The twinning project officially ended its implementation period on August 17, 2019. On that occasion, on August 1, 2019, at the Natural History Museum in Skopje, a final event was held to present the results of the project. The event was led by Sashko Jordanov, M.Sc., Head of the Department for the Protection of Natural Heritage and Natura 2000 in the Ministry of Education and Culture and the RTA of the Twinning project from the beneficiary country.

The final event of the Twinning project was officially opened by Mrs. Ana Petrovska, State Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture. She referred to the role and efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in the identification activities of Natura 2000 and the fulfillment of the obligations of the EU directives on habitats and birds. He also thanked the help provided by the EU in the area of environment and especially in the concrete project in which the administration for the area of nature protection from Finland and Lithuania was involved.

In the presence of the representatives of 56 institutions, citizens’ associations, consulting companies, international organizations in the field of environment and nature protection, etc., the Head of the Department of Nature in the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and project leader of the Twinning project from the beneficiary country, Mr. Vlatko Trpeski presented the achieved results, the delivered documents and the achieved benchmarks for the success of the project. The achieved results in the project are thanks to the dedicated work of the staff employed in the project, the international experts from Finland and Lithuania, the Ministry of Environment, the Department of Nature, as well as the national experts engaged in the framework of the EU/UNDP project: Advancing the Management of Protected Areas.

In their addresses, the Head of the Cooperation Department at the Delegation of the European Union in Skopje, Mr. Nikola Bartolini and His Excellency the Ambassador of Finland for the region Kimo Lahdevirta emphasized the benefit of international partnerships for nature protection, especially in the area of transfer of experiences and skills in the process of harmonization with the EU legislation and the development of the Natura 2000 network, as the most significant European ecological network, which is also the largest network of protected areas. They particularly emphasized the need to continue funding projects from the EU to strengthen institutional capacities in the field of nature protection.

Finally, Mr. Petri Allroth, project leader from an EU member state (Finland), spoke about the positive experience of the cooperation of all partners in the consortium, as well as the transfer of knowledge between all three partner countries.

At the end of the event, the Twinning project awarded certificates of thanks to the Public Institution NP Pelister and the Municipality of Resen for the successful cooperation and contribution to the Twinning project, during the implementation of field activities, workshops, trainings and other events in these two pilot protected areas.

Mr. Pece Cvetanovski received the thank-you note on behalf of NP Pelister, and Mr. Zivko Gosharevski, the Mayor of Resen, received the thank-you note on behalf of the Municipality of Resen.