The French National Day; Defence Minister attends the oldest military parade in the world

Published: Saturday, 14 July 2018 20:26

 

Defence Minister Olta Xhaçka participated in the Bastille Day Military Parade organized on the occasion of July 14th, the French National Day. Minister Xhaçka and senior representatives of many countries attended the oldest Military Parade in the world, which is traditionally held at Champs Elysees on the invitation of the President Emanuel Macron,.

The Defence Minister travelled to Paris after the Adriatic Charter Defense Ministerial held in Croatia and NATO Summit in Brussels. In both of these important meetings was assessed Albania's contribution on peacekeeping missions and NATO's collective defense operations. Right now our country is spending 1.2% of GDP, whereas the goal of the Albanian Government is to increase the budget up to 2% until 2024.

In addition to the dedicated Defence budget and thanks to the AAF contribution in NATO missions, Albania is ranked as the second largest contributor in percentage regarding the Armed Forces in Afghanistan which is the Alliance's main mission and is ranked the 13th among the 29 members for its contribution to other joint missions of the Alliance.