Skopje, 7 April 2022 (MIA) - Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski at the sidelines of 7th Delphi Economic Forum in Greece met Thursday with Austria's Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, Karoline Edtstadler, and expressed mutual satisfaction with the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries and Austria’s unequivocal support for the European perspective of our country, the government said in a press release. Austria is one of the largest investors in North Macedonia with over 45 companies on the market in our country, Prime Minister Kovachevski said, adding that the announced interest of Austrian companies to invest in energy, construction, banking and insurance is optimistic. Kovachevski and Edtstadler discussed the possibilities to further strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries, which is reflected in the steady growth of trade, which last year reached €200 million, which is an increase compared to 2020 when trade reached €176 million. In regard to the country’s European perspective, PM Kovachevski underlined that now is the perfect time for urgent acceleration of the process of opening accession talks with North Macedonia, because EU enlargement to the Western Balkans should be seen from a geopolitical point of view, as a security issue crucial for stability and prosperity of the region and Europe. North Macedonia, PM Kovachevski said, is 100% aligned with the EU’s common foreign and security policy, and as a credible partner shares the same values of a free and democratic world. “North Macedonia condemned the Russian invasion on Ukraine and together with the EU and NATO member states, assessed the unprovoked and unjustified war on the territory of a sovereign state as the most serious threat to European security after the WW II, which caused great suffering to the Ukrainian people,” reads the press release. They also expressed the satisfaction with the cooperation between the two countries on security issues with the existing support of the Austrian police in surveillance and control of the Macedonian southern border, as well as help of the Austrian firefighters during the wildfires in North Macedonia in 2021.