New Delhi: The
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia Bujar Osmani, who was on his visit to
New Delhi said, ‘My visit to India comes at a challenging moment for our global
security architectures. And both our two
countries have a significant role to play here, leading two important
international platforms: North Macedonia is chairing the OSCE and India is
presiding the G 20. I truly believe that
we must give our all to ensure the functioning and positive contribution of
these platforms for the well being of
the people, and for a bit more security in a very insecure world.’
Bujar Osmani
is also the Chairperson of OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe). Osmani met S Jaishankar, EAM and was hosted by ICWA. He also visited
Kolkata, Mission of Charity in Kolkata, established by Mother Teresa, who was
an Albanian but worked in India.
Extorting
Mother Teresa, the common thread between India & Macedonia, Bujar Osmani
invited India to join his initiative Centre for Peace and Meditation, within the framework of my OSCE
chairmanship.
Macedonia
being a NATO partner Osmani stressed that his small country needs defence
partnerships. He said, ‘While India is an enormously large country, North
Macedonia is small, and need alliances, including in the defense field.
This March,
North Macedonia marked its third anniversary as a NATO member state. ‘During
this period, we proved to be a credible and reliable ally. It deserves
underlining that NATO is a defence pact and has never and will never use
aggression against anyone’.
Speaking at
ICWA, on Ukraine Russia conflict he said, ‘NATO leaders have strengthened their
commitment to defense investment, agreed to bring Ukraine closer to NATO, and
deepened partnerships around the world.’ He said the Alliance, agreed with
Finland’s accession doubling NATO’s land border with Russia, and soon, Sweden will
be joining as well.
He said, ‘North
Macedonia can count on allied support should its territorial integrity and
sovereignty ever be threatened.’
Osmani called on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Thereafter, External Affairs Minister, Dr. S Jaishankar and Foreign
Minister Osmani held bilateral talks including on India-Western Balkans
relations, trade, investments, multilateral cooperation, education,
agriculture and people-to-people ties. They also discussed regional and
international issues of mutual interest including Indo-Pacific, Ukraine
and UN reforms. Deputy NSA, Vikram Misri called on Foreign
Minister Osmani, MEA informed.
On 01 September 2023, Foreign Minister Osmani visited Mother House
and paid tribute at the Mother Teresa Memorial in Kolkata. He also held
meeting with officials of the Government of West Bengal.
As per MEA, the first visit to India by Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani provided
fresh impetus to relations between India and North Macedonia.
Tags: #Macedonia, #Bujar Osmani, #Indopacific, #NATO, #Internationalrelations, #Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, #G20
