Athens, 5 June 2024 (MIA) – The future of Europe after the European elections, the Western Balkans’ integration process, geopolitical developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, peaceful settlement of disputes, tackling the climate crisis, also affecting European economic developments, will be the main topics of a two-day international conference for peace and sustainable development, organized by the Alexis Tsipras Institute and the Zoran Zaev Foundation on June 17-18, MIA reports from Athens. 

Taking place in Athens, the conference is organized to mark the sixth anniversary of the Prespa Agreement that will bring together heads of international organizations, prime ministers, EU commissioners, leading government officials, former presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers as well as representatives of the parties from the whole democratic spectrum with an accent on central left, left and progressive forces. 

According to information of MIA’s Athens correspondent, representatives from North Macedonia will include former prime ministers Zoran Zaev and Vlado Buchkovski, former foreign minister Nikola Dimitrov and Venko Filipche in his capacity as director of the Zoran Zaev Foundation. 

Also, four European commissioners will take part alongside the EU’s special envoy for the Belgrade – Prishtina dialogue, Miroslav Lajchak, former French president Francois Hollande, Serbian prime minister Miloš Vučević, the ex-prime ministers of Sweden and Greece, Stefan Lofven and George Papandreou, former European Parliament president Martin Schulz, former foreign minister Nikos Kotzias and the mayors of Athens and Istanbul.

UN Secretary General António Guterres will address the event via video message ahead of the presentation of the Prespa Award to the UN special envoy in the negotiations, Matthew Nimetz, for his contribution to the Prespa Agreement. 

According to MIA’s information, the two-day conference will feature a series of panel discussions, including a panel in which Zaev and Tsipras will answer questions regarding the Prespa Agreement. 

The international conference will be the first in a series of events and initiatives of the Alexis Tsipras Institute in the coming period, aimed at initiating a wider public dialogue about the future of Greece and Europe.