Sofia, 30 November 2021 (MIA) – Sofia expects clear guarantees from Skopje involving the rights of the citizens with Bulgarian national awareness and the implementation of the 2017 Friendship Treaty, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev said during his bilateral talks with European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and Spain’s Foreign Minister ​José Manuel Albares Bueno. The meetings, held in Barcelona as part of the EU-Southern Neighbourhood Ministerial Meeting, also included discussions on the prospect of North Macedonia opening negotiations for joining the EU, BGNES news agency reported. “Bulgaria underscored its proactive efforts in the past several months to close the open issues with Skopje in order the rights of the citizens with Bulgarian identity to be guaranteed as well as the implementation of the 2017 Friendship Treaty. We expect clear guarantees from the Republic of North Macedonia on the matter,” said the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry. Minister Stoev is paying a two-day visit to Riga to attend the meeting of NATO foreign ministers. North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani is also taking part. On the sidelines of the NATO ministerial meeting, Stoev will meet with Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Swedish and Finnish officials to discuss current developments in the Western Balkans, said the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry.