site.btaForeign Minister Zaharieva Pays Visit to Skopje

Skopje, March 9 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign 
Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva is on a two-day visit to Skopje,
where she and North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Nikola 
Dimitrov will co-host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the
Berlin Process on March 10, Zaharieva's Ministry said on Monday.
 The event is the first within the joint presidency of the
Berlin Process by Bulgaria and North Macedonia in 2020.

As part of her visit to Skopje, Zaharieva provided official
Bulgarian development aid for the needs of North Macedonia's
healthcare system by supplying vaccination centres with 14
computer configurations and printing equipment, as well as
medical equipment for early diagnosis of respiratory diseases.
North Macedonia's Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Health
attended the ceremony. Bulgaria's donation is part of the
E-immunization Project worth 55,000 leva.

During her meeting with North Macedonia's Health Minister Venko
Filipce,
Zaharieva voiced satisfaction that the provided computer
configurations will help build an electronic register of those
who have been vaccinated, which in her words, will be very
useful. Currently, the immunization sites in North Macedonia
lack computers that can digitize the data about administered
vaccines. The possible future vaccination against the COVID-19
coronavirus in North Macedonia will be carried out at the same
sites.

Minister Filipce thanked Zaharieva for Bulgaria's contribution
to North Macedonia's health care sector, provided under the
official development aid. So far, projects funded by Bulgaria
have helped build two centres for autistic children in Skopje
and Ohrid, with a third one on the way in Tetovo.

The two discussed the situation with the spread of the
coronavirus in the region. Zaharieva shared Bulgaria's
experience, stressing the importance of preventative measures.

North Macedonia was provided with medical equipment worth 44,700
 leva for early diagnosis of cystic fibrosis under the second
project, financed by the Bulgarian official development aid. The
 donation was made to the Kozle children's pulmonary hospital in
 Skopje at a ceremony attended by North Macedonia's Foreign
Minister Nikola Dimitrov.
 
On Tuesday, Minister Zaharieva will be a panelist in a 
discussion on cohesion, economic convergence and the
environment. The Berlin Process Foreign Ministers' meeting will
start later in the day with a working lunch and discussions on 
regional co-operation and the Berlin Process. The Ministers will
  discuss the European perspective of the Western Balkans in the
  afternoon. Afterwords, Zaharieva, Dimitrov and German Foreign
Minister Heiko Maas will give a news conference.

Also on Tuesday, Zaharieva and North Macedonia's  Ministers of
Foreign Affairs, Health, Environment and Spatial Planning will
plant trees at the Miladinovi Brothers School in  Skopje under
an environmental project, which is also funded by Bulgaria's
official development aid. NV, RI/DT, DS, MY