Albania leads the meeting of Southeast European Defense Ministers

Published: Thursday, 17 October 2019 13:39

As the country holding the chairmanship of the South-East Europe Defense Ministerial Secretariat Initiative (SEDM), the Ministry of Defense chaired the SEDM Ministerial Meeting of Defence Ministers, held in Bucharest, Romania, on October 15 - 16, 2019.

With the participation of 16 member states, senior representatives from NATO, as well as other international organizations such as the UN and RACVIAC, the meeting was chaired by the Defence Deputy Minister, Mr. Petro Koçi, as the President of the SEDM Secretariat.

At the opening remarks Mr. Koci introduced our country’s priorities while leading this initiative, emphasizing the "Open Door Policy" for other countries in the region and beyond, that aspire to be part of the forum focused on promoting Security and Defense.

There was also reaffirmed as one of the key priorities of the Initiative, the commitment to strengthen good neighborhood relationships between the countries of the region and to co-operate in joint training and exercises.

The Ministerial headed with targets and remarks on the prospective of the initiative by country members and on joint commitment to promoting peace and stability in Southeast Europe.
Member States agreed to further develop the co-operation on a political and intergovernmental level through joint SEDM activities and projects.

At this meeting, several documents were approved, which will serve as a basis for the development of joint projects and activities over the next year.

The meeting closed with the approval of the joint statement of Defense Ministers of Southeast Europe countries.

This was the first SEDM Ministerial held by Albania during this 2019-2021 Chairmanship.