Macedonia has been working and pointing out its interest and contribution, as well as the efforts to finding a constructive name solution, which will enable the country to move forward to NATO membership at the forthcoming Alliance's Summit in Chicago, Defense Minister Fatmir Besimi said after his meetings with US officials in Washington.

Talking to the Voice of America - Macedonian language program, Besimi summarized the message of his meetings with officials of the US State Department and National Security Council related to the name issue and Macedonia's accession to NATO.

"We have heard their recognition of everything Macedonia has been doing within the international peace missions, as well as their support of the country's NATO membership. They also consider that our call for constructiveness in this process should be coordinated with Greece for Macedonia to finally become a full-fledged member of the Alliance," Besimi said.

The meetings in Washington also addressed the 'smart defense' concept, which is to one of the topics on the forthcoming NATO Summit agenda. There is a possibility for Macedonia to assume the role of regional coordination leader  in terms of setting up a 'smart defense' working group for Southeast Europe countries, one that will work on concrete projects on building the regional capacity for contributing to the international peace missions, Besimi said.

A delegation of the Ministry of Defense, headed by Besimi, took part in the annual bilateral defense consultations with the US in Pentagon. The US delegation was headed by Celeste Wallander, Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Europe and Euro-Asia.

The consultations reaffirmed the substantial importance of the US-Macedonia strategic partnership for the defense sector in terms of stability and economic progress.