18:00/September 22/2021 Skopje – The roadmap, the country’s short and long name, non-interference in internal affairs and the negotiating framework, which is within EU’s jurisdiction with Bulgaria, are the concrete steps we are working on, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev stated Wednesday. “I hope we’ll complete them by the end of the year,” Zaev told reporters when asked about the concrete steps Bulgaria’s leaders have asked Skopje to take during their meetings yesterday with the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Oliver Varheyi. Skopje – Next year we will host a large military exercise and we expect a team from the Vermont National Guard to join. This will be another opportunity to demonstrate our close and successful cooperation, Defense Minister Radmila Shekerinska told a final press conference in U.S. State of Vermont on Tuesday. Skopje – The fiscal capacity and revenues of municipalities will improve through the changes to the Law on Financing of Municipalities, by which the rate of VAT and personal income tax block grants will gradually rise, said Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Finance Minister Fatmir Besimi on Wednesday. Skopje – The construction of a national gas distribution system and its networking with regional gas systems is one of North Macedonia’s priorities in the field of energy infrastructure, Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi told a panel on the role of natural gas in energy transition within a business forum in Warsaw as part of the ministerial meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC). Skopje – All those who cannot prove the origin of a property worth over EUR 30,000, acquired in the previous year, will have that property confiscated, reads the draft-Law on Property Origin. Ohrid – Effective management of Lake Ohrid and protection of its extraordinary natural values is key in the common vision of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and the three municipalities on the Macedonian side of the lake, and the support and cooperation by civil society organizations (CSOs). Skopje – 110,612 Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines have arrived in the country. The vaccines will be distributed to vaccination sites across the country in order to ensure a continued inoculation process, says Health Minister Venko Filipche. Athens – The European Union must be consistent and credible with the Western Balkans and Greece is prepared to take on a constructive role in the region’s integration process, Greek Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi, MIA reports from Athens. Geneva – The number of weekly Covid-19 cases and deaths globally continued to decline in the past week, the World Health Organization announced on Wednesday.