Skopje, 28 March 2023 (MIA) - Launching a new A5 strategic concept will be the most important part of North Macedonia's US-Adriatic Charter presidency priorities this year, as well as expanding the initiative with new members, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani told Tuesday's press conference after the opening of the A5 informal ministerial meeting. 

"After two decades of existence, geopolitical circumstances in the region and beyond have significantly changed, especially after Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. In addition, A5 largely met its initial goal - today, practically all three founding countries, as well as Montenegro which joined the Charter later, are NATO members. Therefore, our goal is to adapt A5 to the current developments and strengthen its political role towards making it more easy to deal with contemporary security and regional challenges," said Osmani.  

Proposals include strengthening coordination and cooperation with members of the Charter that are NATO members, which is in the direction of promoting the interests of the whole region in the different structures of the Alliance, defining a spectre of mechanisms to enable greater engagement and involvement of Charter members that are not NATO members - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia.

Expanding regional cooperation on current topics and issues in NATO, including hybrid and cyber threats, strategic communications, etc. 

A joint statement will be adopted after Tuesday's informal meeting, with a focus on - joint support to the initiative's open doors policy, i.e. expanding the initiative with new members for the promotion of inclusiveness, cooperation and stability in the region, strong support to Ukraine and condemning the Russian aggression.  

"We aim at sooner membership of Kosovo in A5, whose application has been submitted since 2012," said Osmani. 

Osmani pointed out that since the beginning of the war, all A5 members in the region have donated about USD 17 million in humanitarian aid, while most of the members in the region have provided about USD 214 million in military assistance. He added that together with the United States, the amount is over USD 1.62 billion in humanitarian aid, and USD 32.7 billion in military assistance. 

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed the meeting as a guest of honor. He welcomed the activities of North Macedonia's A5 presidency, which is taking place amid Russia's brutal war in Ukraine, pointing out that A5 is of vital importance for Europe's security. 

"It is of key importance to have the Adriatic Charter adjusted to the new reality in light of the current security challenges. I welcome your plans to step up the Charter's political role and find new security mechanisms for the region. The Adriatic Charter facilitated the Balkan Euro-Atlantic integration. Ukraina is on its NATO path, so we know how important that was," Kuleba said.

The US-Adriatic Charter is the most important initiative on promoting the Euro-Atlantic values in the region. In addition to North Macedonia, members include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro, while Kosovo, Serbia and Slovenia have the status of observers.  

Photo: MIA and MFA