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Roundup: Macedonia, Greece adopt confidence-building measures

Xinhua, June 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Macedonia and Greece agreed to a set of 11 concrete measures targeted at building the confidence and improving the relations between the two neighboring Balkan countries that are divided by a decades-old dispute over the right to use the name "Macedonia".

The measures were agreed upon on Wednesday at a meeting between Macedonian Minister for Foreign Affairs Nikola Poposki and his visiting Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias.

The use of the name Macedonia remains a controversial issue since Macedonia declared independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece opposed to the use of the name Macedonia by its northern neighbor, saying it implies territorial claims to Greece's northern province of the same name. As a result, Greece is blocking Macedonia's bid to join NATO, as well as the European Union, saying that Macedonia can be a member only if a solution to the name dispute is reached.

However, cooperation proposals on Wednesday included joint projects in the fields of education, health, foreign affairs, culture, justice and energy. The intent was to increase the mutual trust and create conditions for solving the dispute between the two countries. Cooperation between universities, joint business forums, improving energy and railway interconnection, as well as the exchange of information on illegal migration and organized crime were included on the list of resolutions.

"With this we are taking a new step. The weakest link in our cooperation so far has been the mutual trust, while the strongest link is the business and economic cooperation," Poposki said.

Kotzias' visit here is one of the rare high-level political meetings between Macedonian and Greek officials. The two countries have so far not been successful in solving the name dispute in the 20-year negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations.

"We can resolve the name issue based on international law and good neighborliness. There are differences but for every problem there is a solution," Kotzias said.

Experts also believe that the trust-building initiatives could contribute to creating a positive climate for the talks leading up to a solution to the longstanding name dispute.

"Let's hope that the agreed will not remain just as a 'dead letter on paper', meaning that we will soon see its implementation. Let's hope that it will move things forward in right direction. Still it does not mean that it will bring an immediate change," political analyst and former Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Bocevski told Xinhua here on Wednesday.

The two ministers now agreed to meet more often in order to improve the political dialogue and create the conditions for solving the dispute. Enditem