UN’s Guterres discusses name issue with Zaev over the phone

Earlier this afternoon, the Macedonian prime minister, Zoran Zaev, in a phone contact with the General Secretary of the United Nations Antόnio Guterres, examined the name issue and the developments of the relevant negotiations between his country and Greece.

The issued statement by the government of Macedonia reads that Guterres welcomed the reforms decided and implemented by Skopje as well as the country’s friendly stance towards its neighbouring states.

The Macedonia-Bulgaria Friendship Agreement was assessed positively while the UN official supported the talks on the name dispute, among Skopje and Athens, headed by Matthew Nimetz. According to him, as mentioned in the governmental statement, there is fertile ground and potential to reach a jointly accepted solution.

Zoran Zaev estimates that the Agreement with Sofia improved bilateral ties with Bulgaria and offered an edge to the trade between the two sides. Moreover, it strengthened the effort to overcome the existing problem with Greece, as far as the name change is concerned.

Macedonia’s PM reiterated that he hopes a commonly accepted solution will be found, something that will benefit not only the two countries involved but the wider region.

“Let us stop being stuck to the past and rather work together for a better common future”, were Zoran Zaev’s words as cited in the statement.

Antόnio Guterres had also had a phone conversation with the prime minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, on Tuesday, too. The two men talked about the developments in the wider region, Greek-Turkish and Euro-Turkish relations also topped their talk as well as the negotiations with Macedonia.