Skopje, 20 July 2023 (MIA) – Minister of Finance Fatmir Besimi held a working meeting Thursday with the World Bank’s Country Director for the Western Balkans, Xiaoqing Yu and the Country Manager for North Macedonia, Massimiliano Paolucci. The meeting focused on the new 2024-2028 Partnership Framework with North Macedonia, said the Ministry of Finance in a press release.

“The cooperation with the World Bank is founded on mutual partnership and multiannual cooperation strategies. We are currently drafting a new Partnership Framework, for which an analysis has been carried out by the World Bank, defining the priorities in the next four years,” said Minister Besimi.

Besimi added that the Partnership Framework outlines the areas in which the Bank will provide assistance for the country’s development agenda, and that the Partnership is of special significance for further growth of the country’s economy on the path to the EU. 

The report drafted by the World Bank, which is to serve as the basis for the new Framework, the Systemic Country Diagnostic, was also presented in front of the Government of North Macedonia. The goal of the new Framework is an inclusive, sustainable and green growth of the economy. The Framework will incorporate the Government’s priorities presented in the national strategic documents and in the economic growth program, which also includes the key reforms jointly adopted with the EU.

At the Minister’s meeting with the World Bank representatives, an overview was also made of the degree of reform activities implemented by the Government in order to receive budget assistance through the Development Policy Financing.