The Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General, Matthew Nimetz, has paid a working visit today to the Republic of Macedonia as part of the activities relating to his mandate for overcoming the name difference.

During his visit to the country, Mr. Nimetz has had meetings with the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Gјorge Ivanov, as well as with Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Poposki, to whom he has presented his views on his visit to Athens and the commitments expressed there for continuing the process.

At the meetings that Mr. Nimetz has had with the Macedonian national leadership, he has yet again been offered the full support of the Republic of Macedonia for increasing his engagement in the process. Furthermore, Mr. Nimetz has been informed in detail on the Macedonian dedication to removing this obstacle calling into question the Euro-Atlantic integration of the entire region of Southeast Europe. In that context, Mr. Nimetz has been presented the numerous bilateral initiatives that the Macedonian side has hitherto launched with a view to forging closer ties between Macedonia and Greece. The majority of these initiatives have, in fact, been listed in the letter that Macedonian Prime Minister Gruevski has extended to his Greek counterpart Samaras. As a result, at the meetings, the Macedonian side has reaffirmed the country’s sincere commitment to finding a solution to the name issue, reemphasizing its interest in dynamizing the entire process and setting the issue aside as soon as possible.

Moreover, it has been underlined at the meetings that it is necessary to make certain steps towards restoring the trust between the Republic of Macedonia and the Hellenic Republic. Hence, the role of the United Nations bodies has been deemed as being of exceptional use to the entire process and, in that context, Mediator Nimetz has also been offered further encouragement for his intention to intensify his communication with both Macedonia and Greece and pay more regular visits to the two countries in the period ahead.