Stuart Peach: London Continuing To Back Modernization of North Macedonia’s Defense System

Stuart Peach (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Stuart Peach, the British prime minister’s special envoy for the Western Balkans, in Skopje on April 3 said that Great Britain was committed to continued active cooperation with North Macedonia as an ally in NATO, and support to modernization of the country’s defense system. 

The statement, according to a release from the Skopje Government, Stuart Peach made in a meeting with North Macedonian Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi, whom he congratulated on four years of the country’s membership in NATO. 

The meeting, the release says, also discussed “the current developments in the Western Balkans, challenges, possibilities for and importance of the region’s development, security in Europe in the light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and in that context, cooperation between the two countries as partners and allies.” Xhaferi and Peach hailed excellent relations between North Macedonia and Great Britain, and expressed hope that the established dynamic of collaboration and high-level meetings and visits would continue, it is said in the release. 

Xhaferi said he was happy that Stuart Peach’s visit came in the year when North Macedonia was celebrating four years as a NATO member country and the Alliance was marking its 75th anniversary. Xhaferi also underlined North Macedonia’s resolve to continue to be an active and credible member of NATO.