site.btaBulgaria, North Macedonia Report Progress in Implementation of Friendship Treaty

June 10 (BTA) - Foreign Ministers Ekaterina Zaharieva of
Bulgaria and Nikola Dimitrov of North Macedonia Monday reported
progress in the implementation of the Treaty of Friendship, Good
 Neighbourliness and Cooperation during the first meeting of the
 Joint Intergovernmental Commission set up under the Treaty.
Still, both countries expect more notable results in the areas
of infrastructure projects and history.
  
At a news conference after the meeting, Zaharieva commented that
 a lot has been achieved in the last one year and a half but she
 wishes to see better transport connectivity and faster solving
of historical issues. The implementation of the Corridor VIII
project should be sped up, she said.

She also said that at its meeting on Saturday, the North
Macedonia-Bulgaria interdepartmental commission on historical
matters failed to reach an agreement on the historical figure of
 Gotse Delchev, and the date proposed for joint commemoration of
 Delchev is unacceptable. "I would give this commission a chance
 until the end of the year before we give up on it," she
commented.

Dimitrov said that there are areas where Bulgaria and North
Macedonia have extremely fruitful cooperation. Notable progress
has been made in tourism, he noted. According to him, greater
emphasis should be placed on and greater priority should be
given to road and railway infrastructure. He also said that the
life-work of Gotse Delchev could serve as a bridge between
Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and called for wisdom in solving
historical issues.
 
IG/DS


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