Albania takes over the leadership of the Adriatic Charter, in Tirana takes place the first political level meeting

Published: Wednesday, 24 April 2019 15:56

As the country that chairs the US - Adriatic Charter (A-5) Initiative for 2019, in Tirana was held the Joint Political Directors Meeting of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministries of Defense of the US-Adriatic Charter Initiative (A-5).

This was the first political meeting organized in the framework of this Initiative, while other meetings in defense and military perspectives were organized earlier in 2019 in our country.

This meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Inid Milo, Director of NATO and Security Policies at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and Mr. Gjergji Methoxha, Director of NATO and EU Policies in the Ministry of Defense.

In the meeting participated representatives of member countries of this initiative: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the USA, as well as observer countries: Kosovo and Slovenia.

The main focus of this meeting was the discussion on current security and defense issues in our region, the joint NATO contribution, the immigration crisis and their impact on the security of the region, as well as the security challenges in Western Europe, our countries are being faced with.
In this meeting there was also discussed the Action Plan for 2019 (Calendar of Activities), a document drafted by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Albania. This document serves as a guide for the engagements that the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Albania will have during the A-5 Chair.

One of the most important points of this meeting were the priorities that Albania will have during the leadership of the US-Adriatic Charter Initiative, which focuses on the implementation of the “Open Door Policy” within the Adriatic Charter as well as the further promotion of this policy under the framework of NATO. These priorities of our country are directly related to the continual support that our country provides for Kosovo’s full membership in the US-Adriatic Charter Initiative.

This meeting precedes other meetings which will be held in our country such as the Meeting of the Political Defense Directors and the Ministerial of Defense of this initiative.