President Stevo Pendarovski in Bitola attended the open day for the citizens with the participants of the military exercise “Decisive Strike”, the largest military exercise ever organized in the country, the President’s Office informed.

Before the citizens of Bitola were presented the equipment, procedures used in performing the exercise, as well as part of the skills of the soldiers participating in the exercise.

We had the opportunity today in Bitola to see some of the equipment, armament, and part of the personnel, soldiers and officers who took part in the exercise which in the past month and a half took place at the “Krivolak” military base. It is the largest military exercise in the history of our country, with about 2,700 soldiers in total. Here I am particularly honored that there were also members of the US contingent, of which about 40 percent were part of that multinational exercise. So, we had over 1,200 US soldiers on our territory, which is merely an indicator that the strategic partnership between North Macedonia and the United States lasts, it is successful, efficient, and with their help we expect by the end of the year to achieve the formally biggest strategic goal we have set out in the 90s, and that is full-fledged membership in the NATO alliance. In that part, I can inform you that the process of ratification of the accession protocols in all member states goes at a great pace, even in this, practically already, summer period. We expect another 11 ratifications. The remaining member states of 29 have completed this. In those 11, the procedure is either started or near its completion. What is important to us is that in countries that have complicated procedures internally from a technical point of view, or have bicameral parliaments, this procedure is already advanced. We hope that until December 4, until the NATO summit that is already scheduled in London, the United Kingdom, we will formally become the 30th member of the alliance, precisely in the year when NATO celebrates its 70th anniversary, said President Pendarovski.