Macedonia and Greece demonstrated willingness but failed to resolve the two Balkan neighbor's differences over Macedonia's name following the fresh talks at the lakeside town of Ohrid on Monday, said reports reaching here from Macedonia.
"This has been the best meeting so far, with both parties demonstrating willingness for ironing the differences," said United Nations special envoy Matthew Nimetz in Ohrid after a three-hour session with the negotiators of the two countries.
"I think that we are definitely making progress and believe in a possibility for finding a solution," Nimetz said.
Greece disputes Skopje's constitutional name, the Republic of Macedonia, saying that the name "Macedonia" could imply territorial claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia.
As a result of Greek objections the country was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 under the provisional name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia pending a resolution of the dispute. Since its independence in 1991, two-thirds of U.N. member states have recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name.
Macedonia's negotiator Nikola Dimitrov said that Macedonia hold to its position that name dispute is a bilateral matter.
He said Macedonia has offered Greece a draft declaration on friendship and good neighborly relations which will reiterate that Macedonia has no territorial claims toward Greece.
For Greek negotiator Adamantios Vassilakis, the name dispute is not a bilateral issue, as it encroaches on the region's security.
Commenting the Macedonian proposal of a joint declaration on friendship and good neighborly relations, Vassilakis said solving of the name dispute was crucial.
In December, Macedonia's officials proposed forming a joint commission, comprised of historians, and NGO representatives from both countries to discuss disputed historical issues.
In late 2007 Athens threatened to veto Skopje's NATO bid, if a solution to the name dispute was not found before April's summit of the Alliance in Bucharest where Macedonia is hoping to receive an invitation to become NATO's member along with Croatia and Albania.
An interim accord, signed by the two countries under the UN aegis in 1995, has considerably normalized bilateral relations, and has set obligations for continuing the talks over the name dispute within the UN framework.
In two weeks, Athens is to host the resumption of the negotiations on the name dispute.
Source: Xinhua
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