The President of Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski met on Monday the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Pendarovski thanked Stoltenberg for his support for the integration of Macedonia in NATO, pointing out the importance of his visit, joined by the 29 NATO Ambassadors of the member-states. “In the past few years we went through a series of changes that paved our road towards NATO and EU membership. I am convinced that all international institutions recognise the great progress achieved by North Macedonia, as well as all reforms implemented so far. I also welcome the government’s initiatives for increasing the budget of the Defence Ministry to 2 % of GDP by 2024, a criterion very important for all NATO member-states. Now, we hope and we expect that all NATO member-states will ratify the Protocol for Accession of North Macedonia in the Alliance in due time,” Pendarovski told Stoltenberg.