Skopje, 3 February 2022 (MIA) — Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi met Thursday with a delegation from the Croatian Islamic Community including Zagreb Mufti Aziz ef. Hasanović, president of the Meshihat of the Islamic Community in the Republic of Croatia; Mirza ef. Šabić, the president of the Assembly of the Islamic Community in Croatia; and Mevludi ef. Arslani, director of the Islamic High School in Zagreb, and among other things spoke about forming a working group that would develop a legal solution regulating the status of religious schools in the country. According to the official press release, Xhaferi talked about Parliament and its work as well as latest political developments on North Macedonia's path to EU membership, which Croatia achieved in 2013. He said North Macedonia and Croatia had similar values, policies and legal regulations regarding religious communities, highlighting the importance of religious communities fostering peace, coexistence and tolerance of different religions in society, especially in societies where many religions coexist. “To this end, he stressed it was highly important that religious education was treated equally and integrated into the school system, which would contribute to higher inter-religious tolerance and the prevention of any deviation from the original Islamic teaching,” the release says. Mufti Hasanović thanked Xhaferi on the opportunity to meet him, praising his contributions to the stability of the country. Regarding the integration of religious schools into the public education system, he spoke about the Croatian solution, an agreement signed by the Croatian Government and the Islamic Community in Croatia. He spoke about the success of the Croatian model of resolving national religious issues since 2022. He said prevention was a better solution than sanctioning and expressed his readiness to share the Croatian experiences and legal solutions with North Macedonia. Accompanying the Croatian delegation were their hosts, the head of the Islamic Religious Community, Reis Ul Ulema H. Hfz Shaqir ef. Fetai and the secretary general of IRC, Irsal Yakubi. mr/