Macedonia to rename airport, highway in effort to solve name issue

SKOPJE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced late Wednesday that his government had agreed to change the name of Skopje's Airport (Great Alexander) and the name of country's main highway.

Zaev made the announcement in a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras, following their almost three-hour meeting in Davos, Switzerland, focusing on the settlement of the name issue between two countries.

"In order to show that our government is committed to find a dignified solution to the name issue, I announce that we will change the names of our airport and highway. The national highway will be called Friendship," Zaev told reporters.

Zaev noted that the government's action showed its goodwill, and that this would help the two countries enhance cooperation with the European Union (EU) and other international organizations.

Zaev also highlighted that the Macedonian government remained committed to the name issue solving process that the UN mediator Mathew Nimetz was facilitating.

According to him, majority of citizens in two countries are willing to have good neighborly relations and stand as equal allies in EU and NATO.

On his part, Tsipras noted that the two governments should work on enhancing what united them, and work on solving issues that divided Greece and Macedonia.

"My conviction is that Balkans have gone through a lot due to nationalist and tension. What is needed is to promote an agenda of cooperation and co-development so European Union perspective of Western Balkans is strengthened," Tsipras said. Enditem