Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met today with the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, who is on an official visit to Greece, at the invitation of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Stevo Pendarovski reaffirmed the important momentum that is developing in the bilateral relationship, in all sectors of mutual interest. They agreed on the necessity to deepen cooperation between the two countries and widen its scope, focusing on the economy, investments, energy and interconnectivity.
The Prime Minister reaffirmed Greece’s support for the Western Balkans’ EU integration prospects, and North Macedonia’s in particular, in accordance with the criteria that have been set.
Within this context, the Prime Minister underscored that bolstering relations between the two countries and Greece’s support for North Macedonia’s integration into the EU are inextricably linked to the full, consistent and in good faith implementation of the Prespa Agreement, which is an integral part of the enlargement process.
On the Greek side the meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Openness Kostas Fragogiannis, the Director of the Prime Minister’s Diplomatic Office, Ambassador Eleni Sourani, the Ambassador of Greece to North Macedonia, Roussos Koundouros, and Deputy Government Spokesperson Aristotelia Peloni.
At the start of the meeting the Prime Minister said:
“It is a real pleasure to welcome you to Athens. Let me also express in person my deep condolences for the catastrophic fire that led to the loss of 14 people on the very day you celebrated your 30th year of independence.
As you know, we attach particular importance to the strengthening and deepening of our bilateral relations, as well as advancing the path of North Macedonia towards EU integration.
This will also be a topic that we will have an opportunity to discuss in Slovenia tomorrow, within the context of the EU – Western Balkans summit.
And I’m happy that our bilateral cooperation is growing steadily, on energy, on defence, on interconnections, on cross-border cooperation. And I’m looking forward to discussing all aspects of our bilateral cooperation.
So again, a warm welcome to Athens Mr President.
