Brussels, 19 July 2022 (MIA) - Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski is heading the official Government delegation that is set to take part in the first Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) at the Council of the European Union in Brussels on Tuesday. Finally, after 17 years of waiting, the country officially opens negotiations to join the EU, after being the first country in the Western Balkan region to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement on April 9, 2001 in Luxembourg, which has been in force since 2004, and a year later, it received the EU candidate status. This IGC is of historic significance for North Macedonia because it marks the start of the country’s negotiations for full-fledged EU membership. Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski is to read the opening statement at the conference in Macedonian language. Kovachevski is accompanied in Brussels by First Deputy PM Artan Grubi, Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani and Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski. According to the agenda, prior to holding of Intergovernmental Conference, PM Kovachevski is scheduled to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, whose country currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, said on Monday that the bloc's members had agreed to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. Negotiating framework for the country's membership in the EU will be adopted at this first Intergovernmental Conference, thus starting the screening process. Next intergovernmental session to complete the opening of negotiations phase should be held after the constitutional changes are enforced to include its citizens that live on the territory of the country and are part of other peoples, such as Serbian, Vlach, Roma people, will continue with Croatian, Montenegrin, Bulgarian people. The Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia signed bilateral protocol under Article 12 of the 2017 Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation that marked the end of a difficult negotiation process in which both governments showed courage and political will to overcome their differences, the Bulgarian government said in an official statement. The signing of the protocol and the holding of the meeting of the intergovernmental commission took place after the French proposal was approved by the government and after the adoption of the conclusions in the Macedonian Parliament.