During the meeting an introduction into the political and cultural landscape of the country was given by Daniel Braun, Official representative of the Konrad Adenauer foundation in North Macedonia. The work of KAS in the Republic of Kosovo was also presented in the introduction remarks.
After the meeting, the group continued their study visit at the Orthodox Cathedral Church “St. Clement of Ohrid” and had talks with the priest Antonio Apostolovski about the matter of the Christian Orthodox Church in the country.
Following a visit to the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) was organized during which, the group had the opportunity to get insights about the work of the organization as well as an exchange of information on the topic of freedom of the press was shared by Dragan Sekulovski, Executive Director of the Association.
Later followed a working lunch with the Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Otto Graf. At this point the group was briefed about the work of the German embassy and had the possibility get to know more about the progress towards EU membership of North Macedonia.
In the afternoon part, a study visit at the Mustafa Pasha Mosque was organized and hosted by Agron Vojnika, PR at the Islamic Religious Community. During the tour an introduction of the situation of the Islamic Community was given and possible threads of religious radicalism were discussed.
As part of the programme the group attended a meeting with the Vice President of VMRO-DPMNE, Timco Mucunski and Marija Petrushevska, Member of the Parliament. Various topics such as the current situation in the Parliament concerning the country’s EU aspirations, party’s focus on the upcoming elections in the country as well as daily societal issues were discussed during the visit of the party headquarters of VMRO DPMNE.
The day ended with meeting Johannes Heidecker, Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia. The situation with the economy in the country in general as well as German investments and trade between Germany and North Macedonia were subject of discussion during the meeting.
