SKOPJE — Greece and North Macedonia will hold an intergovernmental conference (G2G) in Athens during the winter, provided the pandemic developments allow, North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced on Thursday.

In an interview to MIA national agency, Zaev said that at the G2G the two countries will sign an agreement to avoid double taxation. The issue, he said, has been a long-standing request of business communities in both countries.

The conference will be the second such meeting to be held between the two countries, with the first one having taken place in Skopje in April 2019.

Zaev, who was in Athens this week for the Economist conference and met with Greek leaders on the sidelines, spoke of great opportunities for economic collaboration between the two countries lying ahead.

Greece, he told MIA, is the second largest trade partner of North Macedonia and its third largest investor, but only 30-40 pct of business opportunities have been developed so far.

Zaev also acknowledged that the current prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was against the Prespes Agreement between the two countries as the main opposition party, but accepts the fait accompli of the situation and the ratification of the agreement by the Greek parliament.

(ANA-MPA/N. Frangopoulos)