Skopje ready to resolve name row with Greece: minister

(SKOPJE) - Macedonia is ready to solve its long-lasting name dispute with Greece despite possible early elections in the coming months, a top official said Wednesday.

"The government is ready to negotiate with Greece in the pending period for a positive solution to be found," Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told reporters here after the talks with his Slovenian counterpart Samuel Zbogar.

He added that the early vote, a date for which is still to be decided, "will not be an obstacle for the negotiations over the name issue to continue if the Greek side is ready for that."

"We still do not have a date for the early elections. In this period we are ready, if there is will in Athens, to continue" negotiations under the mediation of the UN envoy Mathew Nimetz, Milososki said.

The aim of the negotiations "is a positive outcome of Macedonian-Greek dialogue," he added.

Macedonia has been at loggerheads with Greece since it proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

Greece says that use of the Macedonia name by its northern neighbor implies a claim on Greek territory and has been blocking the former Yugoslav state's accession to the European Union and NATO.