Sofia, 5 January 2022 (MIA) – Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has said he will most likely pay his first visit to North Macedonia on January 18. In an interview with TV Bloomberg aired Wednesday night, Petkov said he wants to create quite different frameworks for talks with North Macedonia’s prime minister-designate Dimitar Kovachevski, MIA’s Sofia correspondent reports. Saying the main focus so far was on the history debate, he noted he considered it important that “all the discussions are put on all the win-wins between the two countries.” The Bulgarian PM reiterated that five working groups will be set up, on infrastructure, economy, cultural exchange, EU accession and history. Petkov said he wants these groups to be very efficient in the next six months to deliver real results. Saying he doesn’t understand why people have to fly via Vienna from Sofia in order to travel to Skopje, PM Petkov said there have to be flights connecting Sofia and Skopje as well as a railway line. Asked about history, which remains an issue between the two countries, even if all other working groups make headway, Petkov said he believed people will be much more inclined to be more open when facing the positive sides of good neighborly relations. So far, he stated, no one has talked about the positive sides, they only discussed the issues and when it comes to issues, everyone is sticking to their positions, which results in no progress. With the Macedonian partners, the PM said, there is a very tight schedule at the intergovernmental and business meetings as well as cultural groups from both sides with very clear goals. According to the pace of progress made on all issues, Petkov said he expects a final date for the Republic of North Macedonia’s accession to be set. Additionally, the Bulgarian Parliament, he noted, has given me a mandate and there is coalition agreement with some concrete items that should be implemented before this major step ahead is made. Bulgaria and North Macedonia, said PM Petkov, had signed an agreement and there have to be discussions with all positive sides, concrete criteria to be met before as prime minister I inform Parliament about their progress. PM Petkov said he believed that North Macedonia’s role and place will be best protected if it is a member of the EU. The sooner it progresses, the sooner more concrete deadlines can be defined, he concluded.