REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name to help resolve a dispute with Greece that has held up its prospects of joining the European Union and NATO, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on Tuesday. Macedonia joined the United Nations in 1993 with the provisional name “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” because its neighbor Greece objected to the one-word name saying it implied a territorial claim to a Greek province of the same name. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Premier Zoran Zaev said his country is ready to end a 26-year-long dispute with Greece and accept a qualifier such as Northern, Upper or New – as long as the word “Macedonia” kept. Zaev said FYROM has already changed the names of its international airport and major highway named for Alexander the Great, the Greek conqueror it claimed along with Greek lands, heritage and culture, including the real Macedonia in Greece and the second-largest city and port of Thessaloniki. Zaev said his cabinet decided on Tuesday to rename its capital’s airport “Skopje International Airport” from the current “Alexander the Great International Airport” and to rename a key national highway “National Friendship Road” instead of the current “National Road Alexander the Macedonian.”

If FYROM authorities make good on these pledges imminently, along with Zaev’s promise to accept a geographical qualifier, the momentum in United Nations-mediated name talks could gather pace.
Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev states that his country is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name in order to end the dispute. He also says that his government renamed the country's main airport and a key highway.