Sinking Pacific Islands Recognize Macedonia

The agreement was signed in New York on Thursday by Macedonia's ambassador to the UN, Pajo Avirovic and his colleague from Tuvalu.

Macedonia is trying to get as many UN members to recognize it under its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia, to bolster its argument over its name with Greece.

Tuvalu is a small country of nine islands measuring 26 square kilometers in total and containing about 10,000 inhabitants. The main industry is tourism. At the same time the sea is their biggest problem. Experts fear that Tuvalu could be the first country to disappear entirely under rising seawater within 50 years as a result of global warming.

"If in the next 10 to 15 years the situation gets worse and the tide become higher then usual, in that case most of it will be wiped off," Tavala Katea, a meteorologist, told the BBC in the programme on the problem.

Since it gained independence in 1991, Greece has opposed use of the name Macedonia by its northern neighbour. Athens says use of the name implies a territorial claim to the northern Greek province, also called Macedonia.

Owing to Greek objections, Macedonia became a member of United Nations in 1993 under the provisional name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.