President Murmu holds talks with North Macedonian President Davkova

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday held wide-ranging bilateral talks with North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, with both sides agreeing to strengthen cooperation across key sectors, expand trade and investment, and deepen people-to-people ties during the first-ever State visit by an Indian President to the country.Both leaders reaffirmed the strong and friendly relationship between the two countries, built on shared democratic values and mutual respect, while expressing their commitment to taking bilateral cooperation to a higher level.
Addressing the media after the talks, President Murmu described economic cooperation as an “extremely important pillar” of India-North Macedonia relations. She said both countries had agreed to promote greater trade and investment, encourage stronger business-to-business engagement, and work towards doubling bilateral trade. The discussions focused on expanding collaboration in sectors including information technology and IT-enabled services, agriculture, food processing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, biotechnology, tourism, hospitality and filmmaking. President Murmu noted that the India-North Macedonia Business Forum being held during the visit would provide an important platform to strengthen commercial partnerships.
The two countries also agreed to renew their Memorandum of Understanding on healthcare cooperation and enhance collaboration in the promotion of traditional systems of medicine. Highlighting the importance of cultural diplomacy, President Murmu said cultural and people-to-people exchanges remain among the strongest pillars of the bilateral relationship. She identified cooperation in the creative industries as an important avenue for expanding cultural engagement between the two nations.
In a significant announcement, President Murmu said India would double the number of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) training slots offered to North Macedonia. The expanded programme will also include specialised courses in Artificial Intelligence, aimed at strengthening capacity-building and skill development.
President Murmu arrived in Skopje on Monday evening as part of the second leg of her three-nation State visit to Moldova, North Macedonia and Romania. She was received at Skopje International Airport by North Macedonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Timcho Mucunski. She is accompanied by Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya, and Members of Parliament Dr. Dinesh Sharma and Vijay Baghel.