While the country is preparing to welcome Vardar and their handball Champions League trophy, Zoran Zaev organized a welcoming ceremony for NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and members of the North Atlantic Council, which meets in Skopje today.

Stoltenberg expressed his hope that “North Macedonia” will soon become the 30th member of NATO, and praised Zaev for his initiative to sign the Prespa treaty, under which Macedonia is expected to rename and redefine itself.

You are building a better future for yourselves, and contributing to regional and trans-Atlantic security and future prosperity, Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg waded into the foreign investment controversy, saying that it was the prospect of NATO membership and the Prespa treaty that helped FDI investment double in the past year. He was likely operating on dated statistics, as FDI collapsed in the first quarter of the year.