The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, tonight in Mostar, on the sidelines of the 10th UNESCO Regional Summit of Heads of State of SEE, held separate bilateral meetings with the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic and the President of Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic.

Topics that presidents discussed at the meetings were strengthening of regional cooperation, European and Euro-Atlantic integrations and countries’ internal political state of play.

At the meeting with Izetbegovic, on the sidelines of the Summit, President Ivanov expressed his full readiness to support the integration and integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, noting that every change of borders can be a risk to regional stability.

Both interlocutors determined the future dynamics of meetings at the highest political level and expressed satisfaction with the positive trend of trade cooperation. Izetbegovic, at the meeting with President Ivanov, praised the functioning of the national Bank of the Republic of Macedonia in time of economic crisis.

In the talks with the Montenegrin President Vujanovic, the Head of State stressed the need to intensify regional cooperation with an emphasis on infrastructure and connecting the Adriatic-Ionian Highway with Corridors 8 and 10.

During the summit, President Ivanov held a bilateral meeting with his Albanian counterpart Bamir Topi, where the successful cooperation between the two countries was confirmed. The Macedonian President expressed appreciation for the support at the NATO Summit in Chicago and was assured that Albania, in the interest of stability of the entire region, further strongly supports Macedonia and other countries for NATO membership.

The Head of State tonight met with the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, and expressed satisfaction with the excellent cooperation between Macedonia and the world organization.

Bokova congratulated on the initiative of Macedonia for such forums, which, as she said, is strongly appreciated and supported by UNESCO. Future cooperation and co-organization of the next summit to be held in Macedonia next year was arranged at the meeting.

The Director of UNESCO accepted the initiative of President Ivanov, the next summit to be a summit of concrete results, and the proposal of the President the next meeting to be dedicated to the young leaders and to the future.

President Ivanov in Mostar participates at the Summit of Heads of State from SEE on "Religious, cultural and historical heritage as a basis for intensifying cooperation between states", and will address the first plenary session. First such Summit within the forum "Dialogue between Civilizations" was held in Ohrid in 2003 at the initiative of the late President Trajkovski.

Previous Summits were focused on interregional and interethnic dialogue, cultural corridors in SEE, cultural diversity and management, as well music as a metaphor for cultural dialogue.

The project "Dialogue among Civilizations", which is supported by UNESCO, in 2013, after 10 years of establishment, will be again organized in the Republic of Macedonia.