UN mediator Matthew Nimetz is coordinating talks in Vienna today between Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his FYROM counterpart, Nikola Dimitrov, in an effort to bridge the differences in the comprehensive settlement proposals that the two sides have recently exchanged.
The talks will be held at the Austrian foreign ministry and not at the seat of the UN in Vienna, which is closed due to the Catholic and Protestant Good Friday holiday.
The talks will begin with Nimetz presenting the legal formula and procedure on the basis of which a prospective agreement will be submitted to the United Nations, with the agreed upon name and related critical aspects of the settlement left blank pending final agreement, which must be ratified by the two countries’ parliaments.
It has been agreed between the parties that a settlement will take the form of a binding international agreement, to which the UN will be a party.
The consequent negotiations, based on the two sides’ proposals, will entail an exhaustive treatment of all of the details of a settlement, and it is hoped that the progress will be such as to push the entire process into the final stretch.
The last round of talks, on 13 February, lasted seven hours.
Kotzias and Dimitrov already met for a three-hour working dinner yesterday evening, laying the groundwork for today’s talks with Nimetz.
