There has been no other project since the independence of the Republic of Macedonia that has gathered such an amount of support from the citizens who consistently sustain the vision of the state leadership for democratic reforms in the defense and security fields as a prerequisite to the membership in the most powerful military and political Alliance in history.

After the conflict of 2001, in a very short period of time the Republic of Macedonia did what a lot of people thought would be impossible. From consumers of military assistance we turned into an entity which in cooperation with our friends and partners from the Euro-Atlantic community contribute to the security of the region and wider. Today, the Republic of Macedonia is part of the global anti-terrorist coalition in Iraq and Afghanistan where our military mission, though small in number, in a convincing way proves that small countries do not differ from larger ones by sharing the common values and contributing to the same goal.

At this moment, the Republic of Macedonia has defined all the strategic documents necessary to an integral, transparent and democratic transformation of the defense field in the country. Structural reforms in the Army are in the final stage and according to relevant assessments our achievements in this area at all levels correspond to the standards of the Alliance. The Army of the Republic of Macedonia at this moment is featured and enabled to fulfill three fundamental missions: To protect the sovereignty and independence of the country; to support the enforcement law services in encountering new and unconventional threats over democracy and to participate to international peace keeping missions.

In this context, we have to complete this exceptionally important process of a true integration of the members of the ethnic communities in the defense and security structures, which will be of utmost importance to the stability and future development of the state. This will imply also a round up of the activities towards the establishment of efficient and credible institutions of ethnic and political character that will enjoy full support from our citizens.

These last years the Republic of Macedonia is a leader in introducing this new qualitative era in the regional cooperation in the field of defense in the Balkans, where until recently the countries had the tendency of developing conflicts more that cooperation among each other, using the resources from this field for their destructive objectives. In this context, the Adriatic Charter in which we are together with Croatia and Albania and our strategic partner the United States of America, in the past two years had a strong impact on the creation of a new atmosphere of trust in the region and promotion of the concept of stability and security on the Balkans.

In these very difficult times of the recent history of wars and destruction of the Balkans, the Republic of Macedonia acted as de facto a member of NATO and as a proven partner of the Alliance and the international community who were sure that on their side they had an atypical Balkan state which implements a multiethnic dialogue and tolerance while we were surrounded by numerous opposite examples.

The conclusions of the Istanbul NATO Summit in 2004 saying that the Republic of Macedonia has achieved a significant progress in the reforms represent a highest-level confirmation that we are on the right track. These are the reasons why we rightfully expect to receive and invitation for membership at the next NATO Summit, confident that we truly deserve it.

The wide and continued political, interethnic and citizens' consensus that we have, legitimize our efforts for integration in the Euro Atlantic community. Today, when we are only a step away from that historical achievement, we must continue to generate stability and democracy in the wider region and therefore take over greater responsibility in the still fragile surrounding.