Trade between Italy and North Macedonia has climbed over 13 percent in the past two years, investment is also up and there is room for further growth, premier Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday.
"Total trade has grown 13.6 percent since 2017 and investments by Italians in North Macedonia have risen," Conte said after talks in Rome with prime minister Zoran Zaev
"We wanted to strengthen these ties and there is still a lot of scope to boost our cooperation," Conte went on.
Italian companies have "concrete interest" in growing their activities in North Macedonia's infrastructure, energy, environment and defence sectors," he underlined.
In a sign of North Macedonia's ties with Italy, Italian is now being offered as a foreign language in the country's primary schools, he said.
"I am moved by this news," Conte stated.
The Italian government strongly supports North Macedonia's bid to join the European Union. Conte described as "an historic error" a decision by EU leaders this month not to start membership talks despite nods from the European Commission and the European Parliament.
All EU states must agree before approval is given for accession talks with a candidate country to begin.
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