Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs Bojan Marichic, together with the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Jovanka Trenchevska, and the Minister of Education and Science, Jeton Shaqiri, held an online coordination with the Sectoral Working Groups, in the presence of the donor community.

“The goals of the educational and social policy and employment in North Macedonia are well harmonized with the EU pillar for social rights and the EU Policy for Fundamental Rights and its Gender Strategy. This shows our commitment to continue investing to reduce the shortcomings identified, all in line with the EU standards," Marichic said.

At the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister informed that the Roma are included in this Sector Working Group again, in a belief that this will provide a better environment for discussing social inclusion policies, while stressing the importance of the participation of civil society organizations in the meetings of the Sectoral Working Groups for faster provision of field information and more efficient implementation of priorities.

Marichic presented the new approach to the work of all Sectoral Working Groups, as the most important mechanism for transparent and inclusive coordination of the sectoral policy and planning donor assistance, including IPA, emphasizing that the Secretariat for European Affairs will constantly inform about the discussions and activities of the Sectoral Working Groups.

“We decided to introduce this change in order to promote the political dialogue through an inclusive and transparent approach to the sectoral policies, with the focus of the meetings being on the presentation and discussion of sectoral strategic priorities and ways in which donations can be obtained for the implementation of the national priorities”, Deputy Prime Minister Marichic said.

Deputy Prime Minister Marichic informed at the meeting that the IPA 2023-2024 programming process is underway and called on IPA coordinators to start organizing meetings at the technical level with the involvement of donors and civil society organizations.