The President of the President of the Republic of Macedonia, H.E. Dr. Gjorge Ivanov participated at the 51st Munich Security Conference that took place from February 6 to 8 in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, H.E. Mr. Nikola Poposki.

The focus of this year's Conference was on: The World in 2015, fight against terrorism, unresolved conflicts in Europe and especially Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, refugee crises etc.
During his third participation in the Munich Security Conference,

President Ivanov had a series of formal and informal meetings with some of the participants at this gathering.

At the meeting with President Aliyev, the Presidents discussed possibilities for further strengthening of bilateral relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as boosting economic cooperation.

In the year marking the 20th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two Presidents expressed their satisfaction with the positive trend in the bilateral relations characterized by friendship, mutual understanding and interest in their further expansion and deepening.

President Ivanov underlined the need for promoting and intensifying economic cooperation and strengthening trade exchange between the two countries through specific economic projects, adding that Azerbaijani investments are welcome in the Republic of Macedonia. In this context, the Macedonian President informed President Aliyev about the favorable investment climate in our country, as well as about the situation in Macedonian economy.

President Aliyev, agreeing with the need to further intensify political dialogue, expressed his pleasure to be able to host the forthcoming official visit by President Ivanov to Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan is ready to strengthen the cooperation with the Republic of Macedonia in all spheres of joint interest, and I am glad to accept the invitation to pay an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia", stated President Aliyev during the meeting.

The Azerbaijani President informed President Ivanov about the energy and gas pipeline projects which are in phase of realization and are planned for the Caspian Region. An intensification of contacts was agreed in this area as well.

The Presidents also discussed further cooperation at the multilateral level, and exchanged information on the recent developments in the Southeast Europe and Caspian region.

At his meeting with the OSCE Secretary General, President Ivanov stated that the Republic of Macedonia highly appreciates the role of OSCE and the support it provides to the country in various areas – rule of law, electoral processes and legislation, law enforcement and judiciary, promotion of interethnic relations and cohabitation.

The Republic of Macedonia, President Ivanov stated, fully supports the work of this organization and of Mr. Zanier.

The Macedonian President informed his interlocutor that the main challenge for the Republic of Macedonia remains the unblocking of the status quo situation in terms of integrations. He added that Euro-Atlantic integrations add to the cohesive power in our society.
The focus of the meeting was also on the situation in the wider region.

President Ivanov pointed out that the Republic of Macedonia supports the adoption of the Declaration on the OSCE role in countering the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters in the context of the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 2170 (2014) and 2178 (2014) regarding the countering of violent extremism.

"The Serbian Chairmanship of OSCE should be used to strengthen regional cooperation in our region, especially in terms of countering violent extremism and foreign fighters. We need to implement specific projects in cooperation with the OSCE, in order to counter and prevent these threats", said President Ivanov at the meeting.

"The general estimate is that there is great concern, above all for the situation in Ukraine. This raises many emotions, as was seen from the addresses of participants; and there is a certain degree of agitation, although at the Munich Security Conference, as one of the most important global forums, observes not only security issues, but also many other challenges of our times."

This was stated by President Ivanov after today's finish of the three-day conference in Munich.

He added that the Munich Conference is known as a forum that aims at resolving existing conflicts and preventing new ones through dialogue an peaceful means.

Emphasizing that the Conference is an excellent opportunity to meet many leaders, experts and decision-makers in the area of security, President Ivanov said that as always during his participation in this forum, he took the opportunity to exchange views, establish and renew contacts and realize meetings with all those connected with or relevant for our region.

During his bilateral meetings in Munich, the Macedonian President pointed to our situation since, as he said, "everyone refers to the respect of international law".

"I pointed out that this is exactly the problem that we have with our neighbor – the absence of respect for international law and existing accords. I also pointed to the fact that Macedonia has been blocked for a long time now due to the non-respect of international law by our Southern neighbor and that in our case, the positive experiences we have seen in our region involving parallel movement of the process of negotiation for EU membership should also be valid; this process transforms our society" - stated President Ivanov.

The Macedonian President also explained that all the countries in our region have transformed their societies, their institutions being adapted to European standards and principles and their entire ambient being changed.

"This is the missing link for us, and due to the blockade we can see where all of this leads in our country - said President Ivanov, adding that his interlocutors expressed their interest in the threats for our region such as terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters.

The 51st Munich Security Conference was attended by around 20 Heads of State and Government, 60 Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, 30 CEOs of global companies and numerous parliamentary delegations. Among other participants, the Conference was also attended by the German Federal Chancellor Mrs. Angela Merkel, representing the host country, the Vice President of the USA, Mr. Joseph Biden, the Presidents of Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Finland, Azerbaijan and Slovenia – Mrs. Dalia Gribauskaite, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Mr. Rosen Plevneliev, Mr. Sauli Ninisto, Mr. Ilham Aliyev and Mr. Borut Pahor, as well as the Dutch Prime Minister, Mr. Mark Rutte, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Sergej Lavrov, NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, OSCE Secretary General Mr. Lamberto Zanier and many others. Present at the conference were also many former statesmen, among which former US State Secretary Mrs. Madeleine Allbright and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Munich Security Conference presided by Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger represents the most prestigious and renowned global forum, dedicated to issues of security, promotion of peaceful resolution of conflicts, international cooperation and dialogue in tackling security challenges of the present and future, with a special focus on Trans-Atlantic partnership. The Republic of Macedonia regularly participates at the Conference and is represented at the highest level.