News
10/19/2022 01:58
The State Secretary and Deputy Chief Negotiator of North Macedonia in the negotiations for membership with the EU, Mrs. Drita Abdiu Halili, together with representatives of relevant institutions from the country, participated in the regional meeting of UN Women which is being held in Istanbul, Turkey from 18 to 20 October.
In general, the action is expected to improve the implementation of gender equality policies, increase the capacity for the effective adoption of EU provisions on gender equality and provide an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences between (pre)membership countries and with the EU member states.
The aim of the Regional Knowledge Exchange is to enable representatives of national bodies for gender equality, civil servants, and other social actors to learn and share best practices on the importance of gender equality in the EU integration process, between relevant institutions from the Western Balkans.
The goals, i.e. the tasks of this regional meeting are:
Exchange of knowledge and best practices for gender equality in the EU integration process between relevant institutions from the Western Balkans, Turkey and the three Eastern Partnership countries.
- Exchange of country experiences on how to improve the implementation of gender equality through EU membership negotiations and reforms.
- Exchange of knowledge, lessons learned for the adoption and implementation of EU legislation on gender equality.
In her speech to the audience, the state secretary in SEP and deputy chief negotiator with the European Union, Mrs. Drita Abdiu Halili pointed out, among other things:
- I am especially happy that this project supports the processes that we as an institution coordinate, which essentially represent general coordination of the harmonization of reforms, the acceptance of best practices, the strengthening of democratic processes and the rule of law, European integration, as well as ensuring gender equality component in all government strategic activities and relevant documents.
In this direction, the Secretariat for European Affairs has a horizontal role in the coordination of issues related to the integration process of our country in the European Union and the role it performs through the coordination of the activities of the negotiation structure. SEP coordinates and prepares the National Program for the Adoption of EU Legislation (NPAA) and coordinates activities for planning, programming, and monitoring of the instrument for pre-accession financial assistance of the European Union - IPA."
This meeting brought together participants from the countries of the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership, including Albania, BiH, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. The meeting was attended by representatives of relevant ministries, DG NEAR and DG Justice from Brussels, national mechanisms for gender equality, as well as UN Women program teams.