The 46th semi-annual Meeting of the Multinational Advisory Group (MAG), RACVIAC Steering body, which gathered representatives of Members, Associate Members, Observers, participants and partners, took place today in RACVIAC. It was held in a “blended” format, as a combination of physical and online participation of MAG representatives.
The Meeting was organized under the chairmanship of North Macedonia and was chaired by Mr Dragan Nikolić, State Secretary at the MoD of North Macedonia. The Meeting started with a brief presentation of the Director’s Interim Report, given by Director of RACVIAC, MG (ret.) Jeronim Bazo, who highlighted: “During the period reported on the visits, in and out of RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation, were limited due to restricted movement, but we would like to assure you that we have continued to intensify our work for the benefit of each and every one in the region. We take the opportunity to express our gratitude to all those who have supported RACVIAC endeavours and efforts“.
MG (ret.) Bazo also took the opportunity to express his appreciation for the outstanding support and valuable engagement of all RACVIAC Members, Associate Members, Observers, participants and partners that contribute to the Centre’s future performance and the overall stability and security of the region.
Pursuant to the Meeting Agenda, Programme for 2021&2022 was presented. This session was aimed at giving detailed information about the proposed Programme for 2022 and RACVIAC Programme Managers also provided information on RACVIAC Projects for 2023.
Furthermore, Major Danko Vuk, RACVIAC Operations Manager, provided information on the implementation of the organizational structure and gave a brief overview of the current RACVIAC personnel situation.
Following this presentation, Mr Dragan Nikolić emphasized the fact that staffing RACVIAC with qualified personnel is the key to success. He also shared his belief that MAG considers that to be a responsibility of its highest consideration and that, once more, the “principle of regional ownership” shall be reflected in a regionally balanced staffing of RACVIAC. „Accordingly, all Members shall be represented in RACVIAC with at least one individual“ he concluded, and urged Members that haven’t seconded personnel to RACVIAC to fulfil their obligations as soon as possible.
In addition, Major Sanja Kragujević, Chief of Admin & Finance, presented RACVIAC Budget for 2021 in detail as well as the draft budget plan for 2022.
Taking into account that consensus of Members was reached for all activities proposed for 2022, MAG approved the Annual Programme for 2022 and the Budget for 2022.
Last but not the least, the topic of the nomination of the new MAG Chairperson for the period 2021/2022 was tackled. With regard to the 34th MAG Conclusion on the alphabetical order principle for Members in the nomination procedure for the MAG Chairperson Romania was invited in April to send information on its nominee for this position. Thus, MAG Secretariat received on 14th September a Note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania wherein Mrs Irina Zidaru, General Director of the Strategic Affairs Department, is being nominated for the position of MAG Chairperson during the next twelve months.
At the end of the Meeting MAG approved Ms Irina Zidaru, General Director of the Strategic Affairs Department at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the new MAG Chairperson for the period of one year.
Mr Nikolić closed the 46th MAG Meeting on the following note: „In addition to those of you who were present here in person, I want to thank all the others for their participation and contribution. Again, this was a challenging MAG, taking into consideration the still existing threat of the Coronavirus pandemic. To all of you who were with us via the Cisco Webex platform I wish a pleasant rest of the day“.
MAG expressed its gratitude to the Republic of North Macedonia for the excellent job done during the MAG Chairmanship in this demanding period as well as to Mr Dragan Nikolić, for his exceptional performance as the MAG Chairperson during last two MAG Meetings.
