Wednesday, 17 February 2021
MEETING OF PRESIDENT XHAFERI WITH H.E. KOUNDOUROS
The President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, Talat Xhaferi, today had a meeting with the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Greece to the Republic of North Macedonia, H.E. Roussos Koundouros.
President Xhaferi, conveyed congratulations on his appointment as Ambassador and while wishing him success in his work, expressed expectation for continuation of the cooperation with the Embassy in Skopje. The establishment of the agreement foundation for more intensive bilateral cooperation between the two countries enabled the membership of the Republic of North Macedonia in NATO and the decision for beginning the negotiations for membership in the European Union. In this regard, is strengthened the institutional cooperation and coordination in terms of pandemic challenges, dealing with migrant flows and protection of airspace. These activities reflect the reciprocal trust and represent our contribution to the collective security of the Alliance, underlined president Xhaferi. He stated that the membership in the EU represents our second strategic priority, but due to already well known reasons, there is no formal beginning of the negotiations.
President Xhaferi informed the Ambassador on the sent invitation to the President of the Greek Parliament, Konstantinos Tasoulas for realizing a direct bilateral visit in Skopje or Athens, as soon as the circumstances allow it and on the sent invitations by the Chair of the Parliamentary Group for Cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Greece, Bajram Kadrija, to his fellow Georgios Vlahos, for organizing a virtual meeting of the groups of the two parliaments as a first step towards a more dynamic bilateral cooperation in the future.
The Ambassador Roussos cordially thanked for the realization of the meeting and agreed with the conclusion that the so-called Prespa Agreement provides a new reality in the mutual relations, for which, as he pointed out, he looks forward to their deepening in the coming years. The NATO membership of the Republic of North Macedonia is a priority for the Republic of Greece as well, and the membership in the European Union concerns all countries from the Western Balkan region. The Agreement provides intensifying the cooperation in many areas, but certainly, it also requires respect of the liabilities, underlined Ambassador Roussos. As neighbors and parliamentary democracies, the diplomacy in the domain of parliamentary cooperation is particularly important and it should be nourished and promoted. He assured President Xhaferi that he will engage for realization of a meeting at the highest parliamentary level with the leadership of the Greek Parliament as soon as possible.
Interlocutors agreed that the potentials for cooperation at the area of economy, energy, infrastructure, education and other areas of mutual interest should be adequately used by both countries.