Today, the Secretariat for European Affairs in cooperation with the twinning partners (the Consortium of the three EU countries, Germany, Poland and Croatia) held an event for promotion of the twinning project financed by the European Union "Further strengthening of the organisational and institutional capacities for the process of European integration", which marked the official start of the twinning project.

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia in charge of European Affairs and National IPA Coordinator, Fatmir Besimi, PhD, the Ambassador of the EU Delegation in Skopje, Mr. Aivo Orav, the project leader of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany, Mr. Wolf-Dieter Plessing, the Ambassador of the FR Germany, HE Christine Althauser and representatives of the embassies of Poland and Croatia, partners of the Twinning project, addressed at the event.

The project aims at supporting the process of integration into the European Union, by strengthening the capacities of the SEA, in order to provide advanced inter-ministerial coordination within the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA), as well as taking the role for coordination of the assistance and management of IPA.

The project is also intended to facilitate the exchange of experience with EU Member States in terms of the integration process, to improve the compliance with the EU as well as to focus on better management of the translation process. In the next period, the project is expected to set a standard for improving the implementation of the policies and the overall quality of the legislation.

In terms of the capacities building, training courses are provided for more than 200 participants, 11 workshops, sending five groups to study visits as well as realisation of seven days of working practice abroad by 15 participants. The project, funded by the European Union, is amounted to EUR 1.7 million and will last 21 months.

The key beneficiary of the twinning project is the Secretariat for European Affairs (SEA), the Working Committee for European Affairs - WCEA, as well as members of all NPAA working groups. Other institutions that will be supported by this project (secondary users) are: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Secretariat for Legislation and the General Secretariat.