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Skoplje – Croatian Parliament Speaker Boris Šprem is paying an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia at the invitation of his Macedonian counterpart Trajko Veljanoski. Šprem and the Croatian parliamentary delegation were also received by the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the President of the Republic Gjorge Ivanov.
The Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia Trajko Veljanoski expressed his satisfaction at Šprem's visiting Macedonia at the moment when the two countries are marking 20 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
"The Republic of Croatia strongly supports Macedonia to join the EU and NATO promptly. Croatia bears a responsibility to promote European values in Southeast Europe," Šprem said. Both speakers praised the position of the Croatian community in Macedonia and that of the Macedonian community in Croatia. The two countries have no open political issues, concluded Šprem and Veljanoski, which facilitates the intensification of the already favourable bilateral cooperation. They both agreed that emphasis must be put on economic relations.
In the afternoon Šprem met with the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the President of the Republic Gjorge Ivanov. “With the Prime Minister we discussed the cooperation in the aspect of Euro-Atlantic integration and Croatia's unquestioning support for Macedonia's accession to the European Union. We talked about the ways of intensifying economic ties and boosting the trade exchange between Croatia and Macedonia which now stands at nearly 200 million euros“, said Šprem at the press conference held after the afternoon meetings. In the extremely friendly ambiance of his meeting with the Macedonian President, Šprem expressed his hope that Macedonia and Greece would soon settle their dispute over the name of the country.
Šprem and the delegation met with Fijat Canoski, Chairman of the Parliamentary group of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia for Cooperation with the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia. The talks about inter-parliamentary cooperation are scheduled to continue on Thursday in Ohrid at the meeting with Canoski and Sobranie’s Deputy Speaker Svetlana Jakimovska.