Pellegrini Concludes Trip to North Macedonia with Visit to Secondary School

Skopje/Bratislava, 15 October (TASR) - Slovak President Peter Pellegrini concluded his visit to North Macedonia on Wednesday with a tour of the Marie Curie-Sklodowska Secondary School, where a laboratory for processing biowaste has been set up with Slovakia's financial support through the UN Development Programme (UNDP). "I'm pleased that Slovakia, as a small country, can contribute in a meaningful way to helping countries that need it. I'm very glad that, as part of this international assistance, we're more active here not only in the area of education, but also through our public finance experts from the Finance Ministry, who participate in public budgeting reform and in aligning economic parameters and accounting with European standards," said the Slovak head of state. The total value of the project is around USD 350,000 (roughly €303,000), of which approximately USD 100,000 came from Slovak development aid. "I think that the greatest thing is to see the project in action – students trying new things, learning how to handle waste, and using the equipment and the means co-funded by Slovakia," he added. According to Pellegrini, Slovakia continues to support other projects in Western Balkan countries, including in the fields of cyber-security and e-government. "This is how a state should act – despite our limits, our size, and the size of our economy, we're still able to do great things like this," he said. President Pellegrini's two-day official visit to North Macedonia follows recent visits to other Western Balkan states, with the overarching goal of supporting the region's EU-candidate countries. During his trip to North Macedonia, he held talks with President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova and also met Prime Minister Christijan Mickoski and Parliamentary Speaker Afrim Gashi. jrg/df