NATO's secretary general met Macedonian officials Thursday to discuss the country's renewed accession bid, a decade after a dispute with neighboring Greece halted an initial effort to join the alliance.

Jens Stoltenberg met Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov, as well as the ministers of defense and foreign affairs in the capital Skopje. He was also expected to meet with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and address a Parliament session.

NATO member Greece blocked the former Yugoslav republic's bid to join the military alliance in 2008 due to a 25-year-old quarrel over Macedonia's name. Greece maintains its neighbor's name implies a territorial claim on its own adjoining province of Macedonia. Macedonia denies that.

The country is officially recognized by international institutions as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Officials in Greece and Macedonia, where Zaev's government took over last year, have voiced hopes the dispute can be resolved within months.

Negotiators from both sides met in New York Wednesday at a meeting held by the United Nations mediator on the issue. Shortly after the talks, the Macedonian government said the outcome would depend "on the willingness to compromise on both sides."

Earlier, Macedonian negotiator Vasko Naumovski said the proposals presented by UN mediator Matthew Nimitz were "far from a dignified solution."