WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th June, 2019) Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and his Greek counterpart Evangelos Apostolakis discussed Balkan and Black Sea security issues during talks at the Pentagon, Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a press release.
"The leaders discussed a broad range of defense issues, including regional security in the Balkans and Black Sea, and the regional effects of great power competition with Russia and China," the release said on Friday.
Shanahan and Apostolakis agreed to continue working on NATO burden-sharing and defense modernization priorities, it added.
Shanahan also supported the moves by Greece and North Macedonia to implement the Prespa Agreement, which will ease Skopje's accession to NATO.
Athens had been opposing its neighbor's use of the name "Macedonia" for years because it was also the name of a region in Greece, and prevented Skopje from joining NATO. But last year the two countries reached the Prespa Agreement, under which Macedonia was renamed to North Macedonia in 2019, which put an end to the long-standing dispute.
