Balkan army chiefs meet in Tirana

TIRANA, May 22 – Army chief-of-staffs from Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Romania convened in the Albanian capital Wednesday to discuss on joint efforts for a more secure peninsula and also fight against terrorism.
They were also joined by Croatia and Slovenia and representatives of NATO and the European Union.
Albania together with Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Romania are already NATO members while the others have already applied for the bloc’s membership.
This was the seventhconference of the Balkan army chiefs held since 2007. They have become a regular meeting to coordinate efforts in the region.
Albanian army chief-of-staff Gen. Maj. Xhemal Gjunkthi said that the countries have noted an increase of the cooperation among them since the first meeting.
The security issues are usually the same for the whole region and its member countries, like organized crime and corruption, border management that have a common impact on all of them.
The regional countries have already cooperated in the military training and education and have also tried to deepen their military capacities.
The Balkan countries hold regular joint military exercises.
The annual conference of the Balkan army chiefs-of-staff discusses on increasing stability and military cooperation in the region. The first meeting in 2007 was held in Thessaloniki, Greece.