Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Besimi, who met with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Wednesday, said that he hopes that Greece will openly support the integration of Balkan countries into the European Union. Besimi added that this would greatly contribute to improve stability and economic development in the region.

"Good neighborly relations are especially important to us and we are working to further strengthen these relations and regional cooperation. Therefore, we welcome the agreement to implement confidence building measures agreed by the two countries. We are fully aware of the challenges ahead of us at national level and of our responsibility as politicians and officials to overcome them. We expect that the political dialogue will continue and will help overcome political obstacles, the political crisis and will allow us to continue on our path of European integration through implementing the new priority reforms", Besimi said at the meeting with Kotzias.

Kotzias and Macedonian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Poposki informed that a set of 11 confidence building measures have been agreed between the two countries. These measures do not cover the name issue, which has soured relations between Greece and Macedonia in the past decades, but will provide practical cooperation in areas such as education and healthcare, with more proposals being prepared.

Besimi and Kotzias also discussed the good economic cooperation between Macedonia and Greece, adding that Greece remains a strategic trade partner and a major investor in Macedonia. The two officials also spoke about cooperation on EU funded cross border IPA programs, with over 50 projects worth nearly 10 million EUR being prepared. The Secretariat for European Affairs, led by Besimi, informed that during the meeting, the two officials expressed hope that Macedonia and Greece can continue working to improve their bilateral cooperation.