The Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, stated that the Open Balkans initiative aims to deepen the cooperation between the countries of the region, but, according to him, “it will not be complete without the participation of all six states of the Western Balkans”.

In an event with the ambassador of Kosovo in Skopje, Florian Qehaja, on the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Osmani said that North Macedonia could leave the Open Balkans if any of the states would be harmed by this initiative, reports REL.

“We, as North Macedonia, will not allow any other country to be harmed. We consider that if someone will be harmed, I am thinking here about Kosovo as well because of its views towards this initiative, then we will not participate in this initiative. We will be guardians of the defense of any country in the Open Balkans”, he emphasized.

According to him, North Macedonia supports Kosovo in all initiatives and efforts for membership in international institutions such as NATO, the Council of Europe and visa liberalization.

Among other things, Osmani underlined that this is the only way to stabilize the region to continue the NATO and EU membership process.