UN envoy Nimetz to meet top officials, party leaders

United Nations envoy in the name issue Matthew Nimetz pays Thursday a visit to Macedonia, meeting with President Gjorge Ivanov, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, VMRO-DPMNE leader Histijan Mickovski, and DUI leader Ali Ahmeti.

“We had good meetings in Athens. We hope to have good meetings here too. I am looking forward to the meetings with the government and other leaders,” Nimetz said after arriving in Skopje on Wednesday.

Following Tuesday’s meeting with Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, Nimetz said there is momentum and it is time for making decisions.

Nimetz and Kotzias discussed the ideas tabled by the UN envoy two weeks ago. After being briefed on the government’s positions, Nimetz said there were willingness demonstrated by the two parties to reach an agreement.

“I think there is a momentum here. Waiting makes no sense, makes no sense in the northern neighbor, in general it makes no sense. We have been discussing the matter for 25 years, everyone knows the issues. It’s time to make decisions and I think we have reached that point,” the UN envoy told reporters after the meeting with Kotzias falling short to provide a concrete timeline. There will be talks in the coming weeks after which the situation should be re-examined, according to him.

Name proposals, irredentism, international and regional relations of Macedonia and measures for positive agenda are four points of the draft agreement which Greece is to forward to Macedonia by mid-February, Greek FM Nikos Kotzias told Greece’s state broadcaster ERT, MIA reports from Athens.

The agreement will not be a matter of ‘take it or leave it’ as the other party will have an opportunity to intervene with own proposals, Greek FM Nikos Kotzias said Tuesday in regard to a draft document covering ‘all open issues relating to the name’ he had announced at yesterday’s interview with the state broadcaster ERT.

Ahead of the visit of the UN special envoy Matthew Nimetz, appointed to broker the name talks, we emphasize that by publicly revealing ultimate positions, the room for negotiating could be diminished, the office of Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov told MIA.

“On our part, we have shown good will for a mutually acceptable solution that will abide by the interests, dignity and identity of the two nations. To reach an agreement requires the other party to show good will, too,” Dimitrov’s office said.