BRUSSELS, Belgium-Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said Friday her government and Macedonia were both committed to settling a long-standing dispute over the official name of the country Macedonia.

"We had an exchange of ideas that underlined the will of the two governments to reach a solution," she said after meeting with her Macedonian counterpart, Antonio Milososki.

She said both countries were looking forward to Tuesday's U.N.-brokered meeting in New York on the name dispute.

Greece, which is threatening to block Macedonia's bid to join NATO at an upcoming summit in Romania, argues that its neighbor's name implies territorial claims on a northern Greek province that is also called Macedonia.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried attended Friday's meeting at the U.S. mission to NATO. He said he was there "in support of our continuing efforts to support a solution for the name issue," according to U.S. mission spokeswoman Rebecca Ross.