The heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales, has left Macedonia at the end of a week-long tour of south-east Europe, which also took him to Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia.

Before leaving Macedonia, Prince Charles visited the stock exchange in the capital, Skopje, that was opened two years ago and rang the bell for the start of trading.

During his Balkan tour Prince Charles has divided his time between projects encouraging economic growth and those tackling social problems.

A BBC correspondent who accompanied the Prince says that in each country he visited he also brought a similar message of British support for their eventual inclusion into western structures.