Economic prosperity and integration into the EU and NATO are Macedonia’s main priorities, said Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski at his meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres Thursday.

President Peres pointed out the good relations between the two countries and talked about the possibility for cooperation in the agriculture. He stressed the countries should not be valued by their size but by their visions and if they are realized. In that regard, he stressed that investments should be made in science and technology, a process that is going to change the world in the next decade.

According to Veljanoski, the meetings that took place over the past three days confirmed the friendly relations and the mutual support between the two countries, which are going to continue in the future too.

“It is up to us, the politicians, to develop further that cooperation and it is up to the business community to follow,” Veljanoski said pointing out the meetings at the highest level over the past couple of years.

Veljanoski extended to President Peres the invitation from Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov to attend the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Skopje in March 2011. He also explained that under the denationalization law, the assets of the Macedonian Jews, victims of the Treblinka concentration camp during World War II, were given to the Holocaust Fund.

The Israeli Ambassador to Macedonia, David Cohen, said Speaker Veljanoski’s visit to Jerusalem was going to contribute to promoting further the economic relations between the two countries.

“We hope that 2011 will saw the pinnacle of our relations. We are going to continue working to bring to Macedonia Israeli businessmen who will invest in a number of areas,” Ambassador Cohen said.

The Macedonian delegation was surprised when the song “The Hardest Thing” by Tose Proeski was sung at the reception hosted by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin Thursday.