From June 28th - July 1st the Euro- Atlantic Council of Macedonia, in partnership with the Atlantic Council of Albania, organized a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Sustained Emergency Relief, which took place at Hotel Drim in Struga, Macedonia.

The conference gathered more than 40 participants from NATO, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Turkey, representatives of public institutions, university professors and independent experts in the field of crisis management.

The limited national resources and budget challenges of our time made particularly the second session, “Development of Regional Capacities for Emergency Relief in the Spirit of the Smart Defence Initiative”, relevant.

The session aimed to create a platform to enhance a common approach between the countries from the region that can join forces and resources in order to build more efficient capacities for crisis management in the spirit of NATO's Smart Defence.

The workshop was a good opportunity for the new members, as well as future member countries of the Alliance, to develop their national views concerning regional capacities for help in emergency situations.