The first day of the regional conference “Regional Post – ISAF engagement - Lessons learned and a legacy for A-5 countries future expeditionary missions” started with the official opening.

Moderator of this session was the project director Dr. Metodi Hadji Janev, who gave description of the project and briefly introduced the speakers on this session:

• H.E. Fatmir Besimi, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Macedonia
• H.E. Paul D. Wohlers, U. S. Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia
• Mr. Nicholas Williams, Head of Section, NATO Operations Division

The first speaker was H.E. Fatmir Besimi. In his speech stressed that the learned lessons that our peacekeepers earned during the ten-year commitment in Afghanistan are simply coinciding with the conclusions that the official political representatives of NATO member states, but also the experts, have established in the New Strategic Concept from November 2010.

The Minister of Defence believes that sharing useful experiences would be of priceless meaning for the building of personal defence capacities, and also in this context the planning of our future participation in expeditionary missions.

According to Minister Besimi, the Republic of Macedonia, as a country that is willing to lead regional cooperation, believes that this is a significantly fruitful platform through which we can contribute towards a better quality life of the people in Afghanistan.

In the end he concluded that this conference is an excellent opportunity for the exchange of national views with respect to the engagement after ISAF.

Next speaker was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia, H.E. Paul D. Wohlers.

In his speech he acknowledged that Republic of Macedonia has once again showed its commitment.

He also stated that Adriatic charter countries today through coordination and cooperation in the region all together became exporters of peace.

During the speech, Ambassador Wohlers touched very important topic, regarding the budgeting problems. According to him the budget cuts mean no reduced responsibility, new ways of functioning must be created.

Furthermore he once again confirmed that USA strongly supports initiatives as A5. The security is not isolated there must be developed joint capabilities and together to address the security challenges.

In the end he gave very important remark regarding the civil engagement and stressed the importance of its engagement.

Last in this session was Mr. Nicholas Williams, Head of section in the NATO Operations Division. Mr. Williams has also acknowledged the significant contribution of the Republic of Macedonia in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

For the lessons learned in Afghanistan, he stressed that they can be implemented worldwide.

Regarding the after 2014 and the future engagement he explained that the nature and the context of the mission in Afghanistan will change, but the purpose remains the same: NATO and the partners will there to make Afghanistan stable and safe place and ensure that the there will be no more threat of terrorism.

In the end he stressed that this conference is essential and it is much needed.

On the second panel of the day, the Research Team of the Euro – Atlantic Council of Macedonia presented its findings.

There were presentations for the A5 countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia and also there presentations from the findings in Serbia as observer to the A5 countries.

On the beginning the project coordinator, Mr. Ilija Djugumanov explained the nature of the research and how it was conducted. After that there was short video clip from the work done during the research.

As last thing of this session was the Questions and Answers part.

Last panel for the day was the regional aspect. This session was moderated from the Vice President of the EACM, Mr. Vladimir Gjorcev. On this session panelists were:

• Mrs. Ratela Asllani, Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Albania
• Col. Sinisa Ostojic, Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• BG Neven Kranjcec, Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia.

Mrs. Asllani in her remarks introduced the public with the approach of Albania to ISAF from its own beginning and how they participated in ISAF. After that she was presenting the lessons learned from the expeditionary missions that Albania participated in.

After that she gave the possible recommendations for the future actions in regional context.

After Mrs. Asllani presentation, next speaker was Col. Sinisa Ostojic from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the same manner and in the same following order as Mrs. Asllani he presented his speech.

He was speaking about Bosnian participation and experience in the ISAF mission. After that he continued with the lessons learned and with the lessons learned from the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to Col. Ostojic, Bosnia and Herzegovina has lot to offer in the future engagement after 2014.

He concluded that these types of conferences are needed.

Last speaker of the day was BG Neven Kranjcec from the Croatian Ministry of Defence.

BG Kranjcec expressed his satisfaction from the conference and stressed the importance of it.

In his speech he shared Croatian experience and all lessons that Croatia has learned in the past.

He has remarked the Croatian capabilities to engage in future and upcoming expeditionary missions. Also he gave his recommendations regarding the Post ISAF regional engagement.

The day was finished with the conclusion of the project director, Dr. Metodi Hadji Janev.