Today the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, who was invited by Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte, visited the Italian Republic.

Below you will find the integral address of Prime Minister Zaev given on the joint press conference:

Please allow me to first extend my appreciation to the citizens of the Italian Republic, on behalf of the Macedonian people, for the ratification of the NATO Accession Protocol which was made in your Parliament. We highly appreciate this step because we will become the 30th member state and we are reinforcing our partnership with the Italian Republic.

Of course, I would also like to express my gratitude to Prime Minister Conte for his invitation for today’s meeting. This meeting comes at a moment when we need strong support on our Euro-Atlantic path.

He has shown this support, on the European Council which took place on 17th and 18th October this year; this meeting shows that Prime Minister Conte continues his sincere efforts for adoption of the right decision in the forthcoming period and with regard to our country. We highly appreciate his efforts and we consider Italy and Prime Minister Conte to be our indispensable friends and partners of North Macedonia and the whole Western Balkan.

Following the decision made by the European Council previously this month, our citizens have felt disappointment and injustice. This feeling was shared by the European Union and its member states. Many have commented that a historic mistake was done. There is sufficient time and there are methods to correct this mistake in the forthcoming period and we are ready, together with our EU partners, to work on this.

The primary objective of all our efforts for reforms and resolution of disputes with neighbours for building good-neighbourly relations is to make our country modern, prosperous and European democracy. Our objective is principled and legitimate, we want a clear and undisputed European perspective as a future EU member state upon fulfilling necessary conditions.

At this moment, any alternative or experimental ideas, as a possible substitute for EU membership can be hazardous for the stability and progress of the Western Balkan. The Western Balkan states are surrounded by EU member-states and inside, we are as a small island – they have no better future except for the membership and re-integration where we actually belong – within the European Union. Our citizens know this and a high percentage of them – in fact, 85% - want and expect EU membership.

We strongly agree that the negotiations process must be reinforced, more efficient, and must enable reversibility when there is a need for that. But we are also convinced that the process of reforms in the methodology for negotiations and the future of EU can and must go in parallel with the commencement and duration of the negotiations in North Macedonia and other countries in the region.

The best for us and for the EU is to have a live, active process that will help us in the reforms that we want to make and undertake, because they are in our interest.

We hope that the discussion for the new methodology and for commencement of negotiations with North Macedonia will be completed next year, until the Summit in Zagreb. This will be of interest to all parties.

I want to underline the good bilateral relations between our two countries; Italy is a great strategic partner, a great friend, we have excellent trade exchange. As Prime Minister Conte said, in 2018 we had 650 million EUR in trade exchange which is by 13% higher compared to 2017. In the first 6 months of 2019 we had 373 million EUR in trade exchange. This means that this year we will have more than 700 million EUR in trade exchange between our countries. I avail myself of this opportunity to send a message to the Italian business people, to feel North Macedonia as their own country, to come, to invest, and to find a method to expand their businesses; this will be good for the Italian people, but also for the Macedonian people.

I would like to reiterate my gratitude to you, Prime Minister Conte, for the friendship, support and initiative which are of great interest to my country and the whole region. A great thank you from my Macedonian people to the Italian people.

Thank you.