Skopje, 7 February 2023 (MIA) – Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani held a meeting and a joint press conference Tuesday with his Czech counterpart Jan Lipavský, who is on official visit to North Macedonia. Interlocutors expressed continued Czech support for North Macedonia’s EU accession, reaffirming strengthened bilateral relations and economic cooperation.

“An important aspect of today’s visit is the EU enlargement process and I am glad that North Macedonia’s accession talks began in July last year after the first IGC, during our EU Presidency. I hope that the country will continue with the reforms and adopt the constitutional amendments. I assured my colleague that he can count on the continued Czech support on the path to the EU,” stressed Lipavský at the press conference after the meeting.

He emphasized that North Macedonia is a friend of Czechia and a NATO ally, adding that it complies with the common external and security policy, as is evident by all reports.

“In the meantime, we expect North Macedonia to become an EU member and we will continue to offer our support and cooperation on that path,” said Lipavský.

The Czech Foreign Minister noted that as a sign of the great bilateral relations, the Chairman of the Czech Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs are also in Skopje.

Lipavský invited Osmani to attend the OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum which is traditionally held in September in Prague.

After the meeting, Osmani said the two spoke about upward trend in bilateral relations, with over EUR 250 million in trade exchange recorded between the two countries in 2022.

“I informed the Minister about our economic advisor in charge of the countries from our Visegrad group and I expect that we will strengthen our economic ties, not only in terms of trade but also by using possible Czech direct investments,” said Osmani.

Foreign Minister Osmani, as OSCE Chairperson, also raised the issue of the serious disruption of the European security architecture as a result of Russia’s military aggression on Ukraine.

“I presented the biggest priority of our chairpersonship, which is to prevent further human suffering, to use the organization’s field operations in order to mitigate the consequences of the war, but also to prevent new crisis and provide support for vulnerable regions, in line with the motto of our chairpersonship – ‘It’s about people’,” said Osmani.

Touching upon the bilateral screening, Osmani said that according to preliminary information, the country and the institutions have demonstrated a high level of readiness for the implementation of the process, which, he said, is due to North Macedonia’s strong political will and the many years of experience.

Regarding tensions with Bulgaria, Osmani urged an end of a cycle of worsening relations and a return to a positive agenda in order to resume the process. ad/nn/