Senior NATO Official: Certain Actors in Region Seek to Reverse Western Balkans’ Progress

Radmila Shekerinska (Photo: YTPrintScreen)

NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska cautioned on April 10 that "certain actors in the region and beyond" wanted to turn back the clock and undo the progress achieved in the Western Balkans.

Shekerinska underlined that, since the 1990s, the Alliance had been supporting peace and stability across the Western Balkans and that the region was of strategic importance to NATO. "Our commitment is firm. There are certain actors in the region and beyond seeking to turn back the clock and undo the progress achieved in the Western Balkans. Despite the range of security challenges we face, we must never allow peace to be jeopardized," Shekerinska said in an interview to the Macedonian portal Racin.

The NATO official, formerly North Macedonia’s politician, also noted that her country was playing a very important role in securing stability in the Western Balkans, with 70 troops deployed to KFOR, the Alliance’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

"North Macedonia is now a security exporter. KFOR is a key factor of regional stability, as it helps maintain a safe and secure environment for all people living in Kosovo, under a long-standing United Nations mandate. Our troops also serve in NATO’s Forward Land Forces in Bulgaria and Latvia," Shekerinska said, adding that being part of NATO, North Macedonia had 31 friends and allies standing alongside it, helping safeguard it in an increasingly dangerous world.