Skopje, 28 February 2025 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, who is on his first official visit to Türkiye, said Friday that the country is committed to building a strong partnership and reaffirming Macedonian-Turkish friendship on an economic, political and cultural level.

"I must reaffirm the good relations between the two peoples. The Turkish community in our country is a loyal part of Macedonian society, just as the Macedonian community in Türkiye is a significant part of the development of the Turkish state. I see President Erdoğan as a great supporter and friend. His past, just like Türkiye's past, is connected to my homeland, and this is a good opportunity to say that he is always welcome in Skopje, in Ohrid and anywhere in our country, and I hope that he will visit very soon. I am confident that the cooperation between the two countries will continue to develop in the spirit of mutual respect and common interests, in order to ensure a better future for our citizens," said the PM.

Mickoski pointed out that he and Erdoğan had an exceptionally important and constructive meeting, noting that it reaffirms the traditional friendship, strong partnership and strategic cooperation between the two countries.

"I am delighted that this is my first visit to friendly Türkiye, a country with which we share many common elements in culture, tradition, common interests and excellent relations between the Macedonian and Turkish people, Macedonian citizens and Turkish citizens. At the meeting, we discussed deepening bilateral relations in several areas, with particular emphasis on economic cooperation, investments and trade. Türkiye is one of our most important economic partners, but also an indispensable force with great influence in the region, and our common commitment is to increase Turkish investments in Macedonia and create new opportunities for Macedonian companies on the Turkish market. We already have many positive examples of Turkish companies working with us, in the area of ​​road and railway infrastructure, and on the other hand, recently as we announced, we have cooperation in the area of ​​energy with an important and large Turkish company for investments in construction of co-generation plants, gas and heating network in the amount of I would say up to one billion dollars," said Mickoski. 

He said the two also discussed cooperation in security, education, culture and healthcare. The PM stressed that the two countries are NATO allies, and the common priority is stability and security in the region. 

Mickoski and Erdoğan signed a joint political declaration on the establishment of a High-Level Cooperation Council. The PM underlined that the Council will strengthen the strategy for relations between Türkiye and Macedonia in the areas of politics, security, defence, economy, trade, energy, transport, infrastructure, agriculture and forestry, media and communications, tourism, culture, science, arts, youth, sports, education, healthcare, environment and digital transformation, as well as contacts between the citizens of the two countries.

Photo: Government