site.btaNorth Macedonia's President Says She Is Open to Meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister at NATO Summit

The President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, said that she would be open to meeting with Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov, during the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague.

Siljanovska-Davkova said that the possibility of a meeting between her and Zhelyazkov had been raised by European Council President Antonio Costa. “I am ready to speak with [Bulgarian President Rumen] Radev as well, but if he is not attending, then meeting with Zhelyazkov would not be an issue,” she said ahead of her participation in an international literary event, as quoted by TV21.

Asked whether the meeting with Zhelyazkov had been confirmed, Siljanovska-Davkova said that since the proposal came from President Costa, “confirmation would need to come from there,“ Republika reported.

Siljanovska-Davkova noted that she had met with President Radev on several occasions. “He knows my positions - our national positions. Mr. Antonio [Costa] knows them, and so do others. I always say that the time may come for European creativity - which we have witnessed several times before - to take the lead in this case. For the benefit of the region, and perhaps the most important European process currently underway: the enlargement process,” she added, as quoted by Republika.

North Macedonia's head of State announced the possibility of a meeting with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev mediated by Antonio Costa after the European Council President's visit to Skopje. On Thursday, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that if the Bulgarian Prime Minister represents Bulgaria at the summit in The Hague instead of the President, and if there is an initiative for a meeting with Siljanovska-Davkova, North Macedonia should accept it.