The Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Albania, General Bajram Begaj stated that the United States of America has allocated a grant budget of Albania, of 17 million dollars to increase the defense force.
After a meeting at the Pentagon with US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, General Begaj told VOA that the United States and Albania have military cooperation and a budget coordination office.
“We have a military cooperation office with the United States, which is located in the Albanian Ministry of Defense and this office coordinates all budgets, which are provided by the American state to help the Albanian armed forces. These budgets are divided into two categories. One budget is grants which are free to increase the country’s defense power and another category, which is with shared budgets, which help strengthen our defense capabilities. And this time the US state has allocated a grant budget of 17 million dollars to increase the defense force of the armed forces and to increase the defense capabilities. I emphasize that any budget for the modernization of the Albanian Armed Forces goes to increase our defense capabilities. We have no intention of aggression or declaring war on anyone. “We are simply in what NATO, as an alliance, wanted us to do to protect and discourage any enemy or adversary,” he said.
Gjenenerla Begaj spoke about the meeting with the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, General Milley and the cooperation between the two countries.
“The topics of discussion were comprehensive. They had to do with the cooperation between our two countries, they had to do with the situation in Ukraine and the future of our cooperation. We talked with General Milley about the contribution given by the American state to the Albanian Armed Forces and the history of cooperation is 30 years. We are in the American week of cooperation and the 100th anniversary of Albania-America diplomatic relations. I think the cooperation in the military field has been excellent. The United States has helped us modernize and restructure our armed forces. The modernization programs, which have been in collaboration with the U.S. Office of Cooperation, are ongoing. In addition to contributing to the increase of the country’s defense force with new equipment, we also contribute with various trainings, equipment maintenance and various exercises. Over the past year we have hosted the Defender-21 exercise, which was a success story related to military cooperation. “With this exercise, not only were we present with the American army on our soil, but the geostrategic role and geographical position of Albania were also tested, as well as national capacities, whether military or civilian, in terms of using this infrastructure in the military direction.” , he said.
Bega also says that with Milley, we talked about Exercise “Defender-21”.
“The Defender-21 exercise tested all capabilities for rapid transport of Allied troops and vehicles, using ports, airports and land in Albania, to cross as quickly as possible to the Black Sea part and the Eastern European part. “The situation in Ukraine is such that Ukraine is being attacked unjustifiably and unprovoked by another country, and we discussed at length about cooperation and how Albania would contribute more in terms of supporting Ukraine,” he said.
Bega also emphasized the assistance that Albania has given to Ukraine.
“Albania has helped and supported Ukraine in the diplomatic, political and military plan. In the diplomatic plan at the United Nations in every resolution that has been held for Ukraine, it has found support and we are co-supporters of these resolutions, together with the United States of America. We also had political support for the fact that the Albanian government has imposed sanctions against Russia for unjustified and unfounded aggression against Ukraine. The Albanian government has also expressed readiness to hold Ukrainian refugees and has provided humanitarian assistance of various kinds. In the military plan, this support has been realized through donations made by the Albanian government, which are different types of ammunition that we have had in use and stock in our depots of the armed forces “, said the general.
Gjerela Bega also spoke about the base in Albania of the Brigade of the Security and Assistance Forces of the American Command in Europe.
“Not only the advanced headquarters of the Balkan task force task force is located in Albania, but also the SFAB (US Command Europe Assistance and Brigade Brigade) which is an advisory team. Both together will help, will advise those units of the Albanian armed forces which have been declared in NATO as national capabilities, to be used in NATO where needed. Of course, in order to be used in NATO, these units, these forces must be certified and accredited. “SFAB and the Task Group Balkans of special forces will make it possible for these Albanian military units to be in the right capacities and the right levels required to participate in the mission”, said Bega.
