 |
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(December 2008) |
Partnership for Peace Information Management System (PIMS) is a US Department of Defense Bilateral Cooperative Development Program started in 1996 to enable collaboration and communication between Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries and the NATO community.
PIMS is a US bilateral program which supports US-Partner relations and PfP mission through Information technology. The mission of the PIMS is to enable efficient reliable information exchange between PfP countries and the NATO community - a key first step in the orderly process of incorporating Partners into NATO initiatives. It aims at facilitating the rapid communications and coordination required to support individual PfP objectives as well as the overall goals of the PfP Program. By extending economical communications connectivity and an automated means for common access to information, PIMS is expected to support an environment conducive to multinational cooperation in Europe.
The Program was established on the premise that each Partner has relevant and pertinent information to contribute and is also in the best position to determine its own information requirements. Collaborative database development provides the practical approach to leverage information resources for all coalition partners. O&M cost sharing provides an economical means of accommodating individual needs for processing, connectivity, maintenance, system familiarization, and other technical services, when PIMS hardware is required. The terms of both arrangements are implemented through Memorandum of Agreement between US DOD and PIMS-installed Partners.
PIMS is a virtual organization that includes users from the USA and across Eurasia. The PIMS Program is managed by SPAWAR Systems Center Charleston, European Division, located in Stuttgart, Germany. 10 In-Country Coordinators (ICCs) in PfP partner countries round out the PIMS team.
As of July 2010, the following PfP countries participate in the PIMS program: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
Participating countries in the past include Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkmenistan. All of these, but Turkmenistan, have eventually joined NATO.
Southeastern Europe Defence Ministerial Process' (SEDM) main objective is strengthening understanding and politico-military cooperation in the region in order to enhance the stability and security in SEE. Southeastern Europe Defence Ministers gather regularly to discuss issues of security and cooperation in the region. [1]
In October 2008 in Ohrid, Macedonia were discussed all the questions regarding regional security, stability and development of civil military relationships in all the countries in the region.
In October 2009, in Sofia, the Heads of Delegations signed the Agreement on the Coordination Committee in the Framework of Southeastern Europe Defence Ministerial Process and the 5th Additional Protocol to the Agreement on Multinational Peace Force of Southeastern Europe (MPFSEE) initiative. By signing this protocol, the nations expressed their approval of the updating of some essential parameters of the MPFSEE activities, including of the structure of the Southeastern Europe Brigade’s Headquarters (SEEBRIG HQ). Its adoption also resulted in the amendment of clauses of the Agreement concerning financial, logistic and organizational changes in SEEBRIG’s activities. The activities of the Southeastern Europe Brigade were also reviewed at the meeting, leading to the conclusion that the Brigade’s potential is greater than what has been employed so far. The Defence Ministers endorsed SEEBRIG’s annual plan and budget for 2010, as well as the financial framework and activities plan up to 2012. During Bulgaria's chairmanship, Serbia became a full member. The Process of Meetings of Southeast Europe Defence Ministers has a rotating two-year presidency.
The following NATO members participate in SEDM:
The following PfP members participate in SEDM:
The following PfP members are observers to SEDM:
As one of the oldest Euro-Atlantic member states in the region of Southeast Europe, Greece enjoys a prominent geopolitical role as a middle power, due to its political and geographical proximity to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Its main allies are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Cyprus and the rest of the European Union and NATO.
After achieving independence from the Soviet Union, the Republic of Moldova established relations with other European countries. A course for European Union integration and neutrality define the country's foreign policy guidelines.
The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) is a post–Cold War, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) institution. The EAPC is a multilateral forum created to improve relations between NATO and non-NATO countries in Europe and Central Asia. States meet to cooperate and discuss political and security issues. It was formed on 29 May 1997 at a Ministers’ meeting held in Sintra, Portugal, as the successor to the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC), which was created in 1991.
The Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust and cooperation between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; 19 states are members. The program contains 6 areas of cooperation, which aims to build relationships with partners through military-to-military cooperation on training, exercises, disaster planning and response, science and environmental issues, professionalization, policy planning, and relations with civilian government.
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is an international trade agreement between countries mostly located in Southeastern Europe. Founded by representatives of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, CEFTA in 2006 expanded to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the UNMIK.
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and archipelagos. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and the European part of Turkey. Sometimes, Moldova and Slovenia are also included. The largest cities of the region are Istanbul, Athens, Bucharest, Sofia, and Belgrade.
The Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe was an institution aimed at strengthening peace, democracy, human rights and economy in the countries of South Eastern Europe from 1999 to 2008. It was replaced by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) in February 2008. The RCC replaced it because it is more "regionally owned" than the Stability Pact, which was driven more by outside partners such as the EU.
The Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA) is an umbrella organization which draws together political leaders, academics, military officials, and diplomats to support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The ATA is an independent organization that is separate from NATO.
The Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) is a multilateral regional initiative that has been initiated by the European Union, the United States of America and the countries of Southeast Europe within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as a support to the implementation of the Dayton Accords in December 1996 at the inaugural session at Geneva on the basis of Final Points of Common EU-USA Understanding.
The 2008 Bucharest Summit or the 20th NATO Summit was a NATO summit organized in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania on 2 – 4 April 2008.
NATO is a military alliance of thirty-one European and North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows for the invitation of "other European States" only and by subsequent agreements. Countries wishing to join must meet certain requirements and complete a multi-step process involving political dialog and military integration. The accession process is overseen by the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body. NATO was formed in 1949 with twelve founding members and has added new members nine times. The first additions were Greece and Turkey in 1952. In May 1955, West Germany joined NATO, which was one of the conditions agreed to as part of the end of the country's occupation by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own collective security alliance later that month. Following the end of the Franco regime, newly democratic Spain chose to join NATO in 1982.
The accession of North Macedonia to the European Union has been on the current agenda for future enlargement of the EU since 2005, when it became an official candidate for accession. The Republic of Macedonia submitted its membership application in 2004, thirteen years after its independence from Yugoslavia. It is one of eight current EU candidate countries, together with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.
The Republic of Bulgaria is a country in Southeast Europe, and a member of both NATO and the European Union. It maintains diplomatic relations with 183 countries.
North Macedonia–Turkey relations are the bilateral relations between North Macedonia and Turkey. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and of the NATO. North Macedonia has an embassy in Ankara and a Consulate General in Istanbul. Turkey has an embassy in Skopje.
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's 1.83 million people. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.
Fatmir Besimi is a Macedonian politician and economist of Albanian ethnicity. He currently served for Minister of Finance in North Macedonia, He also served twice as Minister of Economy then Minister of Defence and after that he was Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia in charge of European Affairs. In 2010 he was selected as one of the top European Ministers in the group of Young Global Leaders by World Economic Forum.
NATO maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these non-member nations, typically based on that country's location. These include the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace.
The Partnership for Peace Consortium is a network of over 800 defense academies and security studies institutes across 60 countries. Founded in 1998 during the NATO Summit, the PfPC was chartered to promote defense institution building and foster regional stability through multinational education and research, which the PfPC accomplishes via a network of educators and researchers. It is based at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany. According to the PfPC Annual Report of 2012, in 2012 eight hundred defense academies and security studies institutes in 59 countries worked with the PfPC in 69 defense education/defense institution building and policy-relevant events. The Consortium publishes an academic quarterly journal CONNECTIONS in English and Russian. The journal is run by an international Editorial Board of experts and is distributed to over 1,000 institutions in 54 countries.
The South-Eastern Europe Brigade or SEEBRIG is a multinational brigade with forces from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, and Turkey. It was established in the spirit of NATO's Partnership for Peace initiative.
