Skopje, 16 September 2022 – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is forming a Secretariat to assist the work of the Macedonian team of experts in the joint commission on historical issues with Bulgaria, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said Friday. “The MFA is creating a Secretariat consisting of people nominated by the Commission, who will assist them in the preparation of materials, administrative works and managing of their work. This Secretariat will aid in a more effective preparation and functioning of the history commission because their degree of readiness will be exceptionally important to the dynamic of their work,” Osmani said. Even though the MFA will sign the contracts with the candidates for the Secretariat, not a single name will be proposed by the Ministry because they’re waiting for the Commission to select its assistants. Osmani added that an internal working group has been formed at the MFA’s proposal, headed by him and four thematic subgroups on an expert level which will follow the process of implementation of the resulting obligations from the bilateral protocol between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. He said that the MFA has sent a memo to the Interior Ministry about a case of hate speech on social media against citizens self-declaring as Bulgarian, and that this is an example of how this part of the Treaty with Bulgaria will work. In response to a reporter’s question about whether Goce Delchev was discussed at Thursday’s meeting in Skopje, Osmani said that he knows as much as the reporters do. “I don’t know more than you do because the Commission’s work is autonomous, as are their conversations. I know that they didn’t even start talking about Goce Delchev, and this morning, an opposition party said that they have reached an agreement on Goce Delchev. I understand political debate, but classic fake news used to manipulate the citizens is a dangerous precedent that we’re introducing to our daily political discourse,” Osmani stressed. He encouraged the Commission members to be as transparent as possible, judging that they’ll have more opportunities to work and communicate with the media through the Secretariat. The North Macedonia-Bulgaria Joint Multidisciplinary Commission of Experts on Historical and Educational Issues held a two-day meeting in Skopje on Sept. 14-15. dk/ba/