Macedonia, Kosovo ease border crossings

BELGRADE, Serbia

As of Sunday, citizens of Macedonia and Kosovo are allowed to cross each other’s border using only their national ID cards.

Macedonian Deputy Interior Minister Agim Nuhiu and his Kosovar counterpart Valdet Hoxha met at the Macedonian border town of Bllaca to put the agreement into force.

At the ceremony, Hoxha said that Kosovo hopes to gain European Union membership and so that in order to develop good relationships with neighboring countries, the agreement is necessary.

The deal was reached this February.

Kosovo has a nearly 159-kilometer (99-mile) border with Macedonia, and there are two border crossing points.

Since 2013, both countries have been working on opening a third crossing point.