The National Security Council concluded at its session yesterday that Macedonia would continue to participate in the international peace missions led by NATO, UN, EU, and the United States of America. In the statement released to the media, the Security Council stressed that all reforms in the defense sphere are being implemented in accordance with the plan and that the financing of the Army would continue with the same intensity. This would satisfy NATO’s requirements as regards the number of peacekeepers deployed to peace missions, in accordance with the obligations assumed with the National Program for Accession to NATO.

The President’s Cabinet informed that the National Security Council also discussed the bad coordination between the Defense Ministry and the government commissions that were formed to investigate the helicopter crash that killed 11 Macedonian troops in January this year, and it was stressed that this problem should be resolved as soon as possible. The Defense Ministry refuted the statement of the President’s Cabinet.