MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2019) North Macedonia and Greece upgraded on Friday liaison offices to embassies in Athens and Skopje, the North Macedonian Foreign Ministry said.
"Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia and of the Hellenic Republic exchanged today Notes Verbales to upgrade the Liaison Office in Athens to an Embassy of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Office for Consular, Economic, and Commercial Affairs in Thessaloniki to a Consulate-General. Under the Notes Verbales, the Liaison Office in Skopje will simultaneously be upgraded to an Embassy of the Hellenic Republic, and the Office for Consular, Economic, and Commercial Affairs in Bitola to a Consulate-General," the ministry said in a statement.
The move was positively assessed by the North Macedonian Foreign Ministry.
"This is a great day for diplomacy, and even greater for our citizens," the ministry said on its Twitter page, as quoted by the Ekathimerini media outlet.
The Greek Foreign Ministry confirmed upgrade of the liaison offices.
The Greek-North Macedonian relations have significantly improved since last June when Skopje and Athens signed an agreement on Macedonia's new name, the Republic of North Macedonia. The deal put an end to the decades-long dispute between Skopje and Athens as Greece has its own region called Macedonia and objected to Skopje's use of the name. The dispute had long prevented Skopje from pursuing membership in the European Union and NATO.
