The foreign minister of newly christened North Macedonia, Nikola Dimitrov, referred to his country and neighboring Greece as “natural allies” who can benefit from cooperation, not only on the economic front, but also in terms of common security and defense.
In an interview with the left-leaning and pro-government “Efimerida ton Syntakton”, Dimitrov expressed a view that “time, good faith, application (of the bilateral agreement) and friendship” will make opposition to the Prespa agreement impossible.
Asked if his government is concerned over “obstacles” possibly placed in North Macedonia’s European path if Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his center-right New Democracy (ND) become Greece’s next government, he said:
“Greece has its own interests in a functional, European, democratic country existing on its northern border,” while adding that he hopes “we will be able to have a basic understanding … No one has anything to gain by attacking your neighbor.”
ND comfortably leads leftist SYRIZA in practically all mainstream opinion polls.
In a related development, Dimitrov received Greece’s new alternate foreign minister, Sia Anagnostopoulou, in Skopje on Friday for signing ceremony to open a new border crossing between the two neighboring states.
The Laimos-Markova Noga crossing will be in the Prespa lakes region, with the North Macedonia news agency previously citing a completion date in 2023, via a project worth 4.6 million euros.
Finally, back in Athens, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras told reporters that his official visit to Skopje will come at the end of March or early April 2019.
