Dear Secretary General
Mr. Chairman
Honoured hosts,
Colleagues,
Dear friends,

At the very outset, I would like to thank you for your hospitality and congratulate you on your exceptional organization of this year’s EAPS Security Forum in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Moreover, I would like to mention that Macedonia had the honour to e host the second EAPS Security Forum, in the wonderful city of Ohrid, in June 2007. Two years afterwards, today in Astana we once again demonstrate that we can recognize the challenges and, what is more important, we can join our efforts in overcoming them.

Partnership is key to security. Partnership should give us guidance in today’s world of globalization, where no room should remain for drawing borders, for partial and quick solutions. Today there is no room for selfishness. This is the time for unity, persistence and commitment.

Our common goal is reaching security and lasting peace in Afghanistan. There is no doubt that additional efforts and long-term dedication are needed to achieve this. And maybe most important is to actually gain the support, the trust and the confidence of the Afghan people. In this sense, building the capacities for an independent functioning of the Afghan Security Forces is essential to the development, stability and security of Afghanistan.

That is indeed why we declared two additional platoons which as of 2010 will be directly involved in providing training to the Afghan Security Forces.

I know that one day we will be able to proudly state that we jointly managed to bring democracy and prosperity to the Afghan people. Nevertheless today we have to question ourselves whether we did overcome selfishness and came closer to the big day of victory. The future generations will question whether we did enough to win this victory, and when providing the answer we have to be sure and sincere that we gave our maximum.

The Republic of Macedonia indeed gives its most and best to this aim, guided by its consistent fair position to the country itself, to the Region and beyond, towards NATO and the existing and emerging challenges in the world. We proved our principles in overcoming the conflict in our Region, in recognizing the new realities on the Balkans and in supporting the efforts of the Region as a whole towards its Euro-Atlantic integration, and finally we remain committed when it comes to joining and supporting the common security policy of the international community towards Afghanistan. We do hope that our fair position will be recognized and soon valued accordingly. This will be a confirmation that principles always win and it will be a strong impulse for strengthening the partnerships that are an investment into a safer world.

Thank you.