Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani started Tuesday his working visit to Croatia where he held talks with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Osmani thanked Plenković for the continuous support and the exceptional engagement during Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union, during which General Affairs Council reached a political agreement on opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.

“We have an honest partner in friendly Croatia, a traditional supporter of our European integration aspirations. We particularly appreciate the fact that Croatia throughout the past period firmly believed in North Macedonia, as an important link in creating and maintaining stability in the region,” Osmani said.

Plenković underlined that Croatia will continue to strongly support North Macedonia’s EU integration bid and will firmly back the process of harmonizing the negotiating framework and the formal start of accession negotiations with the holding of the first Intergovernmental Conference by year’s end, Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Osmani is also scheduled to meet today with his host, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić-Radman and PM Andrej Plenković. He is also scheduled to hold several meetings at the Croatian Parliament.

During his stay in Croatia, Osmani is expected to give an interview to Croatia’s leading political weekly Nacional.