Skopje, 10 July 2024 (MIA) - Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia, Afrim Gashi, met with Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, on the sidelines of the NATO Parliamentary Summit in Washington, the Parliament said in a press release on Wednesday. 

Stefanchuk thanked for North Macedonia's consistent support to Ukraine and for all Ukrainian initiatives, for the country joining the European Union's sanctions against Russia, as well as for the support of the "Peace Formula" proposed by the President of Ukraine.

He noted that the peoples of Ukraine and North Macedonia are very close, have a similar history and share common goals for EU membership.

"Commenting on the large-scale Russian military aggression against Ukraine, Stefanchuk briefed the delegation, which also includes the acting head of the Parliament’s Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mile Talevski, on Russia's brutal attack on the children's hospital in Kyiv, resulting in 29 civilian casualties and a huge number of injured children and medical staff. He called on this Parliamentary Summit to express strong and unwavering support from the speakers of the parliaments for further military aid to Ukraine and for its membership in NATO. He noted that he will initiate a joint project at the level of the parliaments of NATO member countries for the recovery of the country. Stefanchuk invited Speaker Gashi to visit Ukraine, expressing expectation for Gashi's participation in the Third Summit of the Crimean Platform, which this year will be jointly organized with the Republic of Latvia," reads the press release. 

Gashi expressed his condolences for the victims in the children's hospital, conveying North Macedonia's firm and unwavering support for Ukraine in all fields. Gashi pointed out that the Republic of North Macedonia, its people and its highest state institutions strongly condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine from the very beginning of the military conflict. In addition, he noted that the country joined all EU restrictive measures and sanctions against the Russian Federation, co-sponsored numerous resolutions and initiatives regarding Ukraine, and provided military and humanitarian aid to the country.

Speaker Gashi mentioned the numerous activities of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia in support of Ukraine, starting with the adoption of the "Declaration of condemnation of the military attacks that threaten the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine" and other numerous events. He invited his counterpart Stefanchuk, if possible under the extraordinary circumstances, to visit the Republic of North Macedonia.

The two expressed confidence that the inter-parliamentary cooperation will continue with the established dynamics and active political dialogue, productive cooperation at the level of speakers and inter-parliamentary friendship groups, with a tendency to further enrich the overall cooperation.

Photo: Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia