George C. Marshall Center Security Forum 2024

The George C. Marshall and the North Macedonia Alumni Association and NATO
PDD, co – organized the Regional Security Alumni Forum, 2024 in Ohrid, now in
its 12th year! This year’s forum gathered over 50 security professionals from 13
countries across Southeast Europe to tackle the region’s most pressing
challenges.

Under the theme “Security Challenges in Southeast Europe: Building Resilience
through Cooperation,” the forum fostered deeper regional cooperation to
enhance stability and counter complex hybrid threats.

In his opening remarks, retired Brig. Gen. Timothy McAteer, Marshall Center
Deputy Director, emphasized the importance of resilience in the face of global
strategic competition. Minister of Interior Panche Tashkovski highlighted the
forum’s critical role in fostering international stability, while Ms. Biljana
Popovska, President of the North Macedonia Alumni Association, talked about
the power of the alumni network in advancing regional security.

The forum run until Sep. 3, with discussions and workshops focused on building
a stronger, more resilient Southeast Europe in the context of strategic
competition.

Key points:
* Threat perceptions in the region focus principally on: crime (including
cybercrime), corruption, migration, returning radicalized fighters and their
families, Russian meddling in political processes and the media.
* The Process of EU integration of the WBs countries is not completed yet. It
leaves a room for the external actors such as Russia and China negatively to
influence the integration processes of the WB region.
* Regional cooperation among the WB countries and EU and NATO
institutions significantly contributes to preventing organized crime,
irregular migration, fight against the organized crime, extremisms and
terrorism.
* Interconnection of the countries of the region in the area of protection of
critical infrastructure is especially important as the attack on part of the
critical infrastructure of one country can impact the other countries too.

Hence, enhancing the capacities and resilience in the region are of utmost
importance,
* Fake news, disinformation are a serious threat for all the countries of the
region and beyond. Vicious operations in the Balkans not only fuel hatred in
communities, they often serve a specific agenda of regional players to seek
more power. In addition, they equally serve the interests of outside actors
to hamper Southeast Europe’s full integration into the Euro-Atlantic
Community.

KEY MESSAGES