Macedonia invites Greek president to visit for better bilateral ties

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov Wednesday sent an invitation to his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias to visit Macedonia, a move seen as a positive step towards resolution of the long standing name spat between the two neighbors.

"I'm certain that your visit will help us contribute to our mutual vision and we will definitely give additional impulse for strengthening good-neighborly relations," reads the invitation.

In the letter, Ivanov points out that there are more things that bond the two countries together than things that keep them apart. Ivanov personally conveyed the invitation to the Greek chief liaisons officer in Skopje, Alexandra Papadopoulou.

Macedonia and Greece have been at loggerheads for the past 18 years over the name issue, and the relations between Skopje and Athens soured last year when Greece used its NATO membership to deny Macedonia from entering in to the bloc.

Athens argues that Skopje's official name of the Republic of Macedonia implies territorial claims towards Greece's northern province that is also called Macedonia. Greece says it will continue blocking Macedonia until a deal is reached for changing of that name.

The invitation comes in times of a mounting diplomatic pressure to solve the row as soon as possible in order to avoid another Greek blockade for the country, this time in the European Union.

EU diplomats have stepped up "encouraging" both countries towards a compromise in expectance of the December EU council where Macedonia expects to get a date for start of its EU accession talks.

All 27 EU members have to vote in favor for this to happen. Greece, who is also a long term EU member state, has conditioned its support with a breakthrough in the name talks.

International pressure for reaching a compromise started to mount last month when the European Commission recommended that Macedonia start EU accession talks, but left it to the EU Council to set a start date.

Source: Xinhua