 to 2026, for which all measures are being taken to provide conditions for its complete functionality. By this, besides our participation so far with the Mechanized Infantry Company, the Engineering Platoon and staff element, we will also give further contribution with combat service support, by which we will strengthen our positions in security context.
