Sofia, January 15 (BTA) - "Today marks the 30th anniversary of the recognition of the then Republic of North Macedonia's independence. On January 15, 1992 Filip Dimitrov's government was the first one to defend the right of our Macedonian friends to have their own State," reads a statement by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, published on the Bulgarian Government's official Facebook page.

"Thus, Bulgaria showed its desire to have true relations of good and dialogue between our two states. Today we are obliged to bring back the climate of understanding between us, because together we can do more," says the Bulgarian Prime Minister.

Petkov is leaving on an official visit to the Republic of North Macedonia as initially panned on January 18, the Government Information Service reported earlier on Saturday.

Petkov's delegation includes Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska, Transport and Communications Minister Nikolay Sabev and National Assembly Deputy Chair Kristian Vigenin.

Going ahead with the visit became possible because the Prime Minister was released from quarantine after his PCR test for COVID-19 came in negative, the press release specifies.

Petkov was initially scheduled to travel to Skopje on January 18, but the visit was postponed until a later day in January after he was quarantined together with 27 other top politicians as a contact person to National Assembly Chair Nikola Minchev, who tested positive for coronavirus after a meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security on January 10. LG, MY