Skopje, 1 November 2022 (MIA) – The new Ambassador of North Macedonia to Turkey, Jovan Manasijevski, and the new Ambassador to the EU, Zulfi Ismaili, presented their diplomatic platforms before the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament on Tuesday. Ambassador Manasijevski said the relations with Turkey are traditionally friendly, and that besides the United States, Turkey is the only country which North Macedonia has a Strategic Partnership Agreement with. In defining the bilateral relations, according to him, the growing economic and defense power should be taken into account, as well as Turkey's ambitions to be among the top 10 countries in the world in the 21^st century. “Turkey has 253 diplomatic-consular missions and in this aspect, they are the fifth largest diplomatic network in the world, which speaks of the feasibility of the ambitions of that system. However, we should behave accordingly and use the opportunities of our long-term friendship and strategic partnership in the service of our national interests,” said Manasijevski. Touching upon his action priorities, he pointed to the effort to maintain a constant and sustainable growth of the trade exchange. In 2021 the country’s trade exchange with Turkey reached USD 776 million, in 2022 it is projected to reach around USD 900 million, but the potentials are, according to the Ambassador, much higher, and the obstacle to its more dynamic development is the anachronistic Free Trade Agreement from 2000, which should be revised and upgraded. “We have to do this because all our neighbors – Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, already have new, more modern and more liberalized free trade agreements. If we do not do anything about this, we will simply fall behind and the potential for growth and cooperation will move to the neighboring countries,” underlined Manasijevski. Ambassador Manasijevski also stressed the importance of attracting Turkish investments to the region which are constantly growing, especially in the context of the current energy crisis and the possibility to use Turkey’s role as a key energy node to supply our country with energy. He stated that in his post he will also focus on encouraging cooperation in defense, education, health, on the role of the Turkish community in North Macedonia, but also our diaspora in Turkey, estimated at 150.000-450.000 thousand people, as a bridge of friendship. In the discussion the MPs pointed to the issue of the Ministry of Interior’s more restrictive approach in granting residency permits to Turkish students and the challenge of Ankara’s demands regarding their post-coup clean-up. The new Ambassador of North Macedonia to the European Union in Brussels, Zulfi Ismaili, said that with the beginning of the accession negotiations the country has entered a new stage of relations with the EU, the explanatory screening is underway, in November the bilateral screening will begin and the entire process is expected to be completed around this time next year. The government adopted the new revised structure for negotiations and it is expected that in the coming period the positions will be filled with specific names, and he, as the head of the Mission to Brussels, will be, ex officio, a member of the state delegation for negotiations. “The Mission to the EU will gain even more weight as a focal point of communication with all EU institutions but also as a kind of a hub through which the majority of the documents delivered to the EU will be communicated. The Mission is additionally expected to be properly equipped in the upcoming period with representatives of nine other ministries,” said Ambassador Ismaili. In the negotiations process, he said, the Mission’s key priorities will be the successful completion of the bilateral screening and making sure that all parties appropriately respect the negotiation framework so that there are no bilateral interpretations of its provisions, a timely implementation of the planned projects from the EU economic and investment plan, identifying new avenues for cooperation with the EU and its institutions, now as a negotiating country, as well as the inclusion of our ministers at the EU ministerial meetings. In the context of parliamentary cooperation, Ismaili stressed that the European Parliament’s positive inclination towards enlargement should be used. Asked by the President of the Committee, Antonio Miloshoski, whether the Berlin Process and Open Balkan contradict each other or if they can exist in parallel, Ambassador Ismaili said it is too early to give a clear prognosis, but it is good to give Open Balkan a chance, as a regional initiative, and to see the results. ad/nn/