Macedonia and Spain foster excellent military cooperation, which is expected to be further bolstered, concluded the countries' chiefs of staffs, Major General Goranco Koteski and General Admiral Fernando García Sánchez at Thursday's meeting in Skopje.
The interlocutors discussed the possibility of sending Macedonian Army members to be trained in Madrid at the Counter Improvised Explosive Device Center of Excellence as well as ways for providing logistic support to the units in international peace missions.
"It is crucial that Krivolak army training area has been offered to the Spanish armed forces to be used for trainings prior to peace missions and for executing joint exercises," Major General Koteski said after the meeting.
He added that today's meeting with his Spanish counterpart would instigate more successful collaboration between the countries' armies.
Pointing out that the armies of Macedonia and Spain had been cooperating in several various peace operations led by NATO, the EU and the UN, General Admiral Sánchez said that it was a good example demonstrating that the Macedonian Army was "implementing the right standards."
"Spain backs you on your road to NATO integration and we would like to increase the bilateral cooperation in several areas," said Sánchez, who is leading a delegation of the Spanish armed forces on its two-day visit to Macedonia.
This is the first official visit paid by a Spanish chief of defence staff to the country.
Macedonia and Spain established a defence cooperation in October 2009 after signing a cooperation memorandum.
