Skopje, 24 August 2023 (MIA) — Gabriel Escobar, US Department of State's Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and Special Representative to the Western Balkans, began his two-day visit to North Macedonia with a meeting with President Stevo Pendarovski on Thursday afternoon.

According to official announcements, Escobar during his visit is set to meet with Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski and opposition party VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski.

Escobar's arrival in Skopje follows the start of the parliamentary procedure on updating the Constitution to include Bulgarians into the list of communities living in the country as a condition for North Macedonia to hold its second intergovernmental session with the EU and continue membership negotiations.

The US diplomat in a debate on the Western Balkans in the US Congress in July voiced support for the constitutional amendments, adding that the USA was engaged with the government in Sofia to ensure it does not place any new conditions on the European path of the country.

"To further its EU aspirations, the government of North Macedonia has committed to enacting a constitutional change to recognize its Bulgarian minority. We strongly support this difficult but necessary step, and we are also engaged with the new government of Bulgaria to ensure it makes no new demands once North Macedonia fulfills its commitments under existing agreements," he said. mr/