Macedonia is ready to engage in constructive dialog with our other neighbor, Bulgaria, to assure full implementation of the Good Neighborliness and Cooperation Treaty. We continue to bolster our internal stability and development, as functioning multi-ethnic society, based on principles of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. We are indeed aware that the best possible contribution we can offer to the wider stability and prosperity lays in the enforcement of all these values, at home for our citizens, President Stevo Pendarovski said in an address at the general debate of the 76th UN General Assembly in New York.
On regional and national issues and dilemmas, he said the Western Balkans is facing serious challenges in terms of the region’s aspirations to join the EU. The current impasse in that process, according to the head of states, frustrates the citizens and constantly diminishing their enthusiasm for positive change. Pendarovski also warned this state of play opens the door for geopolitical competition but also for different governance models, tightening the space for democratic reforms, vital for the regional prospects of stability and prosperity.
The President called for reconsideration of the current phase of the largest continental project since World War II, the idea of a united, free and peaceful Europe. Is the current status of European integration in the region in line with the vision conceived by its Founding Fathers decades ago? Should we care for a stable and prosperous Western Balkans as an important link in the continental and trans-continental stability and security, we must understand that a break-through in the European integration is an urgent need,” said Pendarovski.
Macedonia, he said, has proved its ability, together with Greece, under the mediation of the United Nations, to resolve even complex issues, as the so called “name issue”’, thus contributing to additional stability in the region. The effects of the Prespa Agreement that is now being implemented in good faith, Pendarovski said, will benefit both our countries and the region as a whole.
“At the same time, we are ready to engage in constructive dialog with our other neighbor, Bulgaria, to assure full implementation of the Good Neighborliness and Cooperation Treaty. We continue to bolster our internal stability and development, as functioning multi-ethnic society, based on principles of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. We are indeed aware that the best possible contribution we can offer to the wider stability and prosperity lays in the enforcement of all these values, at home for our citizens,” he stressed.
