Skopje, 8 November 2022 (MIA) – As part of his two-day visit to Sofia, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani participated Tuesday in a roundtable discussion themed “Promoting Constructive Capital in Bulgaria and North Macedonia”, organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy. In his address, FM Osmani stated that the new geopolitical context, caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the NATO membership, imposed, among others, the necessity of raising awareness about the source of foreign direct investments, from the aspect of strategic interests and national security. As a result, corrosive capital is no longer an issue which only concerns the economic institutions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release. According to Osmani, the institutionalization of the mechanisms for assessing foreign direct investments in order to protect the economy and the state is in line with the reform agenda, as an especially important part of EU membership, but also as part of the Strategic "Dialogue between North Macedonia and the United States. The chosen model must enable close cooperation with the EU, as well as with our neighbors, such as Bulgaria, with which we share common interests and challenges," said Osmani. Bulgarian FM Nikolay Milkov also took part in the roundtable discussion, as well as other high representatives of Bulgarian government institutions and the nongovernmental sector from Skopje and Sofia, reads the press release. ad/ik/