Skopje, 25 October 2023 (MIA) – Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska visited on Wednesday the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) at the University College London (UCL), where, among other languages, the Macedonian language is also studied.

“The Ministry of Culture of North Macedonia makes great efforts for promotion and affirmation of Macedonian creativity, and hence the exchange with large library institutions is of inestimable benefit to our country. I hope that soon we will have projects that will mean exchange and enrichment of the libraries of both countries, and the signing of a memorandum in which specific initiatives could be incorporated,” Kostadinovska-Stojchevska said.

Kostadinovska-Stojchevska met with the Prof Richard Mole, Director of SSEES, expressing her satisfaction with the relations between the Republic of North Macedonia and the United Kingdom, which are traditionally good and have continued development in the field of the culture.

She noted that the Republic of North Macedonia is a country of talented authors of all generations, who with their creativity contribute to the richness of the European cultural mosaic.

In this regard, she underscored the creative work of Goran Stefanovski, who taught screenwriting and playwriting classes in the Departments of Film and Drama at the University of Kent, is priceless.

In addition to print and electronic books, SSEES Library has an extensive collection of films and documentaries. In this regard, talks also tackled the possibility of some of the Macedonian films to be part of the collections of the SSEES Library, the Ministry of Culture said in a press release.

Kostadinovska-Stojchevska also met with Professor Ana Ilievska Završnik, who has been teaching Macedonian language evening classes at SSEES UCL since 2019, who underlined that the study of the Macedonian language at this prestigious institution has been re-established since 2019 and that the number of groups interested in attending Macedonian language courses has increased since this year.

The Minister of Culture Kostadinovska-Stojchevska presented publications by Macedonian authors to Prof Richard Mole, Director of SSEES. 

The Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of North Macedonia in London will continue to support the SSEES Library by donating Macedonian books, and thus the opportunities for students to enrich their knowledge of our country, culture and the tradition will increase in the future, reads the press release.

Photo: Ministry of Culture