Today (16 December), Defense Minister Vlado Misajlovski met with the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for the Western Balkans, Lord Steward Peach, the British Ambassador to North Macedonia, Matthew Lawson, and the Deputy Chief of Staff in the Joint Allied Command in Naples, General – Major John Clark, at the Ministry’s premises. The meeting was also attended by the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Major General Sashko Lafchiski.
British-Macedonian defense cooperation is one of the strongest and most visible, the Minister said at the meeting and added that “now is the time to think about the possibility of raising this cooperation to the level of a strategic partnership”.
Misajlovski said that the defense cooperation between the two countries is particularly visible in the development of the largest Macedonian training ground, “Krivolak”, where a large number of joint exercises were carried out, and with the support of the United Kingdom, 14 complex mobile units were also set up to strengthen the training of the Macedonian and allied forces.
“At a time of disrupted security on the European continent, it is extremely important that NATO allies support each other and develop together. “All previous Macedonian-British defense cooperation had that exact goal,” the Minister said.
Macedonian – British defense cooperation dates back to 1995, when the first Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries. The United Kingdom, in addition to the mentioned complex mobile units, supported the development of “Krivolak” by donating electronic targets that are already used in the training process at this army training ground.
