Skopje, 26 October 2021 (MIA) – Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski attended on Tuesday the final conference of the EU-funded twinning project “Aligning the national systems with the EU and the Schengen requirements for border management.” Slovak Ambassador Henrik Markuš, the EU Delegation to North Macedonia’s Head of Cooperation, Steffen Hudolin, representatives from the Interior Ministry, Slovenia, Slovakia and project leaders also attended the event. Tuesday’s event wraps up project activities undertaken in the past three years. Slovak and Slovenian experts worked with members of the Department for Border Affairs and Migrations on aligning the national system with EU and Schengen standards for integrated border management, in line with the objectives of national and EU accession strategies. The project’s EU funded budget stood at EUR 1,000,000, for mapping out measures for adoption of Schengen related acquis, upgrading integrated border management legislation, development of a Schengen Action Plan and a new National Strategy for Integrated Border Management, as well as for strengthening administrative and technical capacities for integrated border management at multiple levels. Spasovski underlined on Tuesday that one of the project’s key activities was the development of a National Strategy for Integrated Border Management, in line with the European concept for Integrated Border Management (IBM). “The Ministry of Interior demonstrated readiness and professionalism in managing global threats and challenges amid a pandemic and successfully managing the migration challenge through prevention of illegal border crossings, migrant smuggling and other sorts of crime. North Macedonia fully understands and supports EU’s concept in which solidarity and division of responsibility are basis for efficient border management,” said the Minister. The EU Delegation’s Head of Cooperation Steffen Hudolin stressed that efficient and coordinated management of external borders is crucial for establishing trust and reaching the goal of having open, well-controlled and safe borders. “We all have to work together to achieve fully efficient European integrated border management, uniting all relevant stakeholders at European and national level,” Hudolin said.