The foreign ministers assessed the progress of the countries in the region on their path towards the EU and underlined the role of reforms, close cooperation and mutual support.

In this respect, Erjavec promised that Slovenia will continue to support the countries of the Western Balkans in their efforts to join the EU, the Foreign Ministry wrote in a press release.

He added that the presence of French foreign and EU affairs ministers Laurent Fabius and Thierry Repentin, who are accompanying French President Francois Hollande on a visit to Slovenia, was a sign of the awareness of the need for further enlargement also within the union.

Erjavec is also scheduled to hold a separate bilateral meeting with Fabius later today.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Erjavec signed with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki a bilateral memorandum on international development cooperation for the 2013-2015 period, which envisages projects worth up to EUR 1.4m.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the development cooperation between Slovenia and Macedonia is focused on environmental protection, water management, energy efficiency, boosting economic development and balanced regional development, modernising public administration and training for EU accession.

The memorandum was signed on the basis of a 2004 intergovernmental agreement (in force since 2006), envisaging separate cooperation memoranda for the implementation of cooperation projects and programmes.

Slovenia's resolution on international development cooperation until 2015 puts Macedonia among the highest priorities for Slovenia's development cooperation