Skopje, 31 October 2022 (MIA) - Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani met Monday with Lucia Puttrich, Minister for Federal and European Affairs of Hessen, a federal state in west-central Germany. Talks focused on perspectives for future cooperation with Hessen following the example of the excellent cooperation of North Macedonia with the German states of Bavaria and North Rhine–Westphalia. In addition to political dialogue, an accent was also put on economic and financial cooperation since Hessen is the banking center in Germany and Europe, the Foreign Ministry said. "We expect the cooperation with Hessen to enrich our overall cooperation with Germany, which is our important political and economic partner and our biggest ally in the past three decades," Minister Osmani said. Minister Puttrich mentioned the prospects for mutual economic cooperation pledging that Germany's support of North Macedonia's EU integration process will continue in the future as the country is making progress in the process. The interlocutors also discussed political, security and economic risks as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO's role in Europe as well as multilateral cooperation with an accent on North Macedonia's upcoming chairmanship of OSCE in 2023, said the press release.