BRUSSELS, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Two European Union (EU) key figures will attend the signing ceremony of a historic agreement which irons out the decades-long name row between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
FYROM is currently the official name of Macedonia at the United Nations.
The European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU's foreign service, announced in a statement that the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn will attend the signing ceremony at Prespa lake on Sunday.
FYROM Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Greek Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras will witness the signing of the agreement by their foreign ministers on the borderlines, according to official announcements.
The signing ceremony will be held in the Greek side, followed by a meeting and a joint dinner in the FYROM side.
The ceremony comes days after Tsipras announced that Athens and Skopje have reached a historic agreement on their name row.
Under the agreement, the "Republic of North Macedonia" will be the new name of the FYROM.
The name dispute dated back to 1991 when the FYROM declared independence from Yugoslavia and chose the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a northern Greek province. Athens expressed concern from the beginning that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims.
In recent months, UN-mediated talks to resolve the issue have intensified and both sides have expressed optimism that a deal can be sealed before the EU's June summit which will explore the bloc's further enlargement.
The agreement needs to be ratified by both parliaments before it takes effect.
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, Mogherni and Hahn said they "wholeheartedly congratulate Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev for their determination and leadership in reaching this historic agreement."
"We now look forward to the Council (of the EU) endorsing our recommendation of 17 April to open accession negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in June," they said.
The decades-long name dispute has been a major stumbling block for Skopje's accession to the EU.
