SKOPJE (Macedonia), December 16 (SeeNews) – Macedonia and the European Union’s mission in Skopje signed a 19.2 million euro ($28 million) agreement for financing human resources development, under the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), Macedonian government said on Wednesday.
EU has made available the funds under the IPA’s fourth component that should be used for employment, education, training and social inclusion, the government said in the statement posted on its website.
The financial agreement was signed by the EU Special Representative for Macedonia, Erwan Fouere and Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration, Vasko Naumovski, the government's statement said.
The European Commission adopted the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development (2007–2009) for Macedonia at the end of 2007 with the overall objective “to foster the development of human resources by improving the quality of human capital, leading to more and better jobs, higher growth and development, and increased national competitiveness at international level,” the EU mission said in the separate statement.
Macedonia was granted a European Union-candidate status in December 2005, but is still awaiting a date for the start of accession negotiations with the bloc. Earlier this month, the European Council delayed its decision for setting a date for the start of membership talks with Skopje until the first half of 2010.
($=0.6859 euro)