Macedonia willing to add name 'qualifier' to satisfy Greece

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Macedonia's prime minister says his country and Greece have made significant progress toward resolving their long-standing name dispute.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Wednesday that Macedonia's government is willing to add a "geographical qualifier" to the country's name, a change Greece has wanted.

But Zaev says there are other outstanding issues, including what the Macedonian language will be officially called.

The former Yugoslav republic and Greece have been at odds for a quarter-century over rights to the Macedonia name. Greece says that by using it, the neighboring country implies a claim on the Greek province of Macedonia and its ancient heritage.

The foreign ministers of the two countries met this week in Vienna, where they were joined by a United Nations mediator.