{"id":30226,"date":"2023-10-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=30226"},"modified":"2023-10-06T06:43:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T06:43:07","slug":"vermont-guard-partner-north-macedonia-hosts-adriatic-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=30226","title":{"rendered":"Vermont Guard Partner North Macedonia Hosts Adriatic Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Greg Knight, adjutant general, Vermont National Guard, listens to a speaker during the 26th U.S.-Adriatic Charter Chiefs of Defense Conference in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sept. 27, 2023. The conference included Balkan region military leaders, representatives, and their National Guard state partners.
\n (Photo Credit: Capt. Mikel Arcovitch)<\/span>
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SKOPJE, North Macedonia \u2013 U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Greg Knight, Vermont adjutant general, and leaders from other U.S. states joined their partner nation chiefs of defense for the 26th U.S.-Adriatic Charter Chiefs of Defense Conference in Skopje Sept. 27.<\/p>\n

The Adriatic 5 consists of Albania (New Jersey partner), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Maryland), Croatia (Minnesota), Montenegro (Maine), and North Macedonia (Vermont).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe State Partnership program, to me, remains one of the most important programs in the Department of Defense,\u201d said Knight. \u201cDozens of leaders from across the United States and Europe have gathered here to discuss ongoing conflict, regional peace and security, methods for continually growing our partnerships, and how we can shape the future. This is in no small part due to the continuity of the National Guard State Partnership Program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the discussion at the conference focused on peace and security in the region, including Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander, U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, stressed the importance of training and cooperation between allied partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussian aggression and terror groups continue to pose the main threats to the NATO alliance, \u201cCavoli said. \u201cTo combat these and other threats, members and observers of this charter have pledged continued participation in training events and peacekeeping operations with allies and partners. Throughout this charter\u2019s 20-year history, we continue to demonstrate that cooperation enhances the defense of each nation and collective regional security for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders from Kosovo (Iowa) and Slovenia (Colorado) also attended the event as observers.<\/p>\n

The United States is among over a dozen NATO members contributing to the Kosovo Force peace and security mission. In 2021-2022, Vermont sent multiple units to the mission, including the commander of Regional Command \u2013 East.<\/p>\n

Slavjanka Petrovska, minister of defense for North Macedonia, also referenced regional security and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past two decades have shown and proven that mutual cooperation, trust and unequivocal support are driving postulates of regional cooperation, \u201cPetrovska said. \u201cWe are aware of the changes in the security environment in the Euro-Atlantic area that occurred with Russia\u2019s unprovoked and unjust aggression against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis war contributed to changing the doctrinal and conceptual approach to warfare today and in the future, \u201che said. \u201cWe also know the role played by hybrid warfare, disinformation and modern technologies on the battlefield. These are challenges that we all need to face together as soon as possible. The topic of discussion at this conference is how and with which mechanisms we will respond to these challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Macedonia President Stevo Pendarovski was pleased to host the conference for the first time since his country became a NATO member. He spoke about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need for the European Union to focus on integrating countries in the Western Balkans to strengthen the region\u2019s stability, security and democratization.<\/p>\n

Knight said the conference was tremendous.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be here, in Skopje, with our partner nation hosting such a large-scale conference, is a testament to the progress we\u2019ve experienced together,\u201d said Knight. \u201cI\u2019ve been coming to North Macedonia for nearly 25 years, and to see everything coming together \u2014 the 30-year anniversary (of the State Partnership Program), the conference, NATO accession in 2018, and now talk of EU membership \u2014 is really incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Greg Knight, adjutant general, Vermont National Guard, listens to a speaker during the 26th U.S.-Adriatic Charter Chiefs of Defense Conference in Skopje, North Macedonia, Sept. 27, 2023. The conference included Balkan region military leaders, representatives, and their National Guard state partners. (Photo Credit: Capt. Mikel Arcovitch) VIEW ORIGINAL SKOPJE, North Macedonia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30228,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30226"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30229,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30226\/revisions\/30229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}