Skopje, 26 October 2022 (MIA) – Deputy Prime Minister in charge of good governance policies Slavica Grkovska, officially signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions on Wednesday. According to a government press release, with the signing of this Convention, adopted at the 17^th Conference of Ministers responsible for sport which is organized by the Council of Europe, North Macedonia has joined over 30 member countries of the Council of Europe which have signed the Convention thus obliging themselves to a coordinated approach for prevention, detection and sanctioning of the manipulation of sports competitions. “The manipulation of sports competitions represents a challenge to the rule of law, since it is related to fraud, organized crime and corruption. This activity has grown alarmingly since the beginning of the new millennium which is why we must all work together to develop new measures that will include all affected parties, public authorities, sports organizations and sports betting operators,” assessed Grkovska. Deputy PM Grkovska stressed that the approach envisaged by the Convention, which focuses on prevention, law enforcement, international cooperation measures and information exchange, is of great importance. “The Convention envisages greater international cooperation and the introduction of an information exchange mechanism between the various national systems. At the same time the Convention is also dedicated to prevention as a key aspect of tackling the manipulation of sports competitions. The sports betting operators are also recognized as key partners for the prevention and information exchange on betting manipulation,” said the government in the press release. ad/nn/