Year 2009 will be a year of opportunities and challenges for Macedonia, as well as a year in which the state, with fulfilled criteria, could expect a positive recommendation as regards a date for start of the negotiations for membership in the EU, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki assessed on the first day of the Ambassadors’ Council.

“The Czech Republic and Sweden’s presidency of the EU next year are an opportunity that we should capitalize on. We should also take advantage of these countries’ capacities and willingness to give priority to enlargement of the EU and liberalization of the visa regime,” Milososki stressed.