Sunday, 4 February 2013, New York
STATEMENT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA, MR. TRAJKO VELJANOSKI, AFTER THE MEETING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL - MR. BAN KI-MUN
The meeting and the conversation with the Secretary-General of the United Nations - Mr. Ban Ki-moon, is in a way continuation of the meeting we had during his visit to Macedonia with Mr. Nimitz in July last year.
On this occasion I expressed appreciation for his active and key contribution for the advancement in the talks on finding a solution for the dispute we have with our southern neighbor, Republic of Greece, having in mind the need for resolving this issue that affects our integration in the EU and NATO as soon as possible.
Concerning the parliamentary cooperation in the region, we agreed that parliamentary democracy is an increasingly important instrument for establishing closer cooperation with our southern neighbor and for finding solutions for the open issues. In line with this, I expect that soon there will be a meeting between the speakers of the two parliaments which would initiate the parliamentary cooperation on all levels.
With regard to the parliamentary cooperation on global level, we expressed mutual satisfaction with the level of cooperation between the Assembly and the United Nations, i.e. the Inter-Parliamentary Union. We also exchanged views on the development of the capacities of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia as an institution that has to continually invest in its capacity, in order to be able to meet the challenges.