We celebrate today the signing, 20 years ago, in Bucharest, of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Romania and the Republic of North Macedonia, which established the framework for political, economic and cultural ties. Our countries are strong partners and the bilateral cooperation within the Treaty continues to develop.
The 20 years that have passed since its signing have witnessed many historical developments for both our countries. They also marked the deepening of our bilateral relationship, as demonstrated by numerous contacts at all levels, covering a wide range of issues, from the economic and scientific fields to the cultural and educational ones. Since the start of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our two countries have worked together in order to mitigate its effects on their citizens.
We take this opportunity to reiterate, once again, the importance of the Enlargement process of the European Union. In this regard, Romania and the Republic of North Macedonia use every avenue of collaboration, including the Memorandum of cooperation on European integration, signed in 2019. We firmly believe that the European project will only be successful following the accession of the Western Balkan countries and that Europe’s stability and security largely depend on it.
We are also interested in building a strong and productive relationship within NATO, founded on our common strategic and security interests.
Romania and the Republic of North Macedonia are as well closely working together within the regional cooperation frameworks, which play a deciding role in the stability and sustainable development of our region.
We are confident that our future relationship will become even stronger and closer and that we will further enhance and expand our areas of cooperation. We also believe that enhancing the economic ties and the trade between our countries will soon have as a consequence reaching their true potential.
The Republic of North Macedonia and Romania also strongly value and promote their kin minorities as well as ethnic communities and their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity. By the robust and lasting bridges that these communities form between our countries, they will continue to bring their most important contribution to our enduring friendship.