Skopje, 27 October 2023 (MIA) - Deputy PM for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi met Friday with the French Development Agency (AFD) Western Balkans Regional Office Director Arnaud Dauphin. 

Deputy Director of AFD’s Western Balkans Office, Maxime Lebovics, Project Officer at AFD's Western Balkans Office Mélanie Malinvaud, and French Ambassador to North Macedonia Cyril Baumgartner also attended the meeting.

Talks focused on the Government's cooperation with the French Development Agency and possibilities for cooperation between the French Development Agency and the Macedonian Development Bank. 

"Participants in the meeting also discussed the Program for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB), financed through the Green Climate Fund, i.e. more efficient use of funds available to North Macedonia, regarding which EUR 5 million are planned in the first phase as grant funds and EUR 22 million in favorable loans," reads an official press release. 

Bytyqi and Dauphin also discussed the possibility of expanding the program by including local self-government units in the energy efficiency projects, through the allocation of funds intended for individual residential facilities and buildings, and it was requested from Bytyqi that citizens from the most vulnerable categories be included. 

Dauphin told Bytyqi that the Agency has so far allocated funds in the amount of EUR 1 billion for projects in the region in the sectors of energy, transport, treatment plants, waste, municipal infrastructure and to support the Development Banks, expressing the Agency's support for the country.

Photo: Government of the Republic of North Macedonia