Skopje, 7 November 2023 (MIA) — Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Ljupcho Nikolovski met Tuesday in Jahorina with Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina Stasa Kosarac as part of the annual meeting of ministers of agriculture and rural development in Southeast Europe.

According to an official press release, Minister Nikolovski said North Macedonia was a leader in using funds from the IPARD 2 program.

"We have a 100-percent implementation of the program," Nikolovski said, adding that North Macedonia was the first in the region to start implementing the new, IPARD 3 program this September.

Nikolovski said the country's IPARD success was also confirmed by the European Union, which increased the funding by 62 percent so the new IPARD 3 program would make 97 million euros of European funds available to North Macedonia.

At the meeting, the two ministers agreed on an official visit of Minister Kosarac to North Macedonia in the near future to exchange experiences for a better implementation of the IPARD program.

"Good regional cooperation is an important factor in the European integration of the countries of the region," the press release says, noting that trade between the member countries of the Open Balkan initiative reached 1.1 billion euros as a result of this cooperation.

Minister Nikolovski also told meeting participants that he was looking forward to Bosnia and Herzegovina's joining the Open Balkan Initiative.

"Supporting each other is the only way to make progress," the agriculture minister said. mr/