Skopje, 29 June 2022(MIA) – The NATO Summit in Madrid is a unique opportunity for all the allies to show strength and cohesion concerning our current and future tasks, President Stevo Pendarovski said in his doorstep statement at the summit. Pendarovski, who is leading North Macedonia’s delegation in Madrid, where the NATO Summit officially started on Wednesday, said the Summit was unique following another specific, i.e. never in the history of the Alliance, since 1949, there has been a summit organized at the same facing a war on the European continent. “You can imagine that the war in Ukraine, i.e. the Russian invasion in Ukraine is fully dictating the agenda of the Summit, so by the end of this day, we should accept the new Strategic Concept, which was been fully synchronized by all the allies yesterday and, of course, we should again approve the Memorandum of Understanding reached yesterday and invite the two new countries to join the Alliance as soon as possible after all protocol procedures have been approved by all the allies. I think this is the right time to show that there is increased solidarity and cohesion within the Alliance and we should fully support the Ukrainian people in defending their territory, freedom, in essence fighting for democratic values ​​and freedom for all of us,” President Pendarovski stated before the official start of the Summit, his office said in a press release. At the welcoming ceremony, the heads of delegations were greeted by the host, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, and the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. On Wednesday and Thursday, Pendarovski will take part at meetings of heads of state and government and hold a number of bilateral meetings. The current security challenges will be addressed at the Madrid Summit and the new NATO Strategic Concept is expected to be adopted.