Macedonian and Yugoslav Defense Ministers Vlado Buckovski and Slobodan Krapovic signed Monday in Skopje protocol on military cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries.
Minister Buckovski assessed the talks with Krapovic, who leads the delegation from the Yugoslav Defense Ministry, as very constructive, expressing his satisfaction about the same positions regarding the current crisis in Macedonia.
The meeting focused on the political and security situation in the region. According to Minister Buckovski the both countries tend to resolve the crisis peacefully. "We are committed to find political solution through political means, but also we will use force to handle the terrorism as general evil," Minister Buckovski stated. Regarding the terrorism, he stressed cooperation and exchange of information for preventing the terrorism and organized crime is necessary.
Yugoslav Defense Minister Slobodan Krapovic presented his experiences regarding the crisis in Yugoslavia.
"I think that the Yugoslav as well as the Macedonian crisis have identical samples. The crisis on the south of Serbia is coming to an end and relatively peaceful period has been reached," Krapovic said, adding that the diplomatic means have contributed to it. According to Krapovic, that area will progress economically, expressing his hopes that similar example can be followed in Macedonia to resolve the crisis.
"Without resolving the Kosovo issue, the crisis that occurred as a result of the Albanian extremist and terrorist operations in this part of the Balkans cannot be resolved," Yugoslav Defense Minister said.
He explained that the signed protocol is for scientific, technological, military and economic cooperation according to the policy for good neighborly relations and cooperation. "The protocol includes exchange of delegations on different levels, reviewing the possibilities for the Yugoslav military manufacturing to be available to Macedonia and the other countries regarding the economic arrangements in this area," Minister Krapovic informed.
Minister Buckovski stressed that "in these moments of crisis the Macedonian Army needs offensive and defensive means."
"We talked about the defensive means as well as about the manufacturing that already exists in Yugoslavia," Buckovski said, announcing that starting from Tuesday the Macedonian experts will review the possibilities for cooperation of the Macedonian Defense Ministry regarding the supply of equipment not only with the Yugoslav Defense Ministry but the other ministries as well.
The both defense ministers stated that the exchange of information between the armies would be intensified.
"It is very important to inform the domestic as well as the international public about the real reasons of the crisis - such as the issue of the minority and human rights as a false alibi for the terrorist operations. We will clearly show that there are omissions in the operation of the international community," Yugoslav Defense Minister Krapovic.
