Defence Minister Mrs. Kodheli hosted today in a working meeting the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Mr. Michael Carpenter. At this meeting Minister Kodheli was accompanied by the Chief of General Staff of AAF Major General Jeronim Bazo.
Mrs. Kodheli briefed the senior US official on last developments and efforts of Albanian Armed Forces. She reaffirmed the commitment of our country in Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, VJTF, with an Infantry Company beyond 2018. In this regard Minister Kodheli informed Mr. Carpenter on the joint exercises in which the Albanian Armed Forces have participated recently.
Another discussion point of their meeting was the commitment of Albania in NATO’s Resolute Support Mission, to which Minister Kodheli expressed our country's determination to continue with this contribution, even doubling its participation in this mission. Additional peacekeeping Albanian contingent in Afghanistan is expected to serve in Herat under the command of Italian Armed Forces.
Furthermore, Minister Kodheli briefed Mr. Carpenter for Albania's participation with a naval ship in the operation of NATO in the Aegean Sea, in support of Frontex, the EU Agency for border security.
Both personalities talked about the security situation in Syria and Iraq and the efforts that the international coalition, in which our country is part of, is making against DAESH.
The situation in the region was another point of discussion. Both interlocutors praised the joint initiatives of Western Balkan countries. Minister Kodheli stressed that Albania was one of the first countries to ratify the Protocol of Accession of Montenegro in NATO in the Parliament, thus showing a spirit of cooperation between the two countries and supporting open-door policy of the Alliance.
Moreover, Mrs. Kodheli briefed the senior US official on the further steps that Albania has undertaken for the establishment of NATO Centre of Excellence to study the phenomenon of foreign fighters and praised the work done by the Cooperation Office of Defense (ODC) in Tirana, through numerous projects, in the training and modernization of the Albanian Armed Forces.
The visit of US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Mr. Michael Carpenter comes immediately after the closure of NATO Summit in Warsaw and in the framework of the visit that US Assistant Secretary of State Mrs. Victoria Nuland is holding in Tirana.
