The Annual South-Eastern Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM) in direction of continuing the regional cooperation in the defence of the South East European (SEE) countries, organized by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Macedonia will be held in Ohrid, between 7 and 9 October 2008. The forthcoming meeting in the Republic of Macedonia is the 10the South-Eastern Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM), which is a significant jubilee taking into consideration the fact that September 26, 2008, is the 10th jubilee from the signing of the Multinational Peace Forces of South East Europe (MPFSEE) Agreement.

The Minister of Defence of the republic of Macedonia, Mr. Zoran Konjanovski, will be the host of the Annual SEDM.

In addition to Minister Konjanovski, the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will address the delegations at the official opening.

Special guest of the Macedonian Government organizing SEDM in Ohrid will be the American Secretary of Defence, D. Robert Gates, who is considered a strong lobbyist for Macedonia’s NATO accession. The Ministers of Defence of the Republic of Albania, Mr. Gazmend Oketa, the Minister of Defence of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Evangelos Meimarakis, the Minister of Defence of Turkey, Mr. Mehmed Vecdi Gonul, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Yuri Yekhanurov, the Minister of Defence of Montenegro, Mr. Boro Vucinic, the Minister of Defence of Moldavia, Mr. Vitalie Vrabie and other distinguished visitors.

The SEDM process has 12 fully-fledged members and four observer status members. The USA, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the fully-fledged members. Georgia, Moldavia, Montenegro and Serbia are observer status members.

By organizing the Annual South-Eastern European Ministerial (SEDM), the Republic of Macedonia reaffirmed its efforts for strengthening and improving the good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation. Taking into consideration the fact that the forthcoming meeting will be a strong impetus for the support of the Euro-Atlantic integrations of the Republic of Macedonia, in addition to the Minister of Defence of the SEDM process countries, the Ministers of Defence of the observer countries, invitation will be extended to the commanders of the NATO JFC Naples and JFC Brunssum.