Defence Minister Mimi Kodheli is attending the Meetings of NATO Ministers of Defence member countries in Brussels. Mrs. Kodheli initially held a multilateral meeting with the Defence Ministers of contributing countries in the Battalion deployed in Latvia. The Minister of Defense of Canada, Harjit Singh Sajjan and Latvian Minister of Defense Raimonds Bergmanis thanked Minister Kodheli for the contribution given by Albania and the commitment in the framework of this initiative. Ministers discussed the need for harmonization and coordination of the strategies and activities of contributing countries in compliance with NATO's objectives. Minister Kodheli thanked host countries, organizers and participants and stated that this contribution will continue during 2018.
Minister Kodheli had a meeting with Montenegrin homolog, Mr. Predrag Bošković, who thanked Minister Kodheli for the continuing and comprehensive support that Albania has provided for full membership of Montenegro in NATO.
Minister Kodheli also held a meeting with her Macedonian counterpart, Ms. Radmilla Sheqerinska. During this meeting, the two ministers discussed bilateral co-operation and exchange of information as a necessity to be effective in the fight against terrorism. Minister Kodheli reiterated the fact that Albania supports open door policy like the allies.
During this ministerial meetings, Minister Kodheli also exchanged opinions with Secretary Stoltenberg and the ministers of the largest NATO member countries, such as USA, Canada, Italy, Germany, etc.
This Ministerial comes immediately after the Meeting of Heads of State and/or Government, in May 2017 in Brussels and has on its agenda the discussion and implementation of their decisions. Main issues are strengthening transatlantic relations, sharing the burden of responsibility among the Allies, developing NATO defense capabilities, the real NATO-EU co-operation and the enhancing of NATO's role in the fight against terrorism.
