Brussels, 08/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMINK) agreed on a programme of cross border co-operation formalised on Tuesday with the signature of a joint statement. This first objective of this programme is to improve Skopje-Pristina corridor, which is the main route for civilian, commercial and military traffic. According to Commissioner Pattens' spokesperson who was present at the signing, it contains a whole series of concrete measures aiming to facilitate road transport, and also an reciprocal undertaking to simplify the administrative and legislative procedures. The two parties should regularly meet to follow the progress of the work and to decide upon new forms of co-operation.
Commissioner Patten congratulated himself for "this excellent example of the Stability Pact in action. That pact encourages members in the south-east Europe region to work together to improve regional integration and lay the foundations for economic growth and political stability." Furthermore he announced that the EU bring EUR 5 million to contribute toward the construction of works facilitating the border crossing, through the European Agency for Reconstruction and called upon "other donors" to do the same.