“The professionalization of the Military is the most successful project by the Macedonian defence, so any reexamination, revision, or other such change in times when its advantages are visible will mean giving up on the reform process and digressing from the defined formation of ARM (Army of the Republic of Macedonia), as well as the defence concept of the Republic of Macedonia.”

This was the message of the Defence Minister Fatmir Besimi, at the Jubilee conference “ARM 1992-2012 – Forming, development, and challenges”, held today at the House of the Macedonian Army in Skopje, organized by the Association of Veterans and Reservists of the Defence and Security of the Republic of Macedonia.

“Today, 20 years since the forming of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia”, underlined Mr. Besimi, we see a significant improvement in the adequate and equitable ethnic diversity in the military personnel. “From 2-3 per cent in 2001”, stated the minister, “this year, the percentage of members from minority ethnic communities is 25 on all levels of ARM.

“The membership in NATO and the EU also imposes a high motivating factor on the common security reforms in the Republic of Macedonia. Macedonia is fully prepared to take on all commitments and obligations that come with a membership in the Treaty. Seen from our perspective, NATO is the key pillar of modern Euro-Atlantic security architecture” – also stated Minister Besimi.

To the Chief of Headquarters of the ARM, Major general Goranco Koteski, if we briefly sum up the 20-year development of ARM, we can only conclude it has been more than a success in every area of its functioning.

The president of the Association of Veterans and Reservists, retired Major general Ilija Nikolovski, stated that we have a modern, professional Army, with a high level of qualification, which regularly produces veterans and reservists.

To the first Chief of Headquarters of the ARM, Mitre Arsovski, our Army is one of the most qualified, but the Army Reserve is of essential importance, and according to him, the basic strategic postulate is that reserves are what defends the state. They will have to enlarge the Army of Reserve, but, he pointed that they will also have to come up with ways to find young personnel.