Skopje, 20 April 2022 (MIA) – President Stevo Pendarovski addressed Wednesday the first in the series of training sessions themed “Anticipating and thinking ahead in policy-making”, part of the “Evidence-based migration policy planning and discourse in North Macedonia” joint programme of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), funded by the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund. President Pendarovski said migrations have historically played a key role in the political, demographic and economic aspects of life in the country. Besides the traditional economic migration and outflow of a large number of Macedonian nationals, recent years have seen intensive migration processes as a result of military or security crises, such as the one in Syria in 2015-2016, when North Macedonia was a transit route for millions of refugees. “These experiences have imposed the need for new legislation, restructuring and systematic preparation of institutions to cope with future challenges. However, the most important lesson I hope we have all learned is that we should not wait for crises to come to us but be constantly mobile and prepared to manage them, working on policies that anticipate developments, not only with regards to migration but also in other walks of life,” said Pendarovski. He said strategic document MKD2030, which focuses on a number of interrelated topics and fields, from digitization, decentralization and democratization, through environmental, economic, agriculture and health policies, up to education, science and migration policies, including the mass emigration of youth and depopulation, is to be released very soon and then turned into a National Development Strategy for the period up to 2041. The President said these are fast-changing times, where security, political and series of other factors – quality of life, healthy environment, climate change – affect migration processes. “We know it is not easy to anticipate future events but we must create strategies for various scenarios in the years ahead,” said Pendarovski. He added that cooperation and joint approach in the resolution of global problems are necessary if results are to be achieved and policies are to be implemented. “Russia’s attack in Ukraine has shown the fragility of peace on our continent and that little is needed to spark a new security, humanitarian and migration crisis. Considering that North Macedonia is geographically part of an area that has several open geopolitical issues, which still carry the potential for conflict, let me underscore the significance of our NATO membership, which gives us proper security guarantees. This is the best confirmation that the Euro-Atlantic course is the right one, one that required difficult but visionary decisions. In this regard, the Euro-integration process has obtained renewed significance not only for our country but also for the entire region, and that is why it is an imperative for both us and Europe to move this process forward and finally complete it,” underlined President Pendarovski.