Macedonia

EU to start accession talks with Macedonia and Iceland at the same time. This was said in the official letter send to EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule on March 23 by Slovenian MEP Jelko Kacin.

Skopje and Athens might reach a compromising solution to the name dispute during the Spain’s EU presidency, said European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. He says Athens and Skopje should make further efforts to find a solution to the issue by the end of June.

Macedonia’s response to Bulgaria’s initiative for signing the agreement on good neighborly relations is going in a direction, which will lead to finding an acceptable deal for the two countries. Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki made the remarks yesterday, after meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Nikolay Mladenov.

An International conference on local self-government is to take place in Pristina. This conference aims to present the local self-government reform and Kosovo’s decentralization process as well as share experiences and good practices from the countries in the region. Ministers from Macedonia, Croatia, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro, Slovenia and Turkey …

Direct dialogue between Macedonia and Greece is the best way of overcoming the long lasting bilateral “name” dispute, visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told media in Skopje. “Direct dialogue between the two parties is the best way to resolve the issue. Both Greece and Macedonia are stable and they …

A ceremony to mark the shift of command of NATO Headquarters Skopje will take place Monday at ARM House in Skopje. The outgoing Commander of NATO HQ Skopje and NATO High Military Representative, Commodore Valentin Gagashev (Bulgaria), will hand over the two posts to his successor Brigade General David Humar …

After holding separate meetings with negotiators Zoran Jolevski and Adamantios Vasilakis, UN mediator in Macedonian-Greek name dispute Matthew Nimetz met with UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon.

Albanian officials have approved Vele Trpevski as the new Macedonian ambassador to Albania, the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed. Trpevski’s nomination was met with controversy due to his young age and apparent inexperience in diplomatic work.

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov is set to visit Macedonia on Friday and Saturday. Djankov will be a special guest at the 11th annual conference of the Macedonian stock exchange. He is expected to meet with Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski.

Macedonian Minister of Defense Zoran Konjanovski is set to meet with NATO Commander in Skopje Valentin Gagasev as well as with newly appointed NATO Commander in Skopje Slovenian David Humar, who will take office on May 3.