Bulgaria and North Macedonia mark two years of the Neighbourhood Treaty

Bulgaria and North Macedonia on August 1 mark two years since the Good Neighbourly Relations Agrement was signed. In Skopje, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met with his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev. The two leaders announced they will host a meeting of the Berlin Process next year in July. They called on the Bulgaria-North Macedonia Joint Commission on historical issuesto give visible results and progress.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was greeted with the highest honours in front of the government building in Skopje by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. The two held a one-to-one meeting, after which they made a statement to the media.

A little later, the two prime ministers, accompanied by Bulgaria's foreign minister, Ekaterina Zaharieva, and North Macedonia’s, Nikola Dimitrov, laid wreaths and flowers at Gotse Delchev's grave in the yard of St. Spas Church in Skopje.

Two years after the signing of the agreement, a common understanding on Medieval history was reached, as well as common celebrations dedicated to persons such as St. St. Cyril and Methodius, St. Clement, Naum and King Samuel, accelerated work along the Sofia - Skopje railway corridor and more intense economic relations.

For the two years since we signed the neighborhood agreement, things have been done that couldn't have happened decades earlier, PM Borissov said. It happened with the joint efforts of the Government of Greece, Bulgaria, and the Republic of North Macedonia. It has created a huge perspective for your country on the road to the European Union and NATO, Borissov added.

Following the events in Skopje, the two prime ministers and the two delegations left for Doiran, where they would later unveil the new monument of Colonel Konstantin Kavarnaliev, which was erected in 1916 by the Bulgarian side, blown up in 1966 by Yugoslav communists and now restored after 103 years.