Kosovo and Belgium marked a new step in their bilateral cooperation after the Belgian state officially recognized the Defense Attach\u00e9 of the Republic of Kosovo there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Ministry of Defense of Kosovo, this strengthens military representation and institutional relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this regard, the Acting Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, and the Belgian Minister of Defense, Theo Francken, held a joint press conference in Pristina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maqedonci expressed gratitude for Belgium\u2019s support since 2008, calling this decision a meaningful step in Kosovo\u2019s path toward Euro-Atlantic integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wholeheartedly thank the Belgian Minister of Defense, my friend Theo, and a friend of Kosovo who, for a long time, has contributed and supported Kosovo\u2019s cause in every instance where he has had the opportunity to advocate for our country. Thank you for this extraordinary news for our country\u2014this highly significant news that Belgium, the capital of the two key destinations of our country, NATO and the European Union, is recognizing the presence of the Defense Attach\u00e9 of the Republic of Kosovo right in Brussels. This gives us the opportunity to deepen our cooperation with Belgium as our partner country,\u201d<\/em> said Maqedonci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister Francken emphasized that the connection with Kosovo is both historic and strategic, calling the recognition of the attach\u00e9 a \u201clogical step\u201d in strengthening the security partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was here for the first time in 2009, so 16 years ago. I was the Minister of Immigration in Belgium for a few years, about 10 years ago, so I\u2019m happy to be here now in a new role\u2014as Minister of Defense and Foreign Trade\u2014and to hold a fantastic bilateral meeting with my colleague. Last night and this morning we met and visited our KFOR troops, because they are important for the country\u2019s security and for stability in the Balkans. I believe it is very important for us to have this mission together with the three Benelux countries. We have drone pilots working here, and it is the first time in 10 years that we have this many people on your territory to help protect Kosovo. I am someone who has always strongly supported Kosovo\u2019s cause. Belgium was one of the first countries to recognize your state’s independence, and that is very important to us. And it is in that spirit that we want to officially announce today that the military attach\u00e9 will be positioned in Brussels,\u201d <\/em>he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Belgian minister was also asked about developments in northern Kosovo, particularly regarding the terrorist attacks linked to Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am not the Foreign Minister, but I do have troops from Belgium stationed in Kosovo as part of KFOR, including professional drone pilots. I do not have command authority because I\u2019m not the Foreign Minister, but what I can say is that the new Belgian government leans toward Kosovo\u2014to help keep the people of Kosovo safe and to affirm that Kosovo is Europe,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>he said. \/KosovaPress<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kosovo and Belgium marked a new step in their bilateral cooperation after the Belgian state officially recognized the Defense Attach\u00e9 of the Republic of Kosovo there. According to the Ministry of Defense of Kosovo, this strengthens military representation and institutional relations between the two countries. In this regard, the Acting Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":75091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[301,296],"tags":[1717,6371,343],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75092,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75090\/revisions\/75092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}