Skopje, 3 June 2022 (MIA) – Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski at the sidelines of the GLOBSEC Security Conference taking place in Bratislava met his Slovak counterpart Eduard Heger. Both prime ministers praised their countries’ bilateral relations, which have been further strengthened recently with the opening of North Macedonia’s embassy in Bratislava, the government said. Kovachevski thanked Heger for Slovakia’s unwavering support to North Macedonia’s EU integration process, including the joint initiative launched with the Czech Republic to block the adoption of the EU’s conclusions involving the enlargement process with the Western Balkan countries, which contained unacceptable references on certain historical issues, said the press release. It’s high time, PMs Kovachevski and Heger urged, that North Macedonia and the region received a strong, clear and coherent message from all EU member states and institutions on the opening of membership negotiations for their European perspective to be confirmed. The delayed EU accession process, it was noted, causes strong security risks and now’s the moment the consistent efforts of North Macedonia and Albania to be recognized by the EU by opening accession negotiations without delay, said the press release.