FM holds ‘fruitful talks’ on Skopje leg of West Balkans tour
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias hailed “fruitful talks” during a trip to North Macedonia on Wednesday that is part of the Greek official’s ongoing tour of the Western Balkans.
“Ι was cordially received by North Macedonia PM [Dimitar] Kovachevski. Fruitful talks on the prospects for deepening Greece-North Macedonia cooperation, especially in the economic and energy sectors, implementation of Prespa Agreement, North Macedonia’s EU accession path and on regional and international developments,” Dendias said in a post on Twitter on Thursday morning.
Dendias also met with North Macedonia Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, telling his counterpart that Greece “desires the consolidation of peace, security and stability in the region,” and that “the only way to achieve these goals is to clearly and fully support the European prospects of the Western Balkans.”
The Greek official said that Athens is “absolutely convinced that the accession negotiations between the European Union and Albania and Northern Macedonia must begin immediately.”
“We will support the European perspective of North Macedonia, subject to the well-known conditionality,” he added.
In the area of economic cooperation, Dendias noted that “Greek investments in North Macedonia are in a prominent position, we are the third or fourth largest foreign investor,” while also revealing that one unnamed Greek company has expressed an interest in investing more than 200 million euros in the construction of an important power plant in Skopje. It is a project, he added, “that will have multiple beneficial results.”
On the issue of foreign policy, Dendias expressed Athens’ satisfaction that “North Macedonia has fully aligned itself with the decisions of its future family, the European Union, particularly those condemning revisionist actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and, more recently, the violation of International Law and the United Nations Security Council Resolutions in the fenced-off area of Varosha.” [Combined reports]
