During his opening speech at the Rhodes Conference for Security and Stability on Thursday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said he hoped the Prespa deal would be implemented and set a shining example of how to solve problems in the region, MIA's Athens correspondent reports.
FM Kotzias said the Prespa compromise 'showed that no one can drive the other side into a corner.'
"We cannot live motivated by revanchism and irredentism. We need to accept reality and find ways of living together," Kotzias said. "There's no conflict between North Macedonians and Greeks, in fact, but between forces that seek a solution and the forces of inertia comfortable with no solution."
Kotzias said his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov could not attend the conference because he was in the Macedonian Parliament, 'fighting for the deal we signed.'
Speaking about the region, the Greek FM noted that cooperation on the northern Greek border has improved since last year and that Greece supports the EU perspective of Macedonia and Albania.
"North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece are strengthening cooperation," Kotzias said. "We support North Macedonia's and Albania's beginning of EU negotiations. Their accession to the EU will benefit us all."
