{"id":12697,"date":"2021-05-04T08:13:42","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T08:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=12697"},"modified":"2021-05-04T13:49:07","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T13:49:07","slug":"us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/","title":{"rendered":"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the largest multinational military drills led by the US Army kicked off at the Port of Durres.<\/p>\n<p>Chief of General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces Major General\u00a0Bajram Begaj commended the event as \u201chistorical for the Albanian Armed Forces\u201d and referred to the military drill as a gift of \u201ctrust\u201d from the United States for Albania and NATO.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt proves that all of us together are prepared and able to defend from any threat any secure stability in fragile regions such as the Western Balkans and the Black Sea region\u201d, said Major General\u00a0Begaj.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnexpected problems, unexpected solutions. These flags will never fall\u201d, were the first words of the Ambassador of the United States to Albania Yuri Kim as three soldiers picked up and held an Albanian flag that almost fell due to strong winds.<\/p>\n<p>Ambassador Kim emphasized the country\u2019s strong role in the military alliance due to its strategic geographical position and asserted that Albania has been a host of many similar activities, which according to her are not \u201ccoincidental\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On the 30th anniversary of US-Albania diplomatic ties, the US Ambassador concluded her speech by commending Albania for daring to take up responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared that the US-led military exercises are \u201canother important point\u201d in strengthening ties between the US and Albania.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continuously praise our relations as excellent, but the fact is that they can be always even more excellent due to reciprocal interaction\u201d, said the head of the executive.<\/p>\n<p>During his word, PM Rama emphasized the importance of passing on the will to younger generations to maintain these strategic relations for the freedom and democracy not only of Albania but of the entire world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s convey a message to the entire region and whoever needs a response for our stance alongside the United States and all other states that are determined to pay any price for freedom and democracy\u201d, concluded the Albanian Prime Minister.<\/p>\n<p>President Ilir Meta <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ilirmetazyrtar\/status\/1389504721698820099\">expressed his gratitude<\/a> that a military drill of these proportions is held in Albania.<\/p>\n<p>The head of state described it as an \u201cexcellent opportunity\u201d for the Albanian armed forces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese exercises are an excellent opportunity for our armed forces to test their operational capabilities, not only of combat but also of support, by increasing the level of preparation and interaction and in fulfilling the constitutional missions of our responsibilities towards the alliance\u201d, said President Meta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the largest multinational military drills led by the US Army kicked off at the Port of Durres. Chief of General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces Major General\u00a0Bajram Begaj commended the event as \u201chistorical for the Albanian Armed Forces\u201d and referred to the military drill as a gift of \u201ctrust\u201d from the United [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":12701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[150,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the largest multinational military drills led by the US Army kicked off at the Port of Durres. Chief of General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces Major General\u00a0Bajram Begaj commended the event as \u201chistorical for the Albanian Armed Forces\u201d and referred to the military drill as a gift of \u201ctrust\u201d from the United [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-04T08:13:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-04T13:49:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"953\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"535\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Euronews Albania\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40904b56ee024949b80be8199e47e27d\"},\"headline\":\"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-04T08:13:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-04T13:49:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/\"},\"wordCount\":415,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Kryesor 1\",\"Kryesoret\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Albania\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/\",\"name\":\"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port - Euronews Albania\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-04T08:13:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-04T13:49:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png\",\"width\":953,\"height\":535,\"caption\":\"US Army led military exercises kicks off at the Port of Durres \/ Ambassador of Albania to North Macedonia, Fatos Reka\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Euronews Albania\",\"description\":\"Top stories in Albania, Kosovo and the Balkans\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Euronews Albania\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/logo-mobile-euronews-albania-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/logo-mobile-euronews-albania-1.png\",\"width\":280,\"height\":33,\"caption\":\"Euronews Albania\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/euronewsalbania\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40904b56ee024949b80be8199e47e27d\",\"name\":\"Euronews Albania\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/euronews.al\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/author\/xhoi\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port - Euronews Albania","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port - Euronews Albania","og_description":"One of the largest multinational military drills led by the US Army kicked off at the Port of Durres. Chief of General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces Major General\u00a0Bajram Begaj commended the event as \u201chistorical for the Albanian Armed Forces\u201d and referred to the military drill as a gift of \u201ctrust\u201d from the United [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/","og_site_name":"Euronews Albania","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/","article_published_time":"2021-05-04T08:13:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-04T13:49:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":953,"height":535,"url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Euronews Albania","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@euronewsalbania","twitter_site":"@euronewsalbania","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Euronews Albania","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/"},"author":{"name":"Euronews Albania","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40904b56ee024949b80be8199e47e27d"},"headline":"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port","datePublished":"2021-05-04T08:13:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-04T13:49:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/"},"wordCount":415,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png","keywords":["Kryesor 1","Kryesoret"],"articleSection":["Albania"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/","url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/","name":"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port - Euronews Albania","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png","datePublished":"2021-05-04T08:13:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-04T13:49:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screenshot_2.png","width":953,"height":535,"caption":"US Army led military exercises kicks off at the Port of Durres \/ Ambassador of Albania to North Macedonia, Fatos Reka"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/us-army-led-military-exercises-defender-europe-21-kicks-off-at-durres-port\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"US-Army led military exercises \u201cDefender Europe 21\u201d kicks off at Durres Port"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/","name":"Euronews Albania","description":"Top stories in Albania, Kosovo and the Balkans","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization","name":"Euronews Albania","url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/logo-mobile-euronews-albania-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/logo-mobile-euronews-albania-1.png","width":280,"height":33,"caption":"Euronews Albania"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/","https:\/\/x.com\/euronewsalbania"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40904b56ee024949b80be8199e47e27d","name":"Euronews Albania","sameAs":["http:\/\/euronews.al"],"url":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/author\/xhoi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}