The name issue is only formally on a table in New York where world leaders gathered this week to attend the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly. The meeting between Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki went without calling much attention. The two ministers met by accident on the stairs and agreed to meet later again. The meeting that took half an hour was at the request of Greece. The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs only briefly informed that Poposki met Lambrinidis, while the Greek MFA said nothing about the meeting, Dnevnik reports.

In a situation when the Greek Government is trying the deal with the economic crisis, the name issue with Macedonia slipped off the agenda of Minister Lambrinidis, who used the meetings on East River to persuade his interlocutors that Greece would get out of the tunnel and that is capable of weathering the crisis. In an interview with the television channel CNBC, Lambrinidis says that his country would definitely stay in the Euro-zone and that Greece is not a weak country but had been poorly managed in the recent years. What remains clear after the meetings in New York is that the crisis in Greece is the reason because of which a solution to the long-standing dispute cannot be found soon.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and mediator Matthew Nimetz were scheduled to discuss the issue keeping Macedonia out of the EU and NATO on Thursday evening. Nimetz met earlier with the foreign ministers of both Macedonia and Greece. Gruevski was set to take part on the Economic Summit and the Summit of the Balkan Leaders on Thursday as well, while the Macedonian Government was expected to organize a business forum at the Harvard Club and present Macedonia’s investment opportunities.

Prime Minister Gruevski participated also in the reception hosted by US President Barack Obama for the chiefs of delegations to the UN General Assembly. He is set to address the General Assembly on Saturday.

Among other activities, Minister Poposki attended also the high-level meeting on nuclear safety.