Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis has said that Greece will provide a major boost to the economy of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) once the Macedonia name dispute is solved.

Meanwhile, hopes for new momentum in negotiations rose with the news that NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is due in Skopje today. Scheffer is to reassure FYROM of NATO's desire to welcome it into the alliance as soon as the name dispute has been resolved.

According to Bakoyannis, whose comments were published in yesterday's Apogevmatini, Greece will «reward» FYROM once a settlement has been reached. This reward includes -75 million for the construction of a highway linking FYROM to Greece and the rest of Europe, additional investment in FYROM's business sector and a gradual abolition of visa requirements for FYROM citizens visiting Greece. Bakoyannis noted that a settlement might not be reached until after elections in FYROM, due on June 1. Meanwhile in Skopje, polls show that nearly half of citizens (47.7 percent) object to early polls.