Croatia strongly supports North Macedonia as an EU candidate country and expects the procedure to launch membership talks to begin soon, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said during a meeting with North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani.

North Macedonia’s European journey and preparations to open EU accession negotiations were the main topic of talks between Prime Minister Plenkovic and Minister Osmani, a press release from the government’s public relations office said.

“Croatia strongly supports North Macedonia as a candidate country and expects that by the end of this year, during Germany’s presidency of the Council of the EU, an inter-governmental conference will be called to open negotiations,” said Plenkovic.

Croatia’s prime minister expressed satisfaction with the good progress report released early October in which the European Commission assessed that North Macedonia had achieved stable progress.

Croatia is prepared to continue helping North Macedonia with reforms and in meeting the necessary conditions for EU membership, he said.

Plenkovic underlined satisfaction with the good economic relations between Croatia and North Macedonia.

An economic forum will be held soon, which should additionally stimulate stronger economic cooperation, it was said.