The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Kosovo, Ejup Maqedonci, held a trilateral meeting today with the defense ministers of Croatia and Albania, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Forum.
The meeting was described as a continuation of the strategic partnership and shared vision for strengthening regional security.
"During this meeting, concrete steps were agreed to deepen and advance cooperation in the field of defense, raising it to a more structured and stronger level," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The focus of the meeting was the defense industry and NATO standards.
"Special attention was paid to the defense industry, the development of production capacities in accordance with NATO standards for ammunition and weapon systems, as well as strategic investments that strengthen self-sustainability, increase interoperability and directly contribute to maintaining peace, regional stability and broader security," the announcement further states.
Otherwise, Kosovo, Albania and Croatia will hold the first joint trilateral exercise this year, which will be in line with NATO's strategic concept "and Euro-Atlantic objectives."
According to the defense field declaration reached last year, there are four main areas of cooperation, which include promoting cooperation in the field of defense capabilities and the defense industry, increasing interoperability through education, training and joint exercises, addressing hybrid threats and strengthening resilience, as well as providing continued and full support for Euro-Atlantic integration.
This defense pact states that the three countries will cooperate to increase security and stability in Southeast Europe.
The Defense Ministers of the three countries held a meeting earlier in February where they discussed the implementation of this declaration.
The declaration on cooperation in the field of defense, signed in March last year, was described as a "military and offensive alliance against Serbs and Serbia" by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
The signatories of the declaration say that it is not against anyone, not even Serbia, as Albania's Defense Minister, Pirro Vengu, said at the end of January this year that he had invited Serbia to become part of this pact, but Belgrade has not responded to this invitation.
Croatia and Albania are part of the western military alliance NATO, where Kosovo hopes to join.
Based on this agreement, among other things, Pristina, Tirana and Zagreb plan to make joint purchases of weapons from the United States.Telegrafi/
