Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania: possibilities for fostering defense cooperation

The Macedonian, Bulgarian Defense Ministers and Albanian Deputy DM, Radmila Sekerinska, Krasimir Karakachanov and Petro Kochi respectively, discussed Friday in Ohrid on possibilities for fostering the cooperation in the sphere of defense.Today we have expressed political will to strengthen our cooperation in defense and our teams will begin to prepare plans for 2018, Sekerinska said after the meeting, which ‘voiced strong support for the Alliance’s open door policy and Macedonia’s full-fledged NATO membership.’ The closer cooperation between Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania doesn’t cover only the economic cooperation with respect to Corridor 8, but may also be extended to the sphere of defense, Karakachanov said.Kochi said that Albania and Bulgaria would be staunch advocates for Macedonia to join NATO as soon as possible, as the membership status is significant not only to the citizens of the country, but also to the region as a whole.