North Macedonian deputy PM, FM visit Croatia

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman 6 February 2020 met with North Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani and Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman 6 February 2020 met with North Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani and Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, who were on a working visit to Croatia.

The three officials underscored satisfaction with the traditionally good and friendly relations between Croatia and Macedonia, welcoming the intensification of highest-level visits during Croatia’s EU presidency.

Grlić Radman, Osmani and Dimitrov focused on North Macedonia’s EU journey. Croatia strongly supports the opening of entry talks with North Macedonia with no further delay and will push for the decision to launch negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania be made during its EU presidency.

The collocutors exchanged views on the European Commission’s proposal for a new EU enlargement methodology. The proposal fits right in with the goals of the EU-Western Balkans Summit scheduled for early May 2020 in Zagreb. “We find especially important the proposal to increase the predictability of the process through good planning and clearly defined conditions. We believe that the new methodology, together with the Commission’s new reports on North Macedonia and Albania, will lead to the European Council’s reaching the decision in March to launch entry talks with these countries,” Grlić Radman said.

In addition, the minister expressed hope that North Macedonia would join NATO as soon as possible and that we would continue building our partner relationship within that alliance.  

The collocutors underlined willingness to jumpstart and strengthen cooperation in economy, as well as in areas such as healthcare, culture, science, education, labour and environmental protection. Conclusively, Grlić Radman, Osmani and Dimitrov agreed that Croatia and North Macedonia’s respective national minorities as well as the protection of their rights was an important link between the two countries.

 

Press releases