NATO member states agreed to continue their presence in the Balkans, where recently, there has been tension and intervention from external actors that want to hurt the region’s achievements, said the Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.
As the two-day meeting in Riga, between foreign ministers of 30 member states was wrapping up, Stoltenberg said that the Western Balkan region has gone a long way since the 90s’ conflicts.
“Recently, we’ve seen a rise in tensions that have affected Kosovo as well as Bosnia and Hercegovina, through the use of an aggressive rhetoric, trapped reforms and external actors that work to hurt the progress that has been achieved so far,” – he said, emphasizing that NATO will continue to push for stability, security and collaboration in the region.
“We agreed on the importance of our presence here, including our KFOR mission in Kosovo and our officed in Sarajevo and Belgrade,” – said Stoltenberg.
In addition, he underlined that cooperation with the European Union remains essential.
“We will continue to work together in order to ensure stability and support reforms,” – he said.
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