Macedonia’s government delegation led by Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski has arrived in Sofia on Monday where it was welcomed with highest state honors.

Kovacevski and the government delegation were officially welcomed by Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. The two prime ministers laid wreaths in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, MIA reported from Sofia.

The joint session of the governments of the two countries is scheduled for tomorrow morning, which will be held at the “Bojana” residence. The two prime ministers, Kovacevski and Petkov, will address the session, after which the talks will begin, after Skopje and Sofia had previously formed working groups with which the cooperation should be intensified in the forthcoming period.

The signing of several bilateral documents is planned for tomorrow, including a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of railway connection between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria “Skopje-Sofia”, and after the intergovernmental session, Kovacevski and Petkov will hold a press conference.

The delegation of the Government of Macedonia includes the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Political System and Inter-Community Relations, Artan Grubi, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs and Coordination of Economic Resources, Fatmir Bytyqi, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Good Governance Policies, Slavica Grkovska, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, Minister of Finance Fatmir Besimi and Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi.

The delegation also includes the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, Ljupco Nikolovski, the Minister of Education and Science, Jeton Shaqiri, the Minister of Local Self-Government, Goran Milevski, the Minister of Culture, Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojcevska, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Blagoj Bocvarski, Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Naser Nuredini, Minister of Information Society and Administration Admirim Aliti.

The joint session follows last week’s official visit by Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov to Skopje. Macedonia and Bulgaria in the forthcoming period, and within the new dynamics of cooperation, announced by the two Prime Ministers Dimitar Kovacevski and Kiril Petkov, should through the meetings of the working groups bring closer the positions in several areas, to focus on what is feasible at the moment, thus paving the way for finding solutions to more difficult issues and finally overcoming the dispute and unblocking the beginning of the first intergovernmental conference of Macedonia and the European Union.

The two governments have set up four working groups – on economics, trade and innovation,  on infrastructure, transport and communications, on European integration and green policies, and on culture, science and education.