Albanian-British Exercise "Soldier Eagle 17"

: Published: Thursday, 14 September 2017 18:58

In the framework of joint training between Armed Forces of Albania and Armed Forces of United Kingdom the “Day of distinguished visitors” to Exercise "Soldier Eagle 17"was held today.

The ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic, at the same time commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Ilir Meta, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces Brigadier General Bardhyl Kollçaku, Chief of Defense Staff of the United Kingdom General Sir Stuart William Peach, United Kingdom Ambassador to Albania Duncan Norman, generals and other military officers from the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces.

In his speech, the Chief of Defense Staff of the United Kingdom General Sir Stuart William Peach appreciated the cooperation with Albania, evaluating it as a worthy member of NATO. "We have walked along with our military expertise in NATO. I know we will work together in the future. I have the conviction as Chief of Staff of the United Kingdom that our future is much safer as a result of this Alliance. NATO remains the vital link that provides security in our country. "

On his part, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Brigadier General Bardhyl Collcaku emphasized the strengthening of this cooperation aiming at peace and security. "This is a demonstration of the excellent cooperation we have between the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania, and the assurance that this cooperation will extend and will continue even further in the future in the interests of peace and security not only in our countries but also in the region and beyond. We live in an environment that security practitioners find to be vulnerable, unpredictable, complex, and unclear, even though we live in an international system where states should be the only key actors, but in reality what we notice is the increase, in some cases a frightening one, of the non-state actor role. An environment with such actors has exposed us all to dangers and threats, which apparently no country finds easy to afford, let alone smaller countries like Albania."

Dwelling upon the new security challenges, Brigadier General Kollcaku indicated that this exercise is one more reason to make us determined to continue our co-operation with the United Kingdom and beyond in the military field, as the best possibility of maintaining peace and security.

Exercise " Soldier Eagle 17" is intended to preserve military installations or bases, support for aerial and naval operations related to landing tactics, perfecting patrol skills, carrying out tasks related to stabilization operations; is actually the best way to prepare for the changing feature of operations in the operations area.

This exercise, which started on September 4, 2017, is held in the framework of bilateral cooperation with the United Kingdom and will continue until September 28, 2017 at the naval base of Kepi i Palit, the Training Area of Bisa, the Kuçova Air Base and in 3-d Infantry Battalion in Poshnje.

Subsequently, the two senior soldiers were relocated to Biza's training area, inaugurating the memorial dedicated to British soldiers fallen in our country. British soldiers were killed in a flight mission during support operations in Albania on November 29, 1944.