site.btaSkopje Hosts South-East European Cooperation Process Summit, Foreign Ministers Meeting

Skopje will host two meetings on Thursday as part of North Macedonia’s Chairpersonship-in-Office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP). A meeting of the SEECP foreign ministers will be hosted by Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani and a SEECP Summit by President Gordana Siljanovska.

The arrival of Greece’s Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis in Skopje created media excitement because of the increased tensions between North Macedonia and Greece over the Prespa Agreement during and after the swearing-in ceremony of Siljanovska. She refused to say the constitutional name of the country, calling it "Macedonia". Hristijan Mickoski, leader of VMRO-DPMNE, which won both the presidential and parliamentary elections in May, said that he would use the constitutional name in written correspondence, adding that it was his human right to choose what to call his country.

According to a press release from President Siljanovska’s office, Gerapetritis will lead the Greek delegation to the SEECP Summit. Media outlets in Skopje, however, wrote that the Greek Foreign Minister, who will arrive together with his deputy, Alexandra Papadopoulou, will stay in North Macedonia for only a few hours, while Papadopoulou will stay in Skopje for two days. The Greek Deputy Foreign Minister will confer with North Macedonia’s Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi on Friday, according to the legislature’s website.

Osmani expects to meet with the Greek delegation on Friday and discuss the implementation of the Prespa Agreement, local media reported, quoting Osmani as saying at a Wednesday press conference that according to the Prespa Agreement, the term “Macedonian” can only be used in an ethnic context, not in a state context.

At the two meetings in North Macedonia, Bulgaria will be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Kondov, who arrived in Skopje on Wednesday and conferred with representatives of the Bulgarian community in the country. During the meeting, Kondov said that Bulgaria would not change its position on North Macedonia's negotiating framework and the inclusion of Bulgarians in North Macedonia's Constitution.

The press release of Siljanovska’s office said that the Summit, which she will host, will also be attended by Albania’s President Bajram Begaj, Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Becirovic, Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, Montenegro’s President Jakov Milatovic, Serbia’s Foreign Minister Marko Duric, Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Moldova and Romania will be represented by the State Secretaries of their Foreign Ministries, Sergiu Mihov and Daniela Gutman, and Slovenia and Croatia by their ambassadors, Gregor Presker and Nives Tigan. The meeting will also be attended by Marco Makovec,  Deputy Managing Director at the European External Action Service, Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, and European Commission representative Ana Vezyroglou.

The South-East European Cooperation Process was initiated in 1996 and tasked with addressing regional issues, strengthening good neighbourly relations, promoting dialogue and cooperation and fostering the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of the countries of Southeast Europe. The main objectives of the SEECP are the promotion of political, security, and economic cooperation and the expansion of cooperation in the field of human rights, democracy and justice. SEECP includes 13 countries in South-Eastern Europe.