The Secretariat for European Affairs today, 7th March 2016, held Programming mission for Western Balkans Investment Framework for programming of 2016.

Head of the Department of DG NEAR Mr. Wolfgang Schlager had a presentation at the meeting who pays a working visit to the Republic of Macedonia and had a special focus on the Call for co-financing of infrastructure projects for the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) for 2016.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Fatmir Besimi welcomed the commitment and support that the EU gives to strengthen the capacity of the Western Balkans countries in order to join the European Union.
In order to coordinate the process transparently, the meeting was attended by representatives of the sectoral working groups such as transport, energy, social policy and environment.

The representative from DG NEAR, Wolfgang Schlager inter alia added that the working groups have the support of the National Investment Committee constitutes a solid framework for the implementation of the projects from the Single List which resulted from the sectoral working groups, and it is of great importance to the agenda for connecting Western Balkans countries.