Two days after surviving a no-confidence vote in the Serbian parliament, Serbia's prime minister Gjuro Macut arrived unannounced in Ohrid for talks with Hristijan Mickoski. There was no official announcement of the visit. The public found out from Mickoski's Facebook post.

That is the sequence of events, and on its own it says more than the statements that followed. A prime minister who has just walked out of a confidence vote does not travel unannounced to a neighbouring country to exchange pleasantries.

What the two sides announced

Mickoski wrote that in an „open and constructive conversation“ they exchanged views on current regional challenges, opportunities for deepening bilateral cooperation, economic relations, infrastructure connectivity and joint initiatives. They also confirmed a shared commitment to advancing friendly relations based on mutual respect and good-neighbourly cooperation.

That is a sentence you could move from any meeting between any two prime ministers, in any month. The specifics came from the other side.

Macut listed them: modernising the rail corridor connecting Serbia, Macedonia and Greece; work on implementing the gas interconnector between Serbia and Macedonia; opportunities to expand cooperation in oil infrastructure; agricultural cooperation and conditions for a greater flow of people, goods and services.

The delegation's composition reveals the subject

Three ministers came to Ohrid with Macut - for mining and energy, for construction, transport and infrastructure, and for agriculture. The meeting was held one-on-one first, then continued with the delegations.

When an unannounced visit brings precisely those three portfolios with it, „an exchange of views on regional challenges“ means energy, transport and food. Those are the three things currently troubling everyone in the Balkans: electricity, corridors and prices.

The context matters. Serbia is facing a declared state of crisis, the Danube's water level is extremely low, and Hungary is shutting down part of its power generation for lack of cooling water. Under those conditions, a gas interconnector and a rail corridor are not long-term visions - they are questions about this coming winter.

What went unanswered

Macut said Belgrade sees Macedonia as a reliable partner and friend, and that cooperation will rest on regular political dialogue, mutual trust and concrete projects delivering direct benefit to citizens.

A fine sentence. But after a meeting attended by three ministries covering energy and infrastructure, the citizens of both countries deserve something more precise than „concrete projects“: what stage the gas interconnector is at, when it is expected to come online, and what exactly was agreed about the rail corridor.

Until then, the most informative part of the entire visit remains the fact that it was not announced - and the three ministers who came along with it.