The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov today received Petr Vagner, Executive Director of the Visegrad Fund. Visegrad Fund is international organization based in Bratislava, which supports cooperation between the Visegrad Group countries – the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Poland and Hungary, in areas such as education, cultural exchange, youth cooperation and tourism.

At the meeting, President Ivanov and Director Vagner welcomed the initiative highlighted at the recent informal meeting of foreign ministers of Visegrad Group and Western Balkans countries (V4-WB) in Prague, for the establishment of a Fund for the South-East Europe countries, which would function in a similar way as the Fund for the Visegrad Group countries, which would contribute to better mutual knowledge and understanding among the citizens of the Balkan region.

President Ivanov stressed that it is time regional meetings to give concrete results and, in view of this, he encouraged that this initiative will be seriously considered and will be subject of discussions with other countries in the region in the coming period.

President Ivanov stressed that the future of Macedonia and of the countries in the region is in interconnection, integration and better understanding. In this regard, President Ivanov assessed that the continuation of Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration remains our strategic goal that will contribute to stability and prosperity in the region.

President Ivanov stressed that he highly appreciates the support by the four countries of the Visegrad Group to the integration of the Republic of Macedonia in NATO and the European Union.