Vice-Premier Radmila Sekerinska and Dutch Ambassador to Macedonia Frederique de Man signed Friday a Memorandum of Understanding on economic cooperation within the Programme for Co-operation with Central and Eastern Europe (PSO) in the period of 2004-05

Vice-Premier Radmila Sekerinska and Dutch Ambassador to Macedonia Frederique de Man signed Friday a Memorandum of Understanding on economic cooperation within the Programme for Co-operation with Central and Eastern Europe (PSO) in the period of 2004-05. The programme aims to promote the transfer of economic knowledge by the Dutch trade and industry in order to support the transformation to a market-oriented and stable economy in target countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It is focused on development of the market sector by privatisation and entrepreneurship; strengthening of the competitive position and modernisation of the market sector through restructuring, rationalisation and the upgrading of the business sector; development of long-term production processes in the market-sector: clean technology and energy saving techniques for enterprises. "Since the establishment of cooperation, the Netherlands assistance to Macedonia has been focused on two priorities - bringing the country closer to Europe and revival of its economy by developing small and medium enterprises," Sekerinska said. The programme, which includes other 12 SEE countries, was aimed at boosting the development of private sector by providing larger investments for private companies, the Dutch Ambassador said. In the period of 1998-2003 through PSO, the Netherlands approved 27 Macedonian projects, at total value of Euro 15,6 million. In the course of 2004, similar programmes will be realized in Albania, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Serbia/Montenegro, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Kazakhstan, Moldavia and the Ukraine.