Tuesday, 1 December 2009
The Republic of Macedonia is on the right path toward the European Union and NATO
Yesterday, the Chairperson of the Committee on Defence and Security Mr. Vladimir Gjorčev and the Members of the Committee had a meeting with the Minister for International Defence and Security of the United Kingdom, the Rt Hon Baroness Ann Taylor of Bolton.
At the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Vladimir Gjorčev, emphasized the efforts of all the political parties in the Republic of Macedonia for NATO membership, which can be seen in the work of the Committee.
„The decisions for deploying members of the Macedonian Army in the NATO Missions are adopted unanimously, with no votes against or abstentions, and past year the number of the soldiers has tripled. This places Macedonia in the third place according to the percentage of soldiers participating in the NATO operations”, said Chairman Gjorčev.
The Members of the Committee Mr. Goran Minčev, Ms. Zumrete Jakupi, and Mr. Pavle Trajanov, welcomed the Delegation from the UK and expressed their appreciation for the support which the United Kingdom is giving to the Republic of Macedonia. 
The Minister for Defence and Security of the United Kingdom, Baroness Ann Taylor, congratulated the Committee on its successful work and the implemented reforms in the field of defence, which confirms that the Republic of Macedonia has accomplished the conditions for NATO membership, and underlined that the veto in Bucharest should not have a negative effect on the future work.
Baroness Ann Taylor also said that the United Kingdom respects and appreciates the role of the Macedonian soldiers in the Afghanistan Missions.
She added that the Republic of Macedonia is on the right path towards EU and NATO membership.