To improve the conditions in the energy sector and to attract more investments is the objective of the IPA project, which is to be implemented in the next couple of years by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with European experts.

Economy Minister Valon Saraqini said Thursday that the Euro 1.67-million project aimed at strengthening administrative capacities of the Energy Sector within the Ministry and the Energy Agency, thus providing stable legal and regulatory framework to harmonise the Macedonian legislation with EU's in the relevant field.

"The project is being launched today, while the agreement on its realisation in connection to technical assistance has been signed with the Austrian firm ATC Consultants, which is part of a consortium of energy institutions in Croatia, Norway and Greece.

The project is comprised of four components - two of them are related to improvement of administrative operations, one component is focused on harmonising the country's legislation with EU's and the last one envisages preparation of strategic documents vital for the advancement of the energy sector," Saraqini stated.

The consultants concluded that the Energy Sector functioning as part of the Ministry needed to be upgraded in a period of two years.
Answering journalist questions after launching the project, Minister Saraqini said that Macedonia's economic situation was expected to be improved in the second half of 2013. "The European companies will activate their orders thus boosting domestic production and export and trade deficit will be reduced".

The government, he added, is continuously taking measures to support the business sector.