Deputy Defence Minister Tafra met Macedonian Deputy Chief of General Staff

During the meeting both sides confirmed the successful bilateral cooperation between the two countries, with emphasis on the military cooperation of the armed forces through joint exercises and involvement in peacekeeping missions, particularly in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, where they work together in mentoring teams in the School of Military Police in Kabul. Deputy Defence Minister Tafra in his address emphasized that although the NATO summit that has been held in Chicago was not related to the expansion of the Alliance, Croatia would like to see Macedonia as soon a full member of NATO. She also stressed that the Republic of Macedonia would continue to have strong support of Croatia on its path to Euro-Atlantic integration, stressing that Croatia can certainly help with its experience.

Major General Sejdini thanked for the political and military support, and stressed that Macedonia attaches great importance to cooperation with the Croatian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence. He rated the cooperation of the armed forces of the two countries as highly successful, adding that there could be expansion of the same, in particular through the NATO “Smart Defence” initiative, where he mentioned successful project of a joint pilot training in Zemunik.

Deputy Minister Tafra and General Sejdini also discussed the current projects of equipping and modernization of the armed forces pursuant to the adopted strategic defense documents in Macedonia, and draft proposal of the same in Croatia and in terms of reduced defence budgets. Deputy Tafra said that MOD priorities, based on projections of future state budgets and strategic plans, would be aimed in the next four years to projects at equipping the coastal patrol ships for the Coast Guard, the retention of capability of combat aircraft, modernization of existing live ammunition warehouses, as well as on completion of the project of the barracks for 21 century – namely “Predrag Matanović” Barracks in Petrinja.

During the meeting they also discussed the possibilities of military-technical cooperation between the two countries.