North Macedonia needs to speed up its process of joining the European Union, in which Croatia will help

Prime Minister Plenković began his official visit to North Macedonia this morning in Skopje with a meeting with Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski, with whom he discussed bilateral relations, further improvement of economic cooperation and the country's European path. Reminding that the decision to open negotiations on the accession of North Macedonia to the European Union was made during the first Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union, he said that now is the time to speed up these negotiations, in which Croatia will help with its knowledge and experience.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is in Skopje today, on an official visit to North Macedonia.
 
In a statement to the media after the meeting with Prime Minister Kovačevski, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković emphasized excellent and friendly relations between North Macedonia and Croatia and the two nations, as well as their alliance within NATO.
 
He added that he believes that North Macedonia will certainly become a member of the European Union in a few years, pointing out that Croatia has been helping that process for years, without any conditions.
 
North Macedonia was often unjustifiably slowed down on the European road
 
Plenković said that North Macedonia initialled the Stabilization and Association Agreement at the summit meeting in Zagreb 23 years ago and made a lot of reforms, pointing out that it was often unjustifiably slowed down in that European path.
 
He reminded that during the first Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2020, a new negotiation methodology was adopted and the decision to open negotiations on the accession of North Macedonia and Albania to the European Union was made.
 
Now North Macedonia needs to speed up its process, in which Croatia will help.
 
The most concrete manifestation of the transfer of knowledge and experience, Prime Minister Plenković added, is the delegation of Mr. Vladimir Drobnjak, who will assist the government of North Macedonia, and who was Croatia's main negotiator for membership in the European Union.
 
Trade exchange reached almost 300 million euros
 
When it comes to bilateral cooperation, Prime Minister Plenković expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the trade exchange has reached almost 300 million euros, and he is especially glad that a large number of Macedonian tourists visited Croatia.
 
The improvement of bilateral relations, either through Croatian companies that operate very successfully in North Macedonia, or through agreements on cultural cooperation and scientific cooperation, or through the cooperation of chambers of commerce, as well as good and open political relations, can be part of the mosaic of two friendly peoples and two countries, Prime Minister Plenković said.
 
There are no open issues, we are continuously deepening the political dialogue and economic cooperation
 
Macedonian Prime Minister Kovačevski expressed satisfaction with the conversation with, as he said, colleagues who truly understand the region and its circumstances.
 
He emphasized that the Government of North Macedonia continues to work on strengthening bilateral relations with Croatia, expanding cooperation, strengthening trust and understanding, which has been the position of every Macedonian government since independence until today.
 
"Our two countries have no open issues, we are continuously building and deepening the political dialogue, increasing economic and trade cooperation and charting new directions for cooperation," said Kovačevski.
 
He added that as many as 44 bilateral agreements refer to bilateral cooperation, while another 15 new ones are being prepared.
 
After the meeting with Prime Minister Kovačevski, Prime Minister Plenković met with the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, and the Speaker of the Parliament, Talat Xhaferi, where he addressed the representatives at the ceremonial session.
 
The prime minister later met with the president of the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, as well as with the heads of religious communities.
 
Plenković ended his official visit to North Macedonia with a meeting with representatives of the Croatian community, which represents the link between the two countries.



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