Radmila Šekerinska

Radmila Shekerinska took office as NATO Deputy Secretary General on 2 December 2024. As a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of North Macedonia, Ms Shekerinska has extensive experience as a policy-maker and consensus-builder. She is a champion of gender balance and a steadfast advocate of strong transatlantic relations.

She served two terms as Minister of Defence of North Macedonia (2017-2020, 2020-2022), the first woman in that post and the longest-serving since the country’s independence in 1991. 

As Minister of Defence, she was instrumental in preparing North Macedonia to join NATO, spearheading complex government reform programmes and the transformation of the armed forces. Under her leadership, North Macedonia increased its contributions to NATO missions and operations, including in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq and NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence in Latvia. North Macedonia became NATO’s 30th member in 2020 and successfully achieved full military integration into NATO in less than 19 months.

Ms Shekerinska served as a member of parliament (2006-2014) and is the only woman to have led any of the major political parties in North Macedonia. As Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Integration and Foreign Aid Coordination (2002-2006), she oversaw North Macedonia’s application to become a candidate country for accession to the European Union.

She has helped broker complex agreements, most notably the three that shaped North Macedonia’s democratic path: Ohrid, Przhino and Prespa. She was decorated with the Order “Commander of the National Order for Merit of France” in 2018 for outstanding civic merit.