Macedonia and Greece made no major breakthrough in ending the name row between the two neighbors after the prime ministers of the two countries met on Friday afternoon, Xinhua reported.
"We were told that Greece sticks to its positions, in that case we cannot talk about any progress," Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told media after the meeting. "We will continue our meetings and thus increase the chances for a solution to be found."
In a separate statement to the Greek media, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said that it cannot be expected that a row that has lasted for 18 years can be settled in few days. He assessed that a solution could be possibly reachable in several months to a year period.
The two prime ministers expressed content with the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of a regional environment meeting between Greece, Macedonia and Albania in a village on the Lake Prespes in northwestern Greece.
"Such contacts are good and useful. This new momentum we have now is good. We may understand each-other better only via dialogue, " Gruevski said, expressing hope for new meetings that will lead to better understanding.
Gruevski and Papandreou agreed to continue the name talks under the auspices of the UN.
The relations between the neighbors especially soured last year when Athens blocked Skopje's NATO accession, arguing that the country's name implies territorial claims towards its own northern province which is also called Macedonia.
The European Commission last month gave Macedonia an added incentive to resolve the name dispute by recommending the EU gives Skopje a start date for accession negotiations into the bloc, but left the decision on the date to member states.
Skopje hopes that this decision will be reached at the next EU council slated for December but Athens, who is a long term EU member, has said it will prevent this from happening pending a name settlement.
Gruevski urged Athens to think very carefully about its moves in December at the EU meeting, which should decide on opening Macedonia's EU accession talks, as blockades and blackmails would not settle the problem but further deteriorate the relations between the two countries.
"I've appealed to Papandreou to think carefully before making any move because it will have far-reaching consequences to the relations between the two countries. Blocking, pressuring, blackmailing somebody is not a European way of doing things," Gruevski said.
The European Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso will have a meeting with Macedonia's Prime Minister on December 2. This is seen by observers as the last chance for some progress ahead of the EU council session.