Macedonia has strategic importance on the Balkans and it is an esteemed friend of Turkey, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer told Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski yesterday. The Macedonian president, who is on his first official visit to Turkey, also received strong support from Sezer for Macedonia's membership in NATO. This support will be expressed clearly at the NATO Summit in Riga toward the end of this month, "Dnevnik" reports.

Crvenkovski said after the talks with the Turkish president in Ankara that Macedonia's strategic orientation is integration into NATO, as a result of which the support of Turkey, which is an influential member of the Alliance, is very important.

The two presidents also assessed that the economic cooperation between the two countries is improving, but that it is still far from the real possibilities. They called on the Turkish businessmen to invest in Macedonia.