Thursday, September 14th 2017
MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT XHAFERI WITH THE DELEGATION OF VERMONT NATIONAL GUARD
The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi had a meeting with the Delegation of Vermont National Guard, led by the Major-General Steven Cray.
Satisfaction from the successful cooperation between the members of the Army and Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Macedonia and the Vermont National Guard was expressed at the Meeting. This coopearation has been developed through the Partnership Program since 1993 and attended by over 4.500 Members of the MD and ARM in 
direction of accomplishing the NATO standards. "Phoenix 10" Mission in Afghanistan in 2010, was assessed as particularly successful, since the ARM members as part of the task forces carried out the most complex tasks side by side with the American partners and were rated with the highest marks.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi informed the guests on the current situation and activities of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia, and also underlined the unanimous support of the MPs for the Decisions to deploy troops to Peacekeeping missions of NATO and the high public support for Macedonia's Membership in NATO and EU. The President Xhaferi expressed hope that the year 2018 will be the year of positive events in the Republic of Macedonia, including the full-fledged Membership in NATO.
The Major - General Cray noted that the Republic of Macedonia is closely linked to NATO and has a full and 
strong support from the United States on its path to full-fledged Membership in the Alliance. The interlocutors exchanged opinions for most of the planned activities in the field of defense in 2018 and expressed hope that the extraordinary bilateral cooperation, which is an example of cooperation among friendly countries, as well as strategic partners, will continue in the future.