Minister of Local Self-Government Suhejl Fazliu and Director of the Bureau for Regulatory Development Ramiz Rexepi has today with the Mayor of the Municipality of Kocani Nikolco Iliev, with whom they discussed current projects that will be implemented in the municipality with financial support from the Program for Balanced Regional Development and the Program for cross-border cooperation.

The meeting also discussed the current situation in the municipality. The Mayor Ilijev stressed that the municipality will fully service all inherited debts by the end of the first half of the year, and in the meantime, only for a year has made savings of 150 thousand euros from the costs of transporting students.

- The municipality has great potential for development, especially for the development of spa and mountain tourism, for which we expect more support from the central government. Priority in the next period will be the infrastructural arrangement of the central city area, as well as the road infrastructure in the rural settlements, especially in the hilly mountains. The cooperation with the Ministry is at a high level and we work together on the realization of several projects, said Mayor Ilijev. He noted that the municipality has already prepared technical documentation for the local roads and the program for construction of the local road infrastructure will be realized in full.

Minister of Local Self-Government Fazliu emphasized that with the visit of the municipalities he wants to be directly informed about their functioning and the needs of the citizens.

- In Kocani last year the "Info-Center" of Ponikva was put into operation, a site on which the municipality strives to build a new ski lift, a project that was highlighted as needed by the held Regional Forum in the East Planning Region. The Commission in the Ministry will give priority to projects with a regional sign. In the phase of evaluation, another project submitted by the municipality of Kocani concerns the construction of a local road infrastructure, which is awaiting final approval, Minister Fazliu said.

Through the Cross-Border Cooperation Program with Bulgaria, implemented by the Ministry of Local Self-Government, another important project will be realized in Kocani with the construction of a Multicultural Center, with the complete reconstruction and remodeling of an object known as an old cinema, which will allow the inhabitants of Kocani modern and multifunctional facility for realization of various cultural and other social contents.