Serbian, Macedonian presidents meet

Serbia recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name and that position will not change, said President Boris Tadić. He made the statement after his meeting with Macedonian counterpart Gjorge Ivanov in Belgrade late on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Ivanov was attending the funeral of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle.

In a joint statement after the meeting, the two presidents repeated their mutual support for EU integration and for a Greek initiative that would have all Western Balkans countries become full-fledged members in 2014.

Tadić welcomed the presence of Macedonia’s state and religious officials at the funeral yesterday.

The presidents “encouraged church dialogue with the goal of solving open issues, which is of great importance for further development of the traditionally close relations between the two peoples”, said the statement.

The meeting also “ascertained” there were “differences over the issue of the status of Kosovo”.