Address

Mr Speaker, President Pendarovski, Prime Minister Kovačevski, members of parliament, ladies and gentlemen.

Dobar den. It's great to see you all again. And it's an honour to be here. It is a great honour to be invited to the Sobranie because so this is the National Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia. I have been here before, but this is the first time I have addressed you since North Macedonia became a full-fledged member. So welcome to NATO, and congratulations on belonging to the most successful Alliance in history. The road to NATO membership was long and challenging. Your country first decided to join NATO thirty years ago. This journey required perseverance, determination, and a commitment to reform. With political courage and vision, you reached an historic compromise with Greece: the Prespa Agreement made NATO accession possible. It has also contributed to good neighbourly relations, and a brighter future for the people of North Macedonia.

In March 2020, you finally achieved your ambition and became a full member of NATO. At that time, the world was entering the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. So for me personally, and for all of us, NATO membership for North Macedonia was a welcome point of light in the darkness.

And even in those early days, the benefits of membership were apparent. NATO Allies provided North Macedonia with much needed support and supplies. You used NATO to help coordinate your pandemic response and more than 500 first responders trained by NATO we're able to dive straight into action, helping to save lives and alleviate suffering.

Today, NATO Allies guarantee North Macedonia's security: fighter jets from Greece and Italy patrol your skies to keep you safe. This is NATO solidarity in action. Allies standing together to protect and defend each other. In the last three years, following NATO membership, you have seen more foreign investment, increased growth and more jobs.

And this is something we have seen also in other countries joining NATO and that is that peace and stability is a precondition for economic prosperity. So by joining NATO, we will not only provide the security but we'll also provide the framework, the conditions, for economic prosperity. And more than that, for North Macedonia, like so many other countries, membership of NATO is an essential stepping stone towards membership of the European Union. And again, we have seen it many times before, that after the end of the Cold War, Allies joined the countries that were former parts of the Warsaw Pact or the Eastern Bloc. They first joined NATO and then, based on that, they joined the European Union. EU membership will further enhance your democracy, the rule of law, and social justice, increasing opportunities for all citizens, and especially the young.

All political parties have a responsibility to work together and to move the country forward. So I encourage you to persist as you did with membership of NATO and complete your journey to the heart of the European family of nations. And again, membership in NATO has paved the way for membership in the European Union for many countries before you. NATO membership is good for North Macedonia. It is also good for NATO.

Your Armed Forces make an active contribution to international peace and security. They contribute to different NATO missions and operations, to a battlegroup in Bulgaria, and to other important tasks within the NATO Alliance. Just recently, you actually helped to move NATO forces through your country into Kosovo to enable us to strengthen NATO's presence in Kosovo, where we added 1000 additional troops recently. Your Armed Forces served in Afghanistan. They provided valuable support to our peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and here in this Assembly, you are united in denouncing Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. North Macedonia immediately joined EU sanctions against Russia. You have provided significant military aid to Ukraine, as well as funding for NATO's Ukraine trust fund. So we thank you for your strong political support and practical support to Ukraine. And every day at the NATO headquarters, you take your place as an equal with other Allies, as a valued and trusted member of the transatlantic community, to discuss and take decisions in the best interest of the Alliance. I thank you all and the members of your armed forces for your support and your commitment.

And I remember the first time I addressed this Assembly. Then, you had applied for membership. We were working to overcome the obstacles, but no one was certain whether we were able to do it. You were able to overcome those obstacles. And now we are here together as NATO allies, which demonstrates that progress is possible.

The Western Balkans has always been close to my heart. Because when I was a child, my father worked at the Norwegian Embassy to the former Yugoslavia. We lived here for three years. It was then that I enjoyed my first sladoled, ate my first Punjene Paprike and learned my first nursery rhyme, "Ringe Ringe Raja, Došo čika Paja" or something like that. So I still have very fond memories from my childhood in former Yugoslavia. And since then, I have returned to this region many times, including here in North Macedonia, to visit friends, as a Norwegian politician, and as a Secretary General of NATO.

So in 2018, I was here for the inauguration of the "Stoltenbergova Ulica", a street named after my father, an honorary citizen of Skopje. This was in recognition of his and my mother's efforts to help those affected by the terrible earthquake in 1963. My parents, like so many others, were deeply moved and determined to help. And helped to coordinate Norway's relief effort, providing support including prefabricated houses, for the many thousands of people made homeless by the disaster. They also helped, my father and my mother, to turn the tuberculosis hospital into what became known as "Kozle", the Institute for Respiratory Diseases in Children, a hospital that still provides care today. So I really mean it when I say that this part of the world, this part of Europe, is very important to me and my family. But it's also important for NATO.

When Yugoslavia broke up with the collapse of communism, your country was unique. It was the only country to gain its independence without a single drop of blood being spilled. And that is a huge achievement. An example for others. In the early 2000s, NATO forces helped to bring peace to North Macedonia, disarming [and separating groups] and providing protection for international monitors. Today, North Macedonia is an example of a successful multi-ethnic society. You demonstrate to the region and to the whole world, that it is possible for different ethnic and religious groups to live together in peace, that there are real alternatives to violence.

And this is also actually demonstrated in this Assembly. Where different groups are represented together, building a nation together. The terrible violence of the 1990s changed the Western Balkans and it changed NATO: for the first time in our history, we went outside NATO territory to stop the bloodshed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and to prevent the potential genocide in Kosovo. NATO has been here ever since. In the last few days, I have been on a tour of the Western Balkans. I have visited our partners, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. In Kosovo, I met with NATO's KFOR troops from across the Alliance.

And tomorrow, I will meet other leaders from Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and of course, North Macedonia. So Prime Minister Kovačevski, thanks so very much for hosting this important meeting of leaders from this region in Skopje tomorrow. I think that demonstrates the value and the importance of North Macedonia and our Alliance that actually you convene, we convene, this important meeting in Skopje tomorrow. We will at the meeting discuss Western Balkans and the wider security issues. Such as Russia's war against Ukraine and its activities in the region. Because the Western Balkans is essential to the security of Europe. We are committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its continued journey along the Euro Atlantic path. In Kosovo, we have deployed around 1000 extra troops to our KFOR mission following recent incidents of violence. We urge Belgrade and Pristina to engage in the EU facilitated dialogue.

And I want to thank North Macedonia for its continued support for KFOR and for helping to maintain peace in that region. So members of the Assembly, North Macedonia is full of incredible people, beautiful landscapes, and great promise for the future. You lead by example by demonstrating how people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds can live together and build a country. Your country is proof that with hard work, reform and commitment to the values of the transatlantic community, freedom, democracy and the rule of law, however difficult, progress is always possible. Whether that is membership of NATO of the European Union, or the peace, security and prosperity of your people.

Blagodaram mnogu. Thank you very much. Thank you.