Skopje, 9 December 2021 (MIA) – Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski and Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Ambassador Clemens Koja, presented on Thursday at the police training system in Idrizovo new computer equipment worth EUR 95,000. The equipment includes laptops and technical gear, set to advance online learning at MoI’s training center. Minister Spasovski said that for the past few years, the OSCE Mission to Skopje has participated in several MoI projects, proving itself to be a valuable and loyal partner of the Ministry and assisting the development of the Macedonian police. “We successfully implemented projects in nearly all key police areas, including establishing and standardizing normative grounds and framework, organizational and operative restructuring, as well as technical and educational modernization, in line with current social, regional and global trends and challenges,” Spasovski noted. He added that their shared goal was strengthening the institutional capacity and efficiency of MoI for implementing strategic reforms, as well as enhancing professionalization, police education and training. “This valuable technical donation for the 12 regional online training classrooms, rounds off a project the MoI and the OSCE Mission have been working on for the past three years – setting up computer classrooms in each of the interior affairs sectors and regional centers for border affairs, all of which will be connected to an identical classroom at the training center,” the Minister said, adding that activities support the combined learning concept, which brings together in-person and online instruction. With this donation, he added, which stands at nearly EUR 95,000, the OSCE Mission to North Macedonia allows the MoI to continue strengthening capacities for establishing the necessary framework conditions and procure technical equipment for the decentralized training system by integrating online learning and moving us one step closer to modern police work trends. The Minister reiterated the importance of collaboration with OSCE on the 2022-2024 strategy on training and development of MoI employees and thanked the Mission for cooperation. The Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Ambassador Clemens Koja, stressed that the OSCE Mission to Skopje has long been one of the MoI’s closest partners in capacity-building. The 2018 decision by OSCE foreign ministers, he said, added an additional dimension to capacity-building work, by offering the OSCE as a partner in digitalization of training. “The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic provided a certain urgency to this work, highlighting the need to develop the means of online training. Although this requires upfront investments ultimately it will reduce training time and costs while stimulating new learning opportunities and professional autonomy,” Koja underlined. According to the OSCE Ambassador, the 2022-2024 strategy on training and development of MoI employees, adopted this past summer, foresees improvements to the current training system, as well as the further development of a higher performing digital training system. “To ensure sustainability of this effort, our strong support for police training needs and digital learning environment will continue in coming years. This could include equipping of additional training rooms or creation of a state of the art classroom here at the training center in Idrizovo,” Ambassador Koja said.