The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs, Bojan Maricik, today attended the opening of a workshop within the project "Knowledge of Reform Activities for the Western Balkans", funded by the Kingdom of Norway and implemented by the UNOPS Regional Office and the Secretariat for European Affairs.

At the opening of the workshop, Deputy Prime Minister Maricik expressed gratitude for the support of UNOPS for the implemented projects, pointing out that the positive experience and the level of flexibility of financial support will allow the needs of the institutions for 2022 to be identified and agreed very quickly, and on the other hand it will  contribute to accelerating the momentum of European reforms.

"The benefit of this methodology is the opportunity to hire national, regional and experts from the member states who, working directly with our administration, will transfer their knowledge, good practices and experience, and thus we will strengthen our capacities and build skills and competencies in anticipation of the start and successful accession negotiations," said Deputy Prime Minister Maricik.

The director of the UNOPS office in Vienna, Groote, expressed satisfaction with North Macedonia's commitment to advancing EU reforms as key priorities for the country.

"UNOPS will support countries’ efforts working closely with EU and other partners on the ground to enable exchange expertise and knowledge as well as lessons learnt to promote reform action across the Western Balkans" Groote said, adding that today’s Inception Workshop is fruitful and constructive way forward that will further prioritise the countries’ needs in line with the revised EU Enlargement Methodology and Acquis including further strengthening of the policy planning and coordination.

Prior to the event, Deputy Prime Minister Maricik had a meeting with the Director of the UNOPS Office in Austria, Freya von Groote, to discuss further priorities and activities to be funded through UNOPS.

Maricik and Groote agreed that it is necessary to ensure the complementarity of donor assistance, projects to be well defined and targeted and also aimed at implementing the European reform agenda in the country.

Dudzak, UN Resident Coordinator in North Macedonia, and Johansen, Deputy Chief of Mission of Norway, also addressed at the event.

This project is implemented within the framework of a 5-year regional program for European integration in the Western Balkans initiated by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Multi-Country Office in Austria (AUMCO).

The aim of the program is to support government institutions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, through the exchange of expertise and knowledge, as well as lessons learned to promote reform activities across the Western Balkans.