The foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia are slated to meet later this week under the auspices of the United Nations in a fresh attempt to resolve the so-called name dispute, which has been an obstacle to Macedonia’s efforts to join NATO and the European Union, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday, cited by Sputnik.
"I want to flag to you a meeting that will take place in Vienna this Wednesday. Matthew Nimetz, the personal envoy of the secretary-general, will meet jointly with Nikos Kotzias, the minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece and Nikola Dimitrov, the minister of foreign affairs of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and that will be at the UN office in Vienna."
The push to speed up Macedonia’s potential entry in NATO by the time of the alliance’s summit scheduled for July 11-12 in Brussels has gained momentum after the change of government of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party with a coalition of the Socialdemocratic Union (SDSM) of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev with Albanian political parties in 2017.
Dujarric said the UN-sponsored meeting in Vienna on Wednesday is part of the United Nations’ ongoing efforts to assist Macedonia and Greece find a mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute.
