The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, today, at the sidelines of the OSCE Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, held bilateral meetings with OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Knut Vollebeak, UK Minister for Europe, David Lidington and short informal meetings with Heads of delegations of the Republic of Macedonia’s neighboring countries, as well as with other OSCE Summit participants.

ВThe OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Knut Vollebeak, at the meeting with President Ivanov expressed his gratitude to the leadership in the Republic of Macedonia for the efforts in establishing integrated education system and in view of this, extended particular satisfaction with the recently adopted Strategy on Integrated Education. Both interlocutors concluded that de-politicization of the education process is of essential importance. Macedonian president expressed satisfaction with the cooperation and the engagement of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in the Republic of Macedonia. President Ivanov stressed that the model of integration with assimilation, which is a reality in Macedonia, should be a model followed not only in our region but even beyond.


At the meeting with the UK Minister for Europe, David Lidington, mutual satisfaction was expressed with the positive trend in the relations and the cooperation between the two countries. President Ivanov expressed his gratitude for the strong support from the United Kingdom to the processes of integration into NATO and the EU. At the meeting they exchanged views and information on the upcoming EU Summit. President Ivanov outlined the latest developments in the process of overcoming the name dispute with our southern neighbor and expressed hope that the Republic of Macedonia will receive equal and fair treatment from the EU, and that the positive examples of parallel movement will be applied in our case. Minister Lidington emphasized that the UK remains a strong supporter of Macedonia’s EU integrations and expressed hope that a mutually acceptable solution will be found and that the Republic of Macedonia will take its rightful position in the integrations.



The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, held short informal meetings with the President of the Republic of Serbia, Boris Tadic, the President of the Republic of Albania, Bamir Topi, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov, the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou and the Foreign Minister of Greece Dimitris Droutsas. At these meetings, information and opinions were exchanged concerning the current situation in their own countries, next steps were negotiated, both in the bilateral and in the regional cooperation.