Eurasia Press & News
Six Balkan defence ministers, minus Serbia’s, meeting in Kosovo, have pledged to work closer together on tackling regional stability.
Defence Ministers from Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo meeting in Peja, Kosovo, agreed on Friday to boost cooperation on regional security issues.
In a joint statement issued after the first Regional Conference of Defence Ministers ended, representatives of the six countries said they would start by coordinating more closely on civil emergencies.
“As a first step towards materializing this cooperation, the signatories… have decided to plan and undertake a joint regional exercise reacting to civil emergencies. This will be implemented in the next two years,” the joint statement read.
The participants said they supported Kosovo’s participation in regional projects and security structures and backed joint moves leading towards Euro-Atlantic integration.
Serbia was not invited to the conference, as it has a policy of boycotting all regional forums in which Kosovo takes part. Serbia refuses to recognise its ex-province as an independent state and claims it is an integral part of Serbia.
