Mucunski: Dialogue with Washington strengthening — new US investments and trade growth

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timčo Mucunski said on Sitel television’s “Tema na denot,” immediately after his working visit to the United States and the UN General Assembly, that bilateral engagement with Washington has intensified significantly — a fact evidenced, he said, by the intensity and substance of high-level meetings with representatives of the US administration, Congress and public and private financial institutions, as Plusinfo reports.

Mucunski described communication with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as intensive, trust-based and built on shared priorities, calling the strategic relationship with the US one of the fundamental pillars of North Macedonia’s foreign policy.

The economic dimension was at the center of his remarks: stronger political dialogue with Washington, he said, has brought growth in trade exchange and exports to the American market, better conditions for preserving jobs, and more capacity and investment for exporting companies — while North Macedonia was among the first European countries to sign a joint trade declaration with the US, according to Plusinfo.

Cooperation continues with the US development finance corporation DFC and intensive dialogue on several possible new investments with American backing, as well as the US-led “Trade Over Aid” initiative for strategic investment in the region, he said.

Mucunski rejected the opposition’s claims about the Macedonian delegation at the UN — including the claim that Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and his wife did not attend President Donald Trump’s reception — saying they were invited and attended, just as Rozi Mickoska attended First Lady Melania Trump’s reception; he also denied the claim that the delegation numbered 50 people. The 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York is the largest annual multilateral event and the focus, he said, remains deepening the strategic partnership with the US into concrete investments and economic results for citizens.