The United States continues to support ongoing United Nations-led talks on the Macedonia name issue and urges its Parliament to focus on the needed reforms, says the US Department of State.
In a statement to MIA ahead of Thursday's visit to Skopje of the Greek Foreign Minister, a Department of State spokesperson said the US supports also the resolution of this long-standing disagreement as soon as possible.
"We hope that the leaders of Macedonia and Greece will find a mutually agreeable solution to the name dispute as soon as possible in the interest of Euro-Atlantic integration, economic prosperity, peace, and security in the region," reads the statement.
The statement of the US administration comes ahead of a meeting of the foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias, scheduled on March 30 in Vienna with UN name envoy Matthew Nimetz. The meeting is considered yet another attempt to harmonize positions aimed at finding a mutually acceptable name settlement, MIA's Washington correspondent reports.
On Thursday, FM will visit Macedonia where he will meet his counterpart Dimitrov and PM Zoran Zaev to discuss the contents of the two draft-agreementS - the document sent by Macedonia to Athens and the Greek one sent to Skopje. They contain proposals for resolving the name issue.
On the implementation of the Law on the Use of Languages, adopted last week, the US calls on ruling parties and the opposition to keep supporting reforms.
"It is important that Parliament move forward on its agenda and focus on the needed reforms; reforms that all parties have said they support. As Prime Minister Zaev has said, it is the duty and responsibility of the government and political leaders to advance the interests of all of the country’s citizens," reads the statement of the Department of State to MIA.
