On July 20 was held in Hotel Alexander Palace the closure event of the Twinning Project to strengthen the administrative capacity for implementation of the environmental legislation at central and local level.

The ceremony was attended by about 130 guests and welcoming speeches were held by the Head of Operations of the EU Delegation in the Republic of Macedonia  Mr. Martin Klaucke, the Spanish Ambassador in the RM, H.E. Ramon Abaroa Carranza, the Charge d’Affaires of the Ambassy of Netherlands in the RM, H.E. Peter Verheyen, the Minister of Environment and Physical Planning. Mr. Bashkim Ameti and the Director of the State Environmental Inspectorate (SEI), Mr. Firus Memed.

After the welcoming speeches an overview of the implementation and results achieved by the Twinning Project was presented by the RTA Mr. César Seoánez and RTA Counterpart Mr. Darko Blinkov, followed by a presentation by the Dutch Junior Partner Project Leader, Mr. Rob Kramers, on the next steps that can or should be taken after the end of the project in order to ensure sustainability of its results and continuation of the progress in the field of environmental inspection & enforcement.

Satisfaction was expressed by all parties on the excellent results achieved by the project.

Besides the representatives of the project from the countries implementing the project - coordinators and experts from Spain, The Netherlands and the Republic of Macedonia, the audience included staff from the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning (MoEPP), SEI staff, inspectors and permit writers from multiple Macedonian municipalities, Inspection Council, representatives of the EU Delegation in Skopje, the Ministry of Finance-CFCD department, industries, NGOs, media, retired managers of the Inspectorate, experts in environmental field and other guests. At the end of the event a cocktail was offered to the participants.

Web news about the event were published in MoEPP’s website and in the Spanish public foundation FIIAPP’s website.

DOCUMENTS:

• Agenda of the event.
• Presentation: overview and outputs of the project.
• Presentation: next steps in the field of environmental inspection & enforcement.