Today, September 17th, 2015, at the “Granit” hotel in Ohrid, the 19th Conference of the Chiefs of General Staff (CGS) of the armies of the member countries of the U.S.-Adriatic Charter (А-5) was held. The conference was opened by the President of the Republic of Macedonia and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, His Excellence, PhD Gorge Ivanov, and besides the Chief of General Staff of ARM Lieutenant General Metodija Velichkovski as a host, the following participants were present: the Commander of the NATO Allied Command in Naples and representative of the USA, CGS of the Armed Forces (AF) of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Deputy CGS of the AF of Croatia, and CGS of AF of Montenegro, CGS of the AF of Slovenia was attending as an observer, while the Commander of the Kosovo Security Force attended as a guest.
At the opening of the conference, President Ivanov emphasized that: “Every country can contribute by sharing its experience. It is necessary to develop a prevention mechanism in the fight against violent extremism and radicalism and foreign terrorist fighters. A different kind of cooperation and communication among the subjects of the national security systems of the countries is required. A unique and coordinated response to the threats is needed. The countries of the Adriatic Charter must be integrated in the architecture of the NATO and European Union security system with free access to all data bases.“ Stressing the necessity of admitting the Republic of Macedonia in NATO, President Ivanov underlined that:” With 16 action plans for membership, 9 rotations in Iraq and 27 rotations in Afghanistan, the Army of the Republic of Macedonia became the most evaluated army in the history of NATO. That creates great responsibilities without any privileges for us. We defend the interests of the Alliance, although we are not its members. It is time that the Alliance defends its own interests by granting us the long deserved membership. “
In his statement for the media after the opening of the conference, General Velichkovski stated that:” The challenges stressed at the conference await us. I believe that the conclusions that will be reached will be beneficial to all armies and for ARM I hope that it will be an additional impulse to celebrate the admittance to the NATO Alliance at the summit in Warsaw.“
The main topic at 19th Conference of the Chiefs of GS of the armies of the member countries of the A5 was “Joint efforts in achieving NATO partnership goals and capabilities of the forces “.
Today, the chiefs of GS of the armies of А5 signed a mutual statement with which they recognized the previous efforts and contributions reaffirmed their continuing dedication to the inaugural principles of the U.S.-Adriatic Charter, signed in Tirana, in May, 2003. They greeted and emphasized the achievements of the mutual contribution to the mission “Resolute Support“ in Afghanistan , the creation of the catalogue of A5 specific capacities and military abilities for response and handling of crisis, as well as realization of the “Joint Reaction 2015” exercise in humanitarian aid and response to disasters, led by Albania.
On the margins of the conference, CGS of ARM had meetings with his colleagues from the armies of А5, and there were bilateral meetings between the rests of the participants.
