Prime Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed his counterpart Nicola Gruevski today at an official welcome at Parliament House in Canberra.
The Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYROM) arrived in Australian yesterday for a three day official visit.
The two leaders signed a bilateral Social Security Agreement, which is the reason for Mr Gruevski’s visit to Australia.
According to an ABC report, Mr Gruevski said: “This agreement reflects the close people-to-people links that we have between our countries. It is the first formal agreement concluded between our two countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations 14 years ago in October 1995,” following the signing of the agreement.
Mr Gruevski is due to hold opening meetings in Canberra tonight (Monday) and in Melbourne tomorrow (Tuesday) where he will address the Skopjan communities in those cities.
The Gruevski visit was originally supposed to last eight days but has been cut short so that he can attend the meeting of leaders of the Union of European Conservative parties in Brussels later this week.