Skopje, 16 January 2024 (MIA) - Shuto Orizari Mayor Kurto Dudush and Resident Representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Armen Grigoryan, in the attendance of Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski, signed Tuesday an agreement on building a resource center for returnees and other vulnerable groups.

PM Kovachevski said that citizens will have uninterrupted access to health and social services, employment, access to legal aid preschool and elementary school education.
The resource center, he added, will bridge residents and state institutions, above all returnees as well as all Shuto Orizari residents, who will be able to get required services in a relevant intuition more easily and quickly.

The center will be a multifunctional facility, adapting to the citizens' needs, and will be located at the Shuto Orizari municipal building. It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024, and will cost around EUR 180,000, of which EUR 81,000 provided by the EU, whereas the rest by the municipality.

"The ninth package of anti-crisis measures provides aid to over 74,000 socially vulnerable groups. With the help of the law on registers, 500 unregistered persons obtained a legal identity, solving a decade-long problem and becoming the first country in Europe to end statelessness. This is a great success for us as a country and citizens because such solutions are rare in the world," Kovachevski said.

Mayor Dudush highlighted that Shuto Orizari is the first municipality in North Macedonia to introduce this model of support for returnees and other vulnerable groups, and by giving advice, direct contact and assistance will help those individuals become actively involved in the country's socio-economic processes.

"Shuto Orizari is the first municipality in the country to implement such support model for returnees and other vulnerable groups. Through advice, direct contact and assistance, those individuals will become actively involved in the country's socio-economic processes. We hope that other municipalities follow our lead and allow returnees and other vulnerable groups to receive appropriate support and a better quality of live in their home country," Dudush stressed.

UNDP Resident Representative Grigoryan emphasized the importance of providing equal opportunities for all, noting that UNDP and Shuto Orizari Municipality have been working on providing appropriate mechanisms for Roma people and other vulnerable groups.

"We hope that other municipalities will follow suit," said Grigoryan.

Construction is expected to start in two weeks and last seven months. The center is set to officially open in the second half of 2024. ssh/ik/

Photo: Government, UNDP