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Southeast Europe
March 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
to include the country's new name, which the Macedonian side does not see as necessary.
Dimitrov said that for Macedonia, a composite name written in one word in the Cyrillic alphabet without any translation, as the Greek side proposed, is not acceptable. For example, Athens favours the name GornaMakedonija, which it doesn't want translated to the English version UpperMacedonia.
Dimitrov said it is difficult to explain to Macedo- nian citizens that such a solution (GornaMake- donija) is acceptable as “if you say it quickly then the word Macedonia might be somewhat lost in pronunciation”.
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who also met the Greek foreign minister, seemed confident
of a positive outcome. He said he is convinced that the current approach will lead to a solution that will give enough acceptable arguments to institutions in both countries, as well as the opposition, to accept a dignified solution.
“We remain committed to improving our bilateral relations, to nurturing them and to making them even better after the name issue is resolved, because citizens in our countries, our friends in the EU and the international community expect
a solution to this issue,” Zaev noted in a government statement.
However, Greek media, which showed a great interest in the Dimitrov-Kotzias meeting, commented that differences are still huge between the two sides and the chances of a compromise are slim.
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