From February 25 to 26, 2015, delegation from the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia (ATA Macedonia), led by the president Mr. Ismet Ramadani, participated at the 18^th Annual International Conference organized by the Atlantic Council of Albania entitled:

‘NATO in face of the recent Euro-Atlantic Security Challenges’.

This conference successfully served as a long-established opportunity for civil society and political actors to make significant contributions to encouraging cooperation for security and development in the Europe and Western Balkans and discuss NATO approaches to the current security challenges. The conference had representatives from the region and beyond. The conference featured four sessions of high-level speakers and followed by questions, debate and good discussions.

As usual the 18^thAnnual International Conference of the Atlantic Council of Albania was opened by its president, Dr. Arian Starova who, in his welcome speech, also referred to the conference theme in general by highlighting the importance of creating a platform for dialogue to discuss the recent developments in international security in Europe and beyond it, in the Middle East and North Africa, assuring that “a greater support to our Atlantic Council in the future would undisputedly produce more ideas and useful activities for our national, regional and international security”.

In the opening keynote addresses, Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Luciolli, President of the Atlantic Treaty Association called for better cooperation between NATO and EU in the framework of United Nations and highlighted the importance of using all our resources, military and non-military alike in face of the changing nature of threats and our new understandings of the defence dimensions.

In her keynote remarks following Prof. Dr. Luciolli, Ms. Despina Afentouli from NATO Diplomacy Public Division referred to the substantial role of NATO in maintaining and promoting democracy, especially in face of the recent security threats such as ISIS and Russian aggression in Ukraine. In the light of these new security challenges, she emphasized the importance of keeping NATO strong as a political and military alliance.

The First Session “General Security Situation in Europe and its Challenges” was chaired Prof. Dr. Paskal Milo and the key speakers were the Minister of Defense, Ms. Mimi Kodheli, the USA Ambassador Donald Lu, MP and Former Minister of Defense of Albania, Mr. Fatmir Mediu, Head of the NATO-Ukraine Civic League,Mr Serhiy Dzherzh.

The Second Session “Old nationalist Mentalities versus regional Cooperation for Security and Development in the Western Balkans” was moderated by the former MP and the President of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia, Mr. Ismet Rramadani and the speakers were Mr. Sokol Dervishaj, former Deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Dr. Enver Bytyçi, Director of the Institute for South East Europe Studies, Mr. Albert Musliu, member of the Presidency of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia and Dr. Arian Dyrmishi, researcher of the institute for democracy and Mediation.

In the Third Session “Security Threats emerging from the Middle East and North Africa” moderated by the Director of Albanian Policy Center, Dr. Edith Harxhi, the speakers were Egypt’s Ambassador Ahmed Abdellah, the Charge D’Affairs of Libya, Essam Galiel, Prof. Dr. Bekir Çinar from Turkey and the former Ambassador of Albania to Egypt, Sulejman Tomçini. In this session, it was unanimously admitted that the security of NATO countries is inseparably linked to security of the Middle East, therefore fighting terrorism in the Middle East requires intensified efforts from international community and active participation of all the NATO states to implement a united strategy in face of terrorist activities.

The Forth Session “NATO’s Wales Summit in Response to international Security Needs” was moderated by Prof. Dr. Bejtush Gashi and the speakers were Dr. Edith Harxhi, Director of Albanian Policy Center, Mr. Guillame Lasconjarias, Researcher, NATO Defense College, Rome and Mr.Edvin Kulluri, Former Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense, Member of the Board of the Institute for Political Studies. In this session, it was highlighted the importance of increasing cooperation and military commitment in face of the increasing threats coming from ISIS and Russia. The speakers of this panel mainly focused on two dimensions of defence.

In the Final Remarks, Dr Starova, the President of the Atlantic Council of Albania, made an overview of the conference and, among other things, he said that this conference proved to be a real success in combining the efforts of various experts and government and parliament officials in a common dialogue forum. Participants used the conference to network, share and exchange information and to learn more about the recent developments in security. The discussions provided a greater awareness and understanding of security dilemmas facing the North Atlantic Alliance today.

At the margins of the conference, working dinner was held between the business clubs of ATA Macedonia and ATA Macedonia. For this purpose, beside Mr. Ramadani and Mr. Musliu, two members from the business club of ATA Macedonia, Mr. Goran Chogelja and Mr. Toshe Kocevski took part

The conference was held at Hotel Mondial in Tirana and was attended by over 150 participants, including government representatives, political leaders, diplomats, security and defense experts, military officers, university professors, researchers, civil society representatives, media people, ACA members and students.