Today, the Minister of Environment and Physical Planning, Kaja Shukova participated in the panel session dedicated to innovation and sustainable development, which was part of the regional business forum held in Valandovo.
In her opening speech, Shukova emphasized that one of the central commitments of the Government is to set the energy policies in the Republic of North Macedonia on a stable long-term basis based on clean energy in order to provide conditions for sustainable growth of the economy of our country, healthy environment and new jobs.
– Achieving a neutral Europe by 2050, which is one of the climate goals of the EU to which we as a country are striving, requires changes in a number of key sectors, investment in environmentally clean and innovative technologies, support of the innovation industry, utilization on cleaner, cheaper and healthier forms of private and public transportation, decarbonization of the energy sector, ensuring energy efficiency of buildings, but also cooperation with international partners to improve global environmental standards. This is addresses in a large number of adopted documents from this sphere, and at the same time, the new Law on Energy and the Draft-Law on Climate Action are in accordance with EU legislation – Minister Shukova pointed out.
She added that the state is more intensively stimulating the use of the sun’s rays for the production of electricity and that with the construction of two 50 megawatt power plants in Oslomej by private investors, as well as two 10 megawatt own investments of ESM, Republic of North Macedonia is making the first energy transition of a coal-fired power plant with a photovoltaic power plant. At the same time, the realization of a dozen energy projects of renewable energy sources is underway, such as the photovoltaic power plants in TPP Bitola, in the area of Three Fountains near Shtip, near Miravci, the wind power plants in the part of the old airport in Shtip, the large project for the Cebren hydropower plant with Orlov kamen, as well as the gas plants at the TPPNegotino site.
Minister Shukova emphasized that it is a great pleasure when initiatives come from the local level. The impressions from intensive meetings with the mayors are that at the local level, projects that revive the concept of balanced sustainable development, through focus on energy saving, energy efficiency, use of renewable energy sources, etc, are being implemented more often, which indicates the recognition of the moment as to turn challenges into opportunities.
The forum was opened with a welcome speech by the mayor of Valandovo, Pero Kostadinov, who emphasized that the Municipality of Valandovo, as the host, slowly but surely revives this business forum year after year, as a good opportunity to develop cooperation and exchange knowledge and experiences locally, national and regional level.
The forum was attended by experts, representatives from the executive power, civil society organizations, the business sector, as well as representatives from the business community from Croatia and Serbia.
The forum was organized by the municipality of Valandovo in cooperation with the “Friedrich Ebert” Foundation.