North Macedonia is expected to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Britain

North Macedonia is expected to become the first country from the Western Balkans to sign a strategic partnership agreement with the United Kingdom.

The agreement, worth around 6 billion euros, is expected to be signed on Thursday in London by a delegation of the Macedonian Government, led by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Nikolovski.

However, the details of this partnership and the conditions under which North Macedonia will receive financial resources from Britain have not yet been announced.

Macedonian authorities and London deny that the agreement includes accepting migrants to Macedonia who have not been granted asylum in Britain.

"It's something that has never crossed our minds and no one has asked us for," Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told members of his VMRO DPMNE party in Skopje on Sunday.

For him, the agreement is "historic" because access to 6 billion euros of favorable loans "will bring an investment revolution to the country, a truly historic investment cycle, which means work, construction, development," said Mickoski, mentioning the construction of railways, highways, hospitals and student dormitories.

The British Ambassador to Skopje, Matthew Lawson, also denied speculation about sending migrants to Macedonia, emphasizing that cooperation in this area will be related to the fight against criminal networks and the exchange of intelligence information.

Deputy Prime Minister Nikoloski, as announced by the Government, will also meet in London with Dame Angela Eagle, Britain's Minister for Border Security and Asylum, responsible for dealing with irregular immigration.

The British ambassador considers the agreement a "historic moment" in bilateral relations and explained that Britain is already the second largest investor in North Macedonia, with around half of British investments in the entire Western Balkans located here.

An agreement on a strategic partnership was reached at a meeting between the prime ministers of North Macedonia and Britain, Hristijan Mickoski and Keir Starmer, on the sidelines of the summit in Tirana on May 16.

The agreement to be signed on Thursday aims to create support for infrastructure projects in healthcare, transport, technology, energy, digital transformation and other vital sectors. About 6 billion euros have been planned for this purpose, while North Macedonia's annual budget is 6.5 billion euros.

The planned projects, as the Government said, are the construction and reconstruction of railway corridor 10 from Tabanovca to Gevgelija, which is estimated to cost up to two billion euros, while the construction of the Clinical Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Student Dormitory in Shtip, the complete reconstruction of the Clinical Hospital in Tetovo, as well as the construction of a new hospital with a new health center in Kicevo would cost around 200 million euros.

The opposition Social Democratic Alliance announced that it would vote to ratify the agreement with Britain in Parliament, but leader Venko Filipce criticized the Government for not publishing the details of the agreement.

"It is very important to know all the parameters of the agreement with Britain, because it involves "large sums of money, interests that we do not know how much they are and which will be paid by future generations," Filipche said.

The details of the new loans are not known, but both the prime minister and ministers assure that they will not exceed the critical limit of over 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Before leaving for London, Deputy Prime Minister Nikolovski said on Tuesday that, according to him, "the repayment terms and interest rates for the funds from the agreement will be better than any previous borrowing" and "initially it is possible to move below the inflation rate, but the details will be revealed after a month, up to a month and a half."

Of the six billion euros in the financial framework with the United Kingdom, around 2.2 billion euros will be withdrawn in the first five-year cycle, said Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska on the "360 Degrees" show.

"Two billion over five years is 400 million euros. This is the annual increase in public debt compared to these investments, which, in turn, will contribute to economic growth," says Dimitrieska-Kochoska.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Nikolovski announced that the first funds are expected by the end of the summer, and construction works could begin in early October. Domestic companies are expected to participate in up to 70 percent in the implementation of infrastructure projects./ REL