The training was opened by Daniel Braun, an Official representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, who emphasized that the cooperation between KAS and VMRO-DPMNE continues on several different levels. At the same time, he emphasized that a functional local government that is close to the citizens is the key to citizens' trust in the state. Hence, it is important to underline that the mayors of VMRO-DPMNE want to upgrade themselves and thus strive to improve the communication of their municipalities with the citizens. Braun underlined the support that KAS provides for strengthening the capacities of several structures from VMRO-DPMNE, as well as the direct support to mayors with the aim of successful management in municipalities.
At the opening, the president of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, thanking the cooperation with KAS, emphasized the enormous importance of creating successful and quality policies at the local level, especially in the areas of economy and investments, environmental protection and digitalization. "We showed after a historic victory in 2021 that we can be different. With courageous, honest and sincere work we have achieved a lot. It does not mean that we succeeded in everything we imagined, it can always be better, but we succeeded despite harsh challenges. With that, the responsibility and expectations are getting bigger. It obliges us to be even better in the next half of the mandate. That is why the new government will place a strong focus on infrastructural capital investments in the municipalities. With that, we will bring the government closer to every home. Europe and the government must be closer to the citizens - this means better infrastructure, new sports centers, parks, schools and kindergartens."
The welcoming speeches were completed by Stefan Andonovski, Head of PRAC "Ljubisa Georgievski". Andonovski referred to the vision of the event - which should serve mayors in their work.
Dame Dimitrovski, Professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University "St. Cyril and Methodius" – Skopje presented his paper drafted with support of KAS. The paper, discussion and presentation mainly focused on contemporary centre-right policies and environmental challenges. It was particularly significant to note the activities, projects and policies that the mayors can apply in the municipalities for the improvement of environmental conditions.
Zoran Stavreski, former Minister of Finance, gave insightful presentation to the audience. Stavreski focused on two aspects faced by the mayors – the crediting of the projects in the municipalities, as well as the macroeconomic parameters that could be expected in the state in the future period. Igor Dimitrov, President of Management Board of bank, addressed the topic of opportunities for capital investments and budgeting at the local level.
In the part of concluding observations of the training, Davor Pasoski, Program Manager at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Stefan Andonovski, Head of PRAC "Ljubisha Georgievski", joined the discussions. This part included a discussion with the mayors regarding the needs and priorities for creating modern municipalities.
The event focused on creating adequate economic and social policies that guarantee sustainable local development, efficient care for the environment as well as strategies for accountability. In that sense, KAS and VMRO-DPMNE continue with the extremely useful joint cooperation.
