26 November 2008 Skopje _ Macedonia will continue the UN-sponsored talks with Greece despite Skopje’s decision to take Athens to the International Court of Justice, Macedonia’s Prime Minister pledges.
Macedonia
is taking Greece before the World Court arguing
that Athens breached the United Nations
agreement from 1995 by blocking Skopje’s
NATO membership bid in April. According to the so-called UN Interim Accord, Greece had an obligation not to prohibit Skopje’s membership of international organisations if it
applied using the provisional reference, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
FYROM.
“We decided to seek our justice in court after chances for a positive outcome
from only the talks have proven to be insufficient. Of course, we will continue
the negotiations,” Gruevski told media after meeting his Norwegian counterpart
Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo, Macedonia’s government said.
Gruevski added that he would be happy if a mutual agreement on the name issue
is reached before the court process ends.
Greece
practically blocked Maceodonia’s NATO membership invitation in April arguing
that the country should change its name first. Athens
argues that the name Macedonia
implies Skopje’s territorial claims over its own
northern province
of the same name.
Macedonia’s Prime Minister
is visiting Norway where among
others he also met with Norway’s
King Harald V, whom he informed of Macedonia's perspectives and
reforms. Gruevski also received support for the country’s NATO aspirations.
Military cooperation was also discussed. A Macedonian army medical team is set
to join Norwegian peacekeepers in Afghanistan at the beginning of
December.
Gruevski together with other members of his government presented the country to
Norwegian companies as a fresh business destination with favourable investment
conditions.
Macedonia will open its
embassy in Norway
in the first half of 2009, the government informed.
Macedonia’s diplomatic and
consular operations are currently performed by the personnel in Macedonia's embassy to Sweden. Norway on the other hand has had its embassy in Macedonia for
about a decade.