The UN’s mediator in the negotiations between Macedonia and Greece about the name dispute, Matthew Nimetz, will visit Skopje this Wednesday from Athens where he will arrive today.
Nimetz will visit both countries following the meeting of political leaders in Macedonia that took place on Saturday, where the President Gjorge Ivanov with two representatives of his cabinet took part in, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev with the ministers of defence and foreign affairs, Radmila Shekjerinska and Nikola Dimitrov, VMRO-DPMNE’s party leader, Hristijan Mickoski with Vlado Misajlovski and Aleksandar Nikolovski, and DUI’s President, Ali Ahmeti together by vice-presidents Bujar Osmani and Hazbi Lika.
After a five-hour meeting, Prime Minister Zaev said that he is an optimist regarding reaching a national consensus for the solution of the name dispute. On the other hand, VMRO-DPMNE’s party leader, Hristijan Mickoski, stated that the responsibility is now in the hands of the government, but that the party thinks that the dispute should be solved and at the same time our state and national interests must be protected.
On Wednesday at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Zaev has met with the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, and at the meeting, they discussed the name dispute. On Friday and Saturday, Tsipras had series of meetings with the party leaders in Greece in order to coordinate their position regarding the name dispute, and when the meeting was over he came out with a conclusion that he is obliging that in the forthcoming period with all patriotic responsibility he will strive towards a mutually acceptable solution.
