Skopje, 6 October 2022 (MIA) - We consider this programme as a mutual benefit to enrich colorful identity map of Europe through our national cultural values and to create a common cultural space through dialogue and mutual respect, said Culture Minister Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska on Wednesday afternoon addressing ceremony during the Annual Advisory Forum on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe taking place in Crete, Greece. Ambassador Patrick Engelberg, Chair of the Statutory Committee of EPA on Cultural Routes of Council of Europe presented the new member states of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (EPA) during the accession ceremonies thus congratulating North Macedonia, Lebanon and Albania on joining, the Ministry of Culture said in a press release on Thursday. Minister Kostadinovska Stojchevska expressed gratitude that North Macedonia becomes member of this unique initiative. “We want to safeguard and build European values. And through these cultural routes, we are opening up our country to complement the rich European history. We already find 'sites' in the established 48 cultural routes from the Cyril and Methodius route, European fairy tale route, route of ceramics, iter vitis route, routes of the olive tree, but we have ideas and energy for new journeys. Here we also consider cultural routes of aqueducts, routes of lakes and mountains in Europe, and to the routes of gastronomy,” Kostadinovska Stojchevska said. North Macedonia is currently crossed by 2 “Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe”, the Routes of the Olive Tree and the Iter Vitis Route, with the potential for further extensions among the 48 certified Cultural Routes. “Cultural routes enable development in the field of culture, but also of the economy and sustainable tourism capacity of each country, promotion of relations and communication in the protection of cultural and natural heritage, in architecture and every kind of uniqueness that the cultural routes offer to connect across the time and space of Europe, using the benefits of the history but also of the current achievements of each country,” the Ministry of Culture said in a press release. The Cultural Routes put into practice the values of the Council of Europe: human rights, cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and mutual exchanges across borders.