Friday, 23 march 2018
Meeting of the President Xhaferi and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Republic of Greece, Mr. Nikos Kotzias
The President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi met the Minister of Foreign Affairs Republic of Greece, Mr. Nikos Kotzias, who is officially visiting the Republic of Macedonia. The MPs and Members of the Parliamentary Groups for Cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Greece attended the Meeting.
The President Xhaferi expressed pleasure from the dynamics and the direct bilateral meetings with the Republic of Greece, as well as the Meetings in the framework of UN seeking solution of the name dispute which burden the deeper cooperation of the two states for decades. The result of the positive spirit of the prime Ministers’ Meetings is the unburden membership of the Republic of Macedonia to the Adriatic – Ionic Strategy for implementation of the second phase of the Agreement for Stabilization and Association with EU.
The President Xhaferi underlined that the Membership in NATO and EU is a determination of the majority of the citizens, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation and that the current Government, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and himself, as a President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi, though aware of the political consequences at the following elections, are determined to act in a statehood manner and to finalize the priorities necessary for Membership in these Organizations and to invest in the promotion of the relations with all neighbours, including the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Greece. He encouraged the Ministers’ steps for finding a solution and underlined the preparedness of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia to support such a solution.
Aside from the complex political relations, the Republic of Macedonia and Greece have good economic cooperation. Greece is the fourth biggest investor in the Republic of Macedonia, but the two states lack of direct bilateral cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Greece, except at the margins of the multilateral meetings and regional initiatives is missing. In this context the President Xhaferi initiated a trilateral meeting between the Parliaments of Greece, Macedonian Albania, where the manners and possibilities for intensification of the cooperation on all levels will be discussed.
The Minister Kotzias expressed pleasure for meeting the President again, in the Parliament, where there is evident democratic progress and thanked the opportunity to exchange opinions on topics of mutual interest for promotion of the democracy in the two states. He stated that he will personally convey the initiative of the President Xhaferi, since that heritage from the past, decreasing the cooperation, motivates everyone to find solutions that will provide fruitful cooperation in the future. The need for establishing wider framework, providing positive movements and processes between the states is necessary, since the bilateral relations at the moment resemble a caged bird, unable to fly. Fortunately, the two sides share values, traditions and merits and request the politicians to resolve the problems and establish realistic dimensions, while the excellent cooperation in many areas, such as police, defence should be broadened to the education, culture, exchange of expertise in the science and research centres and many other areas of priority.