Brussels, 14 February 2024 (MIA) — Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska at the Public Diplomacy Division in Brussels on Wednesday signed North Macedonia's NATO Voluntary National Contribution, MIA's Brussels correspondent reports.

The agreement will make it possible for strategic communications and public relations experts at the Ministry of Defense to contribute to the development of public relations within NATO.

The signed agreement was submitted to NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security Scott Bray.

"I am happy the process we started last year has been made official today," Minister Petrovska said after signing the document.

"Four experts from the Ministry of Defense will be strengthening the capacities of the NATO Public Diplomacy Division in four consecutive rotations over the next two years," she added.

Petrovska said the facts about NATO being a defense alliance aimed at protecting member countries and their citizens needed to be seen and heard.

She added that, since the Ministry of Defense's PR experts had contributed to the institution's ranking first for its high institutional transparency in the country and the region, they would also be of strong value to the alliance.

The Ministry of Defense experts' contribution to the Public Diplomacy Division is set to begin in May 2024. Four six-month rotations are planned over the next two years.

Petrovska is in Brussels to take part in a meeting of NATO defense ministers, which is preceded by a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on Wednesday afternoon. mr/