The representatives of the Statistical Office of the European Union - Eurostat, Mr. Jean-Pierre Poncelet, Director of Directorate B. Standards, Dissemination and Cooperation in the European Statistical System, and Mrs. Claudia Junker, Head of Department B3. Enlargement, Neighborhood and Development Cooperation, are on a working visit to the State Statistical Office.
Together with the director of the State Statistical Office, Mr. Dejan Stankov, as well as with the representative of the EU Delegation in the Republic of North Macedonia, Mr. Oleg Hirbu, the representatives of Eurostat had meetings with the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska and with the Minister of European Affairs, Mr. Orhan Murtezani, as well as with the Deputy Minister of Public Administration, Mr. Laze Jakimovski.
The separate meetings discussed the status of the State Statistical Office within the public administration in the country and its specificity that sets it apart from other authorities in the country, the challenges faced by this institution in terms of budgeting, the lack of staff and the inability to provide and retain qualified staff for statistical purposes, as well as the importance of using official statistical data in the creation of policies and strategies, as well as the role of official statistics in the EU accession process.
The representatives of Eurostat at the meetings with the ministers and the deputy minister particularly referred to the positive evaluations that the official statistics of the Republic of North Macedonia receive in the last several reports of the European Commission on the state's progress, but also to the specific recommendations for the State Statistical Office which refer to increase in the personnel capacity of the institution, budgeting and strengthening of the institution's infrastructure.
The representatives of Eurostat, Mr. Jean-Pierre Poncelet and Mrs. Claudia Juncker continue their visit in Struga, where the meeting of the Policy Group for Statistical Cooperation begins today, hosted by the State Statistical Office, and attended by senior representatives of the statistical institutions of the candidate countries for membership in the European Union (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Turkey, Moldova and Ukraine).
