PM Dancila: Legislative process ratifying Accession Protocol of North Macedonia to NATO, to be concluded in upcoming period

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Thursday said that the legislative process by which Romania ratifies the Accession Protocol of the Republic of North Macedonia to the North Atlantic Alliance will be concluded in the upcoming period. 

"The beneficial effects of the Prespa Agreement have already materialized, by bringing the country [the Republic of North Macedonia] closer to NATO and we hope that they will also bring results as regards the European path of the country. I assured my counterpart in North Macedonia of the full support of Romania for his country to become the 30th NATO allied state as soon as possible, and informed him that the legislative process by which Romania ratifies the Accession Protocol of the Republic of North Macedonia to the Alliance will be inked in the upcoming period. To that end, the ratification bill was approved by the Romanian Government and adopted unanimously in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday [Wednesday - ed.n.]. I assured my counterpart in North Macedonia of the strong support of Romania for the European path of his country and encouraged him to continue the reform process in order to have the arguments needed to make a decision on the opening of negotiations for joining the European Union," Prime Minister Dancila said at Victoria Palace, at the joint statements with the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, after the meeting of the two prime ministers. 

She mentioned that during the talks with Zaev, the stage of bilateral co-operation was also approached and they have found progress has been made since the last meeting of the two prime ministers. 

"We have discussed at the same time about the bilateral economic relations, which I believe should be improved, thus allowing us to make full use of the existing cooperation potential among our countries. It is obvious that trade is on an upwards trend and we have agreed on measures to boost our relations in the future as well. In this respect, we have agreed to organize a bilateral business forum by the end of this year, allowing for greater cooperation between companies in the two countries. We have also submitted the proposal to conclude a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of investments. We have agreed to organize new meetings of the Joint Committees already existing on the basis of bilateral agreements. (...) We would like to intensify the cooperation between the two countries in the cultural and educational field and I was delighted to learn that the Parliament of the Republic North Macedonia has the ratification of the agreement with Romania in this area on its agenda. I expressed the conviction that the entry into force of this agreement will create new opportunities and a more consistent and diversified support granted to the programs for the people belonging to our kindred minorities," Premier Dancila said. 

The Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday unanimously adopted the ratification bill of the Accession Protocol of the Republic of North Macedonia to the North Atlantic Treaty.