The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has welcomed another country to its ranks after North Macedonia formally joined the alliance on March 27, upon depositing its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the US State Department in Washington DC.
NATO Allies signed North Macedonia’s Accession Protocol in February 2019, after which all 29 national parliaments voted to ratify the country’s membership.
“North Macedonia is now part of the NATO family, a family of thirty nations and almost one billion people. A family based on the certainty that, no matter what challenges we face, we are all stronger and safer together,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels on Friday.
“North Macedonia is a long-standing contributor to our Euro-Atlantic security, including by participating in NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and in Kosovo.”
North Macedonia joined NATO after signing the Treaty of Prespa in 2018, which solved a naming dispute between Greece and North Macedonia.
A flag-raising ceremony for North Macedonia will take place at NATO Headquarters on March 30, in the presence of the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, and the Chargé d’Affaires of the Delegation of North Macedonia to NATO Mr. Zoran Todorov.
The flag of North Macedonia will be simultaneously raised at the Allied Command Operations in Mons (Belgium) and at the Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk (US).
