Macedonia, Austria to further step up cooperation: officials

SKOPJE, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia and Austria are nourishing fruitful cooperation in various fields while Austria remains a key supporter to Macedonia's European Union perspective, Macedonian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Dimitrov told a joint press conference Tuesday with visiting Austrian Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Karin Kneissl.

"With Austria, we have been fostering very vital, close and friendly relations. We have close cooperation in terms of border management, namely Austrian police officers have been assisting our policemen since 2015-2016," Dimitrov said.

He added that Austria was a country that had been increasingly engaged with a huge interest for the Balkan region to prosper all the while being a traditional supporter of the European perspectives of the region.

"We also nourish a fruitful economic cooperation as companies from Austria are one of the largest investors in Macedonia, which is further enhanced with a solid trade of goods," Dimitrov noted.

On her part, the Austrian minister said Macedonia was moving forward and demonstrating its stability.

Praising the two countries' cooperation as excellent, she noted that as part of technical assistance, Austria would deploy 20 police officers here.

The Austrian minister also called the EU's Western Balkans strategy an important step for the region. Enditem