The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov in New York had a bilateral meeting with the Hungarian President, Pal Schmitt. At the meeting, President Schmitt expressed strong support for Macedonia's integration into the EU, prior the Hungarian EU Presidency.

Ivanov stressed that setting a date and opening of the EU accession negotiations is extremely important for Macedonia. In this regard, he asked for support from Hungary. Schmitt announced that he is prepared to be the flag runner for Macedonia in the EU.

At the meeting, the two Presidents discussed the role of the Republic of Macedonia and the importance of its EU integration to the regional stability. According to Schmitt, Hungary, concerning the integration was guided by the principle that bilateral issues should not be an obstacle for the integration of the countries from the region. Schmitt emphasized his strong personal support for Croatia's membership in the EU and Hungary's support for integration of the other countries from the region, stressing that it is time for Macedonia to continue with this process.

President Schmitt expressed interest and highly valued the ethnic community integration model. The enhanced cooperation of Macedonia with the regional organizations such as the Danube Initiative and Visegrad Group was also discussed

The Head of Macedonia yesterday in New York had a brief informal meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. At the meeting, the German support for Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration was confirmed. It was jointly stated that the bilateral relations between the two countries are excellent. Ivanov and Merkel discussed the opportunities to deepen the trade exchange.

President Ivanov, on the margins of the Clinton Global Initiative Summit, had informal meetings with the host Bill Clinton, the former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the Israeli President Shimon Peres, the Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, the President of Kosovo Fatmir Sejdiu, the President of the Bosnian Presidency Haris Silajdzic and with the Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov.

Initiated by President Ivanov, a joint meeting was held with representatives of Macedonian Diaspora and the National American-Albanian Council. The President stated that he expects such joint meetings of the representatives of the Macedonian and Albanian Diaspora to become practice.