Dear organizers, Dear representatives of Ministries of Defense and NGOs, Dear colleagues and friends,

Firstly, I would like to greet you for the invitation of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia to participate on this Conference on Partnership Policy and Smart Defense in the Context of the New NATO Strategic Concept.

Our topic today, strengthening NATO’s Network with Partners, has broad spectrum of questions and aspects which should be discussed in depth. NATO cooperates with a range of international organizations and countries in different structures. Few of those partnerships are: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue, Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) and it has a lot of partners across the globe.

Referring to the Western Balkans, NATO’s commitment has been reaffirmed at this year’s Chicago Summit, as the countries of this region have been once again stimulated to continue their path towards integration in NATO. In this regard, we must mention the A-5 chapter countries which day by day intensify their cooperation in the field of reforming the system defense, as well as other sectors of public life through many joints projects and activities.

On the other hand, NATO remains focused on the peace and stability in Kosovo and it represents a significant partner of EU’s mission-EULEX in establishing and further developing the rule of law in the new independent state of Kosovo.

A proof that partnerships and networking play a crucial role in today’s functioning of NATO comes directly from the Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who stresses their importance as the key of the success that NATO has achieved especially in the last two decades. It is absolutely correct to agree with him, if we take into consideration that today NATO has partners from the Balkans to Japan and from Russia to Afghanistan. The security concerns of NATO and its partners have imposed cooperation at regional and international level, bearing in mind that the threats of the 21^st century are not always predictable, often difficult to challenge, and they can be met only through cooperation and partnership of different countries and organizations.

Regarding the partnership between Republic of Macedonia and NATO, my country remains committed to the Euro–Atlantic integration. NATO has recognized Macedonia’s active engagement and the strengthening of the partnership. Macedonia actively participates in NATO – led operations through the world. Special mention has to be given to the ISAF mission where Macedonia participates since its beginning. Referring to full membership in NATO, we remain one political question away from the Alliance despite having fulfilled the basic requirements to become a member and have implemented 12 MAP’s.

The Euro – Atlantic Council of Macedonia in its work for more than a decade has been the main actor in the country for the public diplomacy of the issue of NATO and the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Republic of Macedonia. The activities of the EACM are well known on national, regional and international level.

EACM is a member of the Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA), umbrella organization of 42 national chapters working in the Euro-Atlantic region and broader, building support from the civil society for NATO and the transatlantic cooperation, sharing the best practices among its members.

In this year activities EACM has prepared SMART DEFENCE CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT. In times of austerity, the new global solutions for building defence capacities are more than necessary. In line with the NATO principles of joint cooperation and initiatives and developing state-of-the-art defence capabilities that will take comprehensive approach the EACM will focus on the development of the concept of smart defence.

The EACM has also opened the doors of cooperation on this issue with the Ministry of Defense of Macedonia, NATO and diplomatic missions in the country through a public promotion of the concept.

ISMET RAMADANI

Vice President of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia