Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his FYROM counterpart Nikola Dimitrov said on Friday that progress has been made during recent talks but there is no agreement yet.
The two officials met in Thessaloniki in the context of a trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Greece, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania. The three parties discussed cross-border cooperation issues.
Kotzias and Dimitrov spoke for half an hour between them before the official trilateral meeting.
“One or two key issues remain to be resolved. We look at variants of solutions or possibilities in the issues that concern us…We are discussing many alternatives. We did not come to any conclusions. We will inform our prime ministers in due time,” Kotzias said on public television ERT3.
In the question whether the two sides have agreed on an erga omnes name, the Greek foreign minister replied: “I would throw a party if that had happened.”
Both countries have pledged to increase efforts for a deal this year, as an agreement on the name will open the way for FYROM’s accession to the EU and NATO. Greece, however, says that FYROM must make amendments in parts of its Constitution that contain irredentist claims.
Kotzias and Dimitrov will meet again in Athens with UN mediator Matthew Nimetz who is to arrive in the Greek capital on May 12.
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