Tuesday, 20th October 2009, Geneva

The Delegation from the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia met with the Swiss Delegation to the IPU

In the framework of 121st IPU Assembly, the Delegation from the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia had a meeting with the Swiss IPU Delegation. Mr. Jani Makraduli, Vice-President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and Chairman of the Governing Board of the Parliamentary Institute, Mr. Rafis Aliti, Vice-President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Ms. Silvana Boneva and Ms. Flora Kadri, Members of the Governing Board of the Parliamentary Institute met the Swiss Delegation composed of: Ms. Doris Stump, Head of the IPU Delegation from Switzerland, Romana Tedeschi, Programme Manager for Macedonia from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and Mr. Didier Chassot, Regional Coordinator for South-Eastern Europe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.

Both delegations emphasised the need for intensified parliamentary cooperation, which would complement the existing cooperation between the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, especially in the process of establishment of the Parliamentary Institute. Both sides agreed that the Parliamentary Institute will strengthen the legislative and supervisory, analytical and research capacity of the Assembly.

The Swiss counterparts expressed the readiness of the Swiss Parliament, through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, to intensify the expert assistance and logistics support for the Parliamentary Institute, and to this aim they proposed to organize a study visit of the Swiss Parliament during 2010. They also proposed establishing cooperation between the IT Departments of the two Parliaments.

During the meeting, both delegations exchanged experiences concerning the work of the respective Assembly TV Channels and the Constituency Offices of the MPs.

The members of the Swiss Delegation also congratulated Macedonia on the latest European Commission Progress Report and expressed support for finding a solution for the name issue with Greece, emphasising that Switzerland uses the constitutional name of in the bilateral communication.