The name issue will be the main topic at Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden in the White House Wednesday and with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately afterward. Apart from the bilateral relations and the US support for Macedonia’s membership of NATO and the EU, this time round it is quite certain that the current situation in Macedonia will be discussed as well.

It is not ruled out for the US hosts to raise also the issue of the political dialogue, the court reforms, the freedom of media, and the latest incident at the Kale that aggravated interethnic relations in the country. There is no official information what Biden and Clinton would put at the table before the Macedonian government delegation but it is speculated that they would insist on resolution of the name issue. They may even insist that the name issue be resolved by the start of the hearing in Macedonia’s lawsuit against Greece in the Hague on 21 March.

According to information in Washington, it is no coincidence that immediately after Gruevski, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas is scheduled to visit the US and meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York to discuss the name issue and the Cyprus issue.

The Macedonian delegation says that they would tell Vice President Biden that Macedonia met all criteria for NATO membership. According to the statement of the Macedonian delegation, the meeting with the senior US officials is confirmation of the Macedonian-US cooperation and reaffirmation of the commitment to promoting it further.

As regards the name issue, Macedonia is going to reiterate its dedication to finding a mutually acceptable solution that will not affect the national identity and dignity. What the Macedonian delegation is going to insist upon is a constructive approach to the negotiations and the readiness to accelerate them in order to seek out a solution. The political talks began on Tuesday afternoon with the meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon.

Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki and PM Gruevski’s Chief of Staff Martin Protogjer are in Washington too. According to unconfirmed information, they will also call for initiating the procedure for exemption of Macedonia from the US visa regime.