President Pendarovski: North Macedonia and Albania must continue on their path to EU

North Macedonia, Albania and other countries in the region must continue on the path to EU accession, as there is no other alternative, President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski said at a press conference with his Albanian counterpart, Ilir Meta, in Tirana. Pendarovski said that the Western Balkan countries should hold an extraordinary summit to discuss EU enlargement and good neighborly relations. He added that if all countries from the Western Balkans agreed, North Macedonia could organize such a meeting. The two presidents said relations between Skopje and Tirana were excellent and that they must continue to develop with a focus on economy.

Serbia has agreed to create free trade area with Eurasian Economic Union

The countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and Serbia have signed an agreement in Moscow to create a free trade area. On the same day that Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić signed the document, Brussels said Serbia could be part of agreements with other countries and organizations until it became an EU member. After joining the EU, the country will have to withdraw from bilateral free trade agreements, said EU spokeswomanMaja Kocijancic. According to her, this is not a new condition but a general rule for all EU candidate countries.

Turkey: Agreement with Russia on northern Syria has been developing as planned

Turkish Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar says the agreement with Russia to normalize the situation in northern Syria is being implemented in accordance to the plan. He has recalled that the deadline for withdrawal of Kurdish formations from the region expires at 6pm on October 29 and added that Ankara was closely monitoring the situation. According to Akar, Turkey does not use chemical weapons and does not violate human rights in the course of the operation. At a meeting in Sochi on October 22, the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reached an agreement on joint actions to normalize the situation in northeastern Syria.

UN Secretary-General invites leaders of Cypriot communities to meeting in Berlin

UN Secretary-General, António Guterres has invited leaders of the two Cypriot communities to meet in Berlin. The meeting, due to take place on November 25, will aim to outline the next steps towards resuming official peace talks. Efforts to reunite the island have been in a stalemate since 2017, when high-level negotiations in Switzerland failed to reach agreement. Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when its northern part was occupied by Turkey in response to a nationalist coup d'état, which aimed at annexing the island to Greece.

Standard & Poor's upgraded Greece's credit rating

International agency Standard & Poor's upgraded Greece's credit rating to BB- with a positive outlook, predicting a new uptick in 2020. The rating agency said that a possible new hike would depend on continued economic reforms by the center-right government and the decline of the vulnerability of Greek banks to a large proportion of non-performing loans.

Compiled by: Miglena Ivanova

English: Alexander Markov