The Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski started on Monday his official visit to Germany by having a meeting with the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. At the meeting, Pendarovski and Maas exchanged opinions on the ongoing political events in Macedonia, with Pendarovski estimating that Germany is a crucial partner of Macedonia in its integration in EU and NATO. “North Macedonia invested a lot of efforts in fulfilling all criteria to acquire a date for start of membership talks with the EU, and we hope we will get that date sooner,” Pendarovski told Maas, thanking him for the ratification of the NATO Protocol for Accession of Macedonia by the German Bundestag.