The first meeting of the Greece-North Macedonia Supreme Cooperation Council, held in Skopje after the meeting of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zayev, marks the beginning of strategic cooperation between the two countries, the AMNA news agency reported.
“We are talking not only about the first official visit of the Greek prime minister to Skopje but about the first visit, which was accompanied by the establishment of a strategic partnership with North Macedonia. Thus, Greece gets another strategic ally in the region, and therefore Mr Tsipras spoke about the long-term strategic relations between the two countries”, diplomatic sources told AMNA.
According to the sources, the establishment of direct links between all ministries of the two countries will help to better control the implementation of the Prespa agreement on changing the name of Macedonia. The diplomatic sources said that during the meeting of the Supreme Cooperation Council the Greek prime minister mentioned all levels of control and monitoring of the Prespa agreement.
The parties also created a commission on schoolbooks and maps, which decided to eliminate alleged elements of Macedonian irredentism from the school curricula and include the topic of the ancient Macedonian Kingdom to the article about Ancient Greece.
Athens and Skopje have also decided to found a trademark commission in mid-May. Another body – the joint economic commission – will also monitor implementation of the Prespa agreement, with the Greek side being represented by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yannis Dragasakis.