Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, at the sidelines of the summit of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Central European Initiative, in Ohrid, has met with the Foreign Ministers of Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria, Paolo Gentiloni, Peter Szijjarto and Daniel Mitov. In the meetings Gruevski discussed the political developments in Macedonia and the challenges they have presented before the country, as well as the actions taken to overcome the situation.

At the meeting with Minister Gentiloni, Prime Minister Gruevski spoke about the importance of the support that Macedonia receives from Italy in the Euro-Atlantic integrations. Prime Minister Gruevski told Gentiloni that Macedonia was fully committed to fulfilling the reforms aimed at improving the standards in a number of areas and at pushing the integrations forward. Prime Minister Gruevski added that the bilateral name issue with Greece was an obstacle in Macedonia's integration and stood in the way of the goal to achieve full EU and NATO membership.

Gruevski and Gentiloni also spoke about the good bilateral ties between Italy and Macedonia, noting the increase in economic cooperation. Prime Ministers Gruevski said that Italy remained a major trade partner of Macedonia, adding that Macedonia was open to further intensify trade between the two countries.

At the meeting with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov, Prime Minister Gruevski expressed Macedonia's readiness to work on improving the good-neighbourly relations. Gruevski and Mitov discussed the work so far between the groups from both Foreign Affairs Ministries which are preparing the proposed agreement on friendship and cooperation. Prime Minister Gruevski also spoke about the readiness of the Macedonian side to work on road and railroad projects that would be in the interest of the citizens from both countries.

At the meeting with Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto, Prime Minister Gruevski thanked him for the strong support Hungary has given to Macedonia in its Euro-Atlantic integrations, and for the excellent bilateral relations. Gruevski and Szijjarto discussed ways to increase the level of cooperation between the two countries.

The ministers are in Ohrid for the meeting of the Central European Initiative as Macedonia holds the CEI presidency. Foreign Ministers, their deputies and other officials from Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia and Ukraine attend the meeting.