Today, in Shtip, the Minister of Environment and Physical Planning, Kaja Shukova, attended the promotion of the latest equipment and methodology that will identify the sources of ambient air pollution in five municipalities in the country, Kavadarci, Strumica, Gostivar, Struga and Kumanovo. The research will be carried out by the “Goce Delcev” University from Shtip and the “Ambicon” laboratory, and for the first time, indoor air pollution was also measured. The sources of the pollution will be detected in several schools and kindergartens in the municipalities, where the pollution will be measured not only with PM particles, but also the presence of epidemiological, bacteriological and organic components will be determined and analyzed.
Minister Shukova stated that it is a special pleasure to see the results of the projects that improve the air quality in the country, which the Ministry and the Government are continuously working on. The project Dealing with pollution gave good results in its first phase when we concentrated on the city of Skopje. Now we include the cities of Kavadarci, Kumanovo, Strumica, Struga and Gostivar.
I would like to express my gratitude to our partners the Kingdom of Sweden and the Swedish Embassy in Skopje for the provided financial support, UNDP as an implementation unit, the municipalities involved in the project activities, the University “Goce Delchev” from Shtip and its laboratory AMBICON, as well as to all others who they make a contribution with jointly coordinated activities to ensure cleaner air, and thus better health for our citizens – she said.
The ambassador of Sweden, Ami Larsson Jain, also spoke at the event, who confirmed that the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) continues to help North Macedonia deal with challenges in environmental protection, especially with air pollution problems and waste management.
The UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of North Macedonia, Armen Grigoryan, also had an opening speech, who pointed out that these measurements and research in the five cities will show the local authorities what pollutes the air in their municipalities, so that they can plan and implement appropriate measures. 
The goal of the project is to discover and measure the sources of air pollution, identify, develop and implement appropriate measures to solve the problems, strengthen the capacities of partner organizations, as well as raise public awareness of the dangers of air pollution.