Today, March 15th, the Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson in Office Bujar Osmani is received by Foreign Minister Tobias Billström in Stockholm. North Macedonia and Sweden have excellent bilateral relations and celebrate 30 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year. Sweden is a strong supporter to North Macedonia on its path towards EU accession.
This year Sweden is increasing its funding for reform cooperation with North Macedonia by 20 per cent, to up to 80 million SEK (approx 7 million euro) for 2023, local absorption capacity permitting. This makes Sweden one of the largest donors among the EU Member States.
Sweden’s reform cooperation with North Macedonia is part of a regional reform strategy for 2021-2027 for development cooperation in the Western Balkan countries and Türkiye. The starting point for this cooperation is to contribute to closer ties between North Macedonia and the EU, and to complement EU activities focusing on fundamental reforms.
Activities funded under the strategy assist the national authorities in their domestic reform efforts and support civil society as the country moves forward in its EU integration process.
“Sweden is significantly increasing support to North Macedonia to help it move forward in its EU integration process, notably to strengthen democratic and inclusive development.
The significant increase of funding for North Macedonia is a reflection of Sweden’s commitment to North Macedonia’s place within the EU family.
Sweden is walking the walk, and we do it together with civil society and institutions. These actors are the ones who must drive the wide-ranging reforms that are needed on the path to the EU. These reforms will deliver benefits to Macedonians not from the day the EU enters the EU, but from the day they are implemented,” said Ambassador Ami Larsson Jain.
The strategy has four focus areas (1) human rights, democracy, the rule of law and gender equality; (2) peaceful and inclusive societies; (3) environmentally and climate-resilient sustainable development and sustainable use of natural resources; and (4) inclusive economic development.
More information on the Swedish reform strategy for the Western Balkan, including North Macedonia, can be downloaded from strategy-reform-cooperation-western-balkans-and-turkey-2021-27.pdf (government.se)”
