On the sidelines of the 67th United Nations General Assembly in New York, the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, held several bilateral meetings with heads of state and government.

At the meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, mutual satisfaction was expressed with the positive trend in relations and cooperation. Both agreed that political dialogue is continuous and contributes to the strengthening of the relations and finding opportunities for promotion of cooperation, especially in the economic sphere.

During the talks, Sheikh Al Thani reiterated Qatar’s interest to invest in Macedonia, in the field of electricity production, in agriculture and food industry. Sheikh Al Thani visited Macedonia last year, when contracts were signed that create a legal framework for the planned Qatari investments in Macedonia.

At the meeting it was agreed to continue contacts at all levels, especially among institutions responsible for areas of interest for Qatari investments. Both countries need to take measures for further strengthening of the legal framework.

In New York, President Ivanov met with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn. President Ivanov at the meeting asked for support for a decision to be adopted at the European Council meeting in December to start negotiations for Macedonia's accession to the European Union.

At the meeting, President Ivanov stressed the three consecutive positive recommendations of the European Commission to open negotiations, and noted that Macedonia has realistic expectations for parallel movement of the EU integration and the talks with Greece to overcome the name dispute. Deputy Prime Minister Asselborn answers that Macedonia can count on the support of Luxembourg and expressed hope that Macedonia will soon become an EU member state.

In New York, President Ivanov met with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Jigme Thinley, and discussed the possibility for establishing bilateral relations between the two countries. President Ivanov stressed that Macedonia is strongly interested in promoting and strengthening cooperation with Asian countries.