Today the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government responsible for European Affairs Dr. Fatmir Besimi, delivered the presentation of IPA 2 Manual on Sectoral Programming which was held in the Government of the Republic of Macedonia with representatives of all state institutions of the Republic of Macedonia, within a few day visit of the European Union team in the Republic of Macedonia for IPA 2 (2014-2020).

During the presentation, the Deputy Prime Minister Besimi emphasised that in the previous period we were faced with a challenge - to set a solid basis for the implementation of IPA 2, in order to ensure effective and efficient use of the funds in the next 7-year period.

In the end, the Deputy Prime Minister Besimi encouraged the attendees to take advantage of this opportunity and the presence of representatives of the European Commission through discussion and dialogue to come to an understanding of the new IPA and all the ideas behind it!

Within a several-day visit of the European Union team in the Republic of Macedonia, yesterday (11.03.2013), the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Dr. Besimi met David Cullen, responsible for the Republic of Macedonia in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enlargement and Nicolas Nachtigall Marten, IPA Coordinator for the country in the Directorate General for Enlargement.

During the meeting, they discussed about the process of European integration of the Republic of Macedonia and the focus was on the utilisation of the funds from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) for the next programming period 2014-2020.
The Deputy Prime Minister Besimi emphasised that the EU accession remains a top strategic priority of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, which will be worked on with a full commitment in order to overcome all the challenges that exist in the reform process through dialogue.

Regarding the activities undertaken for the programming of IPA 2 funds, Besimi informed that the working groups with representatives from relevant institutions working on identifying projects that will use these funds were established.

In the end, the Deputy Prime Minister Besimi expressed his gratitude for the support that the country receives from the European Union in the process of planning and implementation of projects that are supported by the IPA funds. At the same time, he emphasised the importance for the Republic of Macedonia in this period to show progress towards the start of negotiations with the European Union and the need for all stakeholders in the country to contribute to this process.