Skopje, 9 February 2022 (MIA) – North Macedonia and Croatia have been building excellent, friendly relations in all fields for three decades. The defence cooperation is strong and intensive, notably in the field of military education and training of the members of the Army in the Croatian military schools, concluded Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska and Croatian Ambassador Nives Tiganj during their Wednesday’s meeting. “Croatia has long been our supporter and friend on the path to NATO, but also to the European Union and that means a lot to us. NATO membership and EU membership are different processes, but they have the same connecting point, and that is security," Petrovska said. She said that so far in the reform efforts in our country, we often take into account the positive examples and reforms in Croatia, which proved to be the right decision and that reforms, especially in the security sector in Croatia, are functioning in North Macedonia, Ministry of Defence said in a press release. Petrovska also noted that the country remains firmly committed to allocating two percent of GDP to defence by 2024 and that the fact that this year the defense budget stands at 1.77 percent of GDP shows that we are on the right track. Ambassador Tiganj thanked for the openness for intensifying the bilateral defence cooperation and for the friendly political and military relations. Croatia and North Macedonia, in addition to bilateral cooperation, also cooperate at the regional level as member states of the US - Adriatic Charter and the SEDM initiative. Moreover, Defence Minister Petrovska met with the Spanish Ambassador to North Macedonia José Luis Lozano García. Petrovska and García reaffirmed the excellent bilateral defence relations between the two countries underlining the readiness on both sides to deepen and intensify this cooperation, the Ministry of Defence said in a press release. Petrovska noted that the country remains committed to the alliance and that she is looking forward to the next NATO summit, which will take place this year in Madrid. Ambassador García expressed satisfaction that Spain contributed to the process of North Macedonia's membership in NATO, ratifying its membership despite the challenges it faced at the beginning of the pandemic, and congratulated our country on its fast military integration into NATO, given that our country completed this complex process in record time, i.e. in just 19 months. Under the 2009 Memorandum of Cooperation, signed between the two countries, Army officers attended language training and one officer attended military training college at the Military College in Madrid.