Prishtina, 23 July 2013 – Cooperation agreements signed to date between Republic of Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia should be transposed into concrete projects, said the Minister of Economic Development, Fadil Ismajli, after the meeting with the Macedonian Minister of Economy, Valon Saraqini, who is on an official visit to Prishtina.

Both ministers confirmed the readiness of the two countries to intensify economic development and to engage in the future towards the removal of all eventual barriers, in order to ensure cooperation in the spirit of free market economy and integration of both countries in the European Union.

The Head of MED said that among topics discussed during the meeting were advancement of cooperation between the two countries, with special emphasis on the strengthening existing priority spheres, including energy and energy efficiency, infrastructure development, railroad sector, mining, transportation, coal utilization, implementation of common feasibility studies, including the respective study on utilization of gas in the region, as well as other topics of bilateral interest.

Also, Ministers Ismajli and Saraqini reviewed the possibility of executing agreements between transmission system operators and implementing common projects that stimulate economic development.

Minister Ismajli said that the relevant groups were established and will work in various spheres, such as energy, telecommunications, agriculture and tourism, and, according to the agreement on economic cooperation, respective experts will meet in autumn to delineate concretely further steps.

For his part, the Minister of Economy of Macedonia, Valon Saraqini, said that intensification of economic cooperation remains one of the main priorities of both governments, and to this end Republic of Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia have signed in total 27 cooperation agreements covering different spheres.

Minister Saraqini said that he discussed with Minister Ismajli on the issues of energy infrastructure, and application for international in the energy sphere, in order for Macedonia and Kosovo to prepare common projects that would be able to attract foreign investments in this sector.

According to Saraqini, another topic discussed in the meeting was the mining sphere, where numerous common projects could be initiated, while adding that companies from Macedonia and Kosovo could join and seek third markets together, with the aim of increasing their exports, thus effecting an increase of their gross domestic products.