High-level dialogue is key to building trust and surmounting the contentious issues between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia. This was the common position of President Rumen Radev and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who held a telephone conversation on Tuesday. The conversation took place on the initiative of the prime minister of Bulgaria's south-western neighbour.

During the conversation, the two discussed aspects of the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, the effective respect of the rights of people who openly identify themselves as Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia, as well as that country's European perspective.