Skopje: More than 90 delegates from 37 countries gathered in Skopje for the Joint Meeting of three Regional Working Groups to strategically prepare for the next five years. Deputy Minister of Interior of North Macedonia, Agim Nuhiu, officially opened the meeting and welcomed all participants, followed by State Secretary Magdalena Nestorovska who highlighted the importance of this meeting as the first gathering since the 6th Ministerial Conference in February 2019 in Istanbul.
During break-out sessions participating countries and organisations provided concrete inputs to jointly develop the implementation plan of the “Call for Action”, relying upon both geographic and thematic settings. These included various activities such as research outputs, workshops, and concrete projects addressing and responding to specific action points. The Call for Action had been adopted in February 2019 by close to 40 countries as an integral part of the “Istanbul Commitments on the Silk Routes Partnership for Migration”.
Afghanistan, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, as the Chairs of the Regional Working Groups, moderated break-out groups to discuss how to move ahead in the coming two years from a regional perspective and what activities to prioritise. The implementation plan will be further revised and a final version will be presented for endorsement at the annual Senior Officials Meeting in December 2019 in Istanbul.
