Working groups from Macedonia and Bulgaria are working on a daily basis in a bid to overcome the differences between the two countries regarding the implementation of the Good Neighborliness Treaty, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani said Monday, confirming that an additional annex to this document is being prepared.
Osmani noted that during his visit to Sofia, they discussed the differences between expectations and different interpretations of certain solutions from the Agreement and how to facilitate certain solutions.
“We concluded that we have differences in our expectations regarding the extent to which that Agreement has so far yielded results in relation to the issue for which it was intended or signed. Here, too, we opened all the issues and agreed to form working groups, from the two ministries that will discuss on a daily basis these differences in expectations, different interpretations of certain solutions, how to alleviate certain concerns on one side or the other regarding some solutions. For example, the new short name, if a short name causes some concern in the Republic of Bulgaria that someone might interpret it as a territorial claim of the historical region of Macedonia, I think we have no problem making an additional explanation to the Bulgarian side that the new name is in both long and short use, but both short and long represent the same territory, and that is the Republic of North Macedonia,” said Osmani.
According to him, there is no dilemma that certain issues should be resolved and clarified, as well as our obligation not to interfere in the internal affairs of neighboring countries.
Regarding historical issues, the Foreign Minister said that he would like to encourage the Commissions of the two countries to reach certain solutions as soon as possible that will give new impetus to the relations between the two countries with a view to the future, not the past.
