Misajlovski: Even as a small country, Macedonia is making an important contribution to NATO processes

At the NATO Summit held in Albania, Defense Minister Vlado Misajlovski spoke about the need to strengthen cooperation among the Alliance’s member states, also emphasizing common defense and security policies.

According to him, one of the summit’s key messages was the importance of a common approach in the field of security and defense for all member countries, a position that, as he said, is gaining increasing weight.

Misajlovski stated that Macedonia has been praised by many countries, which have assessed it as a country that, although small compared to others, makes a considerable contribution within the framework of the Alliance’s processes.

“It is very important that the message we have from all European countries is that we have a common security and defense policy and that we should belong there is very important, it is an excellent message that we should share together and we are doing this, and for this reason if within NATO we are a family on the same level, this should also apply to the European Union,” said Misajlovski, adding that some countries have welcomed our country as a state that, although small, is making its contribution.

He also stressed that the president, who led our country’s delegation, received an excellent welcome and represented the state with dignity.

The minister announced that the summit also discussed increasing the share of GDP for defense. He underlined that our country already allocates around four percent of GDP to defense and related costs, describing this as an important contribution toward the Alliance’s common goal of reaching five percent by 2035.

In the end, Misajlovski described the summit as a good meeting that conveyed a strong message of solidarity, while saying that current global developments, the influence of China, and the events in Ukraine and Iran were also addressed there.