The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov is in a two-day official visit to the Republic of Serbia. At today's meeting with the President of the Republic of Serbia, Boris Tadic, President Ivanov raised the issue of access to Belgrade archive files, necessary for the process of lustration led in Macedonia. President Ivanov urged Serbia, through the process of succession and in appropriate procedures, to support the ongoing processes in Macedonia.

We tackled the issue which is rather prevalent at the moment in Macedonia, particularly concerning the succession of common archives, so that our competent institutions can address, according to the principles of succession, the authorities in Serbia where the archives of the former common state are located. Thus, they will be able to use them as documents necessary for certain ongoing processes in our country, President Ivanov said after the meeting with President Tadic.

The two Presidents assessed that the relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Serbia are good and friendly, despite the different views on Kosovo status, and the unresolved dispute between the Macedonian and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Concerning the disagreements between the two churches, they reiterated that it is an issue to be resolved by the two churches; however, they declared their assistance in enabling an ambience for its settlement. Priority of Belgrade and Skopje, as stated, remains the European integration and the mutual assistance in this process.

We should do our best to try to resolve all open issues. We will strive Macedonia to get a date for opening negotiations with the EU, and Serbia to unblock the candidate status application, President Tadic said, pointing out that he had serious talks on the European perspectives with President Ivanov.

The two Presidents called for the Macedonian national minority in Serbia and the Serbian minority in Macedonia, to freely present the facts on their national origin at the upcoming census processes, underlining that they support them in their activities of loyalty to the countries in which they reside, as well as respect for one's own identity. They came up with concrete proposals on cultural and historical heritage protection in both countries. In this respect, President Tadic said that conditions should be created for observance of Macedonia's national holiday, August 2, at Prohor Pcinski monastery.

President Ivanov and President Tadic voiced the need of boosting the bilateral economic cooperation and in this respect underlined both the economic and political significance of completing the Corridor X project.

The two-day visit of the Macedonian President Dr. Gjorge Ivanov to the Republic of Serbia started with an official welcome at Palata Serbia. After the meeting with President Tadic, President Ivanov met with the Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and the President of the National Assembly of Serbia Slavica Djukic Dejanovic.

President Ivanov, on the second day of the official visit to the Republic of Serbia, had a meeting with the President of the opposition Serbian Progressive Party, Tomislav Nikolic. The overall cooperation between the two countries was discussed at the meeting. Macedonia and Serbia, despite having different positions on certain issues, should nurture close cooperation in all spheres of common interest. General conclusion from the meetings with all interlocutors is that the different positions may never be an obstacle for further cooperation.

The President of the Republic of Macedonia Dr. Gjorge Ivanov held talks with representatives of the National Council of the Macedonian national minority and visited the branch of the pharmaceutical company Alkaloid in Belgrade. At the end of the official visit to the Republic of Serbia, President Ivanov met with the professors from the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade.