Foreign Affairs Ministry Welcomes Country's Name Change in Macedonia

Bratislava, January 12 (TASR) - The Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry has congratulated the Macedonian parliament on approving the constitutional changes regarding the change of the country's name to Republic of North Macedonia in line with an agreement on settling the long-lasting Macedonian-Greek dispute over the former's name. According to the Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry, this decision will have a positive impact on the bilateral relations and will bring about benefits for the entire region of south-east Europe. "We highly appreciate Skopje's political maturity and country's strong interest in taking a unique opportunity to resolve the 27-year dispute over the country's name," reads the ministry's statement. "This has opened up the way for Skopje to speed up the process of joining the North Atlantic Alliance," stated the ministry, adding that this move is also an impulse for the country's reform process. Slovakia believes that the document will also be ratified by Greek parliament, otherwise the agreement won't be valid. Greece, the member of both the EU and NATO, has long opposed Macedonia's official name, as it has a province called Macedonia in the north of the country. The Macedonian-Greek dispute over the country's name has long been the main obstacle for Skopje to join the EU and NATO. tz