Skopje, 20 September 2023 (MIA) - The increase of financial support from the World Bank is the result of our long-term partnership, and the new strategic framework is an opportunity for accelerated economic growth of North Macedonia, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski and the World Bank's Managing Director for Operations, Anna Bjerde, said at the meeting in New York on Wednesday.

Nina Fiti Nedelkovska, advisor to the Executive Director of North Macedonia at the World Bank, accompanying the Prime Minister, and the World Bank Vice President for the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, Antonella Bassani, also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, they praised the 30-year partnership of North Macedonia with the World Bank Group, translated into financial and technical support that inevitably has a huge contribution to significant segments of our society and economy, the government said in a press release.

Following the meeting with Anna Bjerde, PM Kovachevski said that they discussed three very important topics.

The first topic referred to the World Bank’s portfolio in North Macedonia, it is a portfolio of EUR 400 million in projects, some of which are already in the implementation phase, and which are in the infrastructure section, in the area of strengthening competition, energy, etc.

“The second important topic that we discussed is the new strategic partnership framework between North Macedonia and the World Bank. It is about a portfolio which is currently being discussed and which amounts to twice as much as what we currently have as projects in implementation and the main aspects of the financing of the projects will be in the part of infrastructure financing, strengthening energy capacities, environmental protection, human capital, as well as improving the competitive environment for companies in the country,” Kovachevski said.

He added that the third topic they discussed was the budget support, in accordance with the policies of the World Bank, which refers to the financing of projects, part of the budget and which are related to significant reforms in the state that are currently being implemented and which are either in a parliamentary procedure or in a governmental procedure in order to improve all aspects of society in our country.

“I want to express my satisfaction with this truly significant meeting, which reaffirms the strong partnership between the World Bank and North Macedonia,” Kovachevski said after the meeting.

Director Bjerde voiced satisfaction with the strong long-term partnership with our country, as well as the development results achieved during the years of cooperation. Evaluating the meeting as very useful, Bjerde and Bassani affirmed continuous support to our country, reads the press release.

Photo/video: The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia