Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu paid an official visit to Macedonia, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Macedonia, upon the invitation of Mr. Nicola Poposki, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia.

Speaking at the joint press conference with his Macedonian counterpart, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu referred to the excellent relations between Turkey and Macedonia. “High level visits between the two countries continue densely” said Foreign Minister Davutoğlu mentioned that existing solid political relations also had cultural and economic aspects which were supported. He stated that Turkey and Macedonia aimed to raise their bilateral trade volume to one billion Dollars and Turkey carried out an intense campaign to increase the investments in Macedonia.

Underlining the strong cultural ties between the two countries Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said “Establishment of cultural centers contributes to development of our cultural relations in the context of restoring the common cultural heritage and encouraging the relations between intellectuals”. He also stressed that existing cultural tolerance in Macedonia is one of the fundamental elements of the stability in the Balkans.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu emphasized that Turkey strongly supported the NATO membership of Macedonia and Turkey would continue its efforts as NATO Contact Point Embassy in Skopje.

As part of his visit to Macedonia, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu was received by President Mr.Gjorge Ivanov and also met with the Speaker of Parliament Mr. Trajko Veljanovski and Prime Minister Mr. Nicola Gruevski.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu who attended the ceremonies for the National Day of Turks of Macedonia and the Turkish Education Feast that has being celebrated in Macedonia since 1944 was awarded with the honorary doctorate degrees by Saints Cyril and Methodius University as well as Kalkandelen University.