January 11 (BTA) - A Bulgarian Government delegation, headed by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, will visit the Republic of North Macedonia as planned but the date is yet to be specified, the Council of Ministers' press office told BTA here on Tuesday.

Initially, Petkov said he will pay an official visit to Skopje on January 18 but that is in question as he is under COVID quarantine.

In a video message published on the government website, Petkov makes it clear that he plans to visit before the end of January.

He says that a January 10 meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security on the Bulgarian position on Skopje's EU aspirations, was "a timely and useful discussion" and showed that all participants had the same goal: "to see an end to the standstill in relations with the Republic of North Macedonia and make a new start towards goodneighbourliness".

The government will start work on implementing the programme in a wide range of fields and the rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia will be in the centre of its efforts, says also the Prime Minister. He adds that he will go to Skopje this month "to show that much more can be done through constructive dialogue than has been achieved in the recent years".