Skopje, 29 March 2022 (MIA) – North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani met on Tuesday with Matteo Mecacci, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). Talks focused on the cooperation with ODIHR, as well as opportunities to affirm North Macedonia as OSCE Chair for 2023. Participants in the meeting highlighted cooperation between ODIHR and the country’s relevant institutions since its independence, which includes a continued, active dialogue and productive relations as part of a series of important policies related to reform of the electoral system, creating preconditions for free and fair elections, tolerance and non-discrimination, gender equality, etc., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release. “Support and cooperation with ODIHR in terms of policies related to the reform agenda are of great importance in further promoting democratic processes and human rights in our country. A visible step forward in this regard inevitably marks progress, as well as additional argumentation on the path of our foreign policy priorities, and above all, EU membership. Achieving the commitments and principles of the OSCE/ODIHR is in fact our concrete contribution to the organization’s agenda,” FM Osmani stressed. In terms of the OSCE Chairpersonship in 2023, in addition to discussing possibilities to affirm North Macedonia as OSCE Chair for 2023, interlocutors also discussed challenges given the situation in Ukraine and the complex geopolitical moment in the OSCE region, reads the press release. North Macedonia’s Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski also met on Tuesday with the ODIHR Director Mecacci. The two expressed satisfaction with the successful cooperation so far and the progress in democratic election processes. In addition, Spasovski and Mecacci discussed issues in the area of hate crime and discrimination, as important challenges for any multi-ethnic society, in which it is essential that human rights protection is a priority. The two voiced confidence that successful cooperation in areas of mutual interest will continue in the coming period given the promotion of the Republic of North Macedonia as OSCE Chair for 2023.