6 April 2022 Kichevo - The newly built 10-megawatt Oslomej 1 photovoltaic plant was tested earlier on Wednesday ahead of an event marking the country’s move away from coal-fired power and transition to renewable sources of energy. Kichevo – Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said that everything that will mean improving the relations between the citizens and the state will be a good basis to amend the Constitution, underscoring that EU membership ensures all citizens to be equal and that decisions should be made in achieving this objective. Skopje – The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are focused on ensuring the distribution of agriculture projects that were bound for export to Russia and Ukraine, said Government Spokesperson Dushko Arsovski on Wednesday. Brussels – Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said the NATO members will discuss Wednesday the sending of reinforced aid to Ukraine, MIA’s Brussels correspondent reports. As NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has pointed out that allies are determined to provide further support to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, air-defence systems and other equipment to counter Russian aggression. Skopje – Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi met Wednesday with the President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, Tzvetan Tzvetkov, Vice-President Toshko Todorov, and Auditor General of the State Audit Office of North Macedonia, Maksim Acevski. Secretary General of North Macedonia’s Parliament, Cvetanka Ivanova, also attended the meeting. Skopje – Luxembourg is North Macedonia’s friend and supporter of our European integration, said Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj after Wednesday’s meeting with non-resident Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to North Macedonia, Philippe Donckel, who was joined by Luxembourg’s Honorary Consul to North Macedonia, Petar Arsovski. Skopje – Deputy PM for European Affairs and National IPA Coordinator, Bojan Marichikj, opened on Wednesday the fifth meeting of the Sector Working Group on justice. Deputy PM Marichikj stressed the importance of this sector, particularly in terms of European integration, the Secretariat for European Affairs said in a press release. Skopje – The future of the region is in the EU and any delay in starting EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania reduces citizens’ confidence, concluded Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj and Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) during their talks on Wednesday. Skopje – The Commission for Infectious Diseases issued Wednesday recommendations on lifting the mask mandate in indoor areas, with the exception of health institutions, retirement homes, pharmacies and public transport. It also recommends the cancellation of epidemiological tracing of contacts and the subsequent recommendation for isolation of contacts. Skopje – North Macedonia registered 195 new COVID-19 infections after 2,249 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, two patients died and 207 recovered, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Skopje – Enrollment in secondary schools in school year 2022/2023 will be carried out online instead of in-person handover of documents in schools. A new digital service – online enrolment of pupils in secondary schools has been developed by the Ministry of Education and Science in cooperation with the Center for Change Management (CCM) within a project funded by the British Embassy. Skopje – The vision for enhanced local development and improvement of the financial capacity of municipalities is the foundation of the reform that has been drafted into a bill currently in parliamentary procedure, which enhances fiscal decentralization. The reform is comprised of three main pillars – increased fiscal capacity of municipalities and their revenues, increased fiscal discipline of municipalities, and increased transparency and accountability, said Finance Minister Fatmir Besimi at Wednesday’s signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation with the second batch of 24 partner-municipalities within the USAID Strengthening Resource Mobilization Activity Program. Strumica – The Basic Court in Strumica passed a judgement in the case of the helicopter crash near the city in which four MoI pilots were killed on July 10, 2014. Skopje –  Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Jovanka Trenchevska, met on Wednesday with John Kennedy Mosoti, UNFPA Country Director for Serbia, Republic of North Macedonia and Kosovo, and Afrodita Shalja-Plavjanska, UNFPA Head of Office, for talks on the preparation of a new Demographic Policy Strategy of North Macedonia. Kichevo - A fire broke out in a substation of the new photovoltaic power plant built at the site of the former Oslomej coal mine, according to MIA’s Kichevo correspondent. The fire has been put out, and the company said that it was a part of a test and that such defects were possible. Strasbourg – The European Union could restrict Russian oil and gas imports, top officials said on Wednesday, a day after the bloc’s executive proposed a ban on Russian coal in response to atrocities committed in Ukraine. Berlin - People infected with the coronavirus in Germany will still be required to self-isolate from May following a U-turn from Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.