News
4/3/2019 14:25
Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bujar Osmani had a meeting with the Regional Director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger.
The topics of the UNDP"s ongoing and future plans in the country were opened at the meeting, as well as the development challenges from the aspect of the European integration process, a domain in which UNDP has a competitive advantage, experience and mandate to support North Macedonia as a long-term partner.
"At the moment we are in a pre-election period, having ongoing presidential campaign that, although slowing down the processes, should not be an obstacle to continue the implementation of the reforms for the European integration of the country, and in that sense, the strategic partnership with the UNDP to support the agenda for accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the EU is welcome," Osmani stated, pointing out the European Commission"s spring report on the state of play and the progress of the country, which will reflect the positive reform momentum in the country.
Osmani also welcomed UNDP"s support to the Government to utilize the EU integration process to achieve sustained, inclusive and accelerated growth in accordance with the best practices and international and regional experiences, which, according to him, will mean improvement of the lives of citizens in line with the European standards.
At the end of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Osmani and Director Spoljaric Egger expressed strong confidence that this partner cooperation will continue in the coming period, having in mind the Government"s dedication to support the UN policy "No one is left behind".
UNDP has implemented over 200 projects so far worth over 66 million euro since country"s independence, 27 of which are ongoing, having budget of about 19 million euro for support of institutions, EU integration process, migrant crisis, Roma, local self- government, etc, as well as damages caused by natural disasters. The cooperation between the Republic of North Macedonia and the UN through the development programmes is being successfully implemented for 25 years.