§ Mr. RandallTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what financial aid his Department has provided to the Government of Macedonia since 1 January. [2824]
§ Mr. MacShaneSo far this year Foreign Office funding for projects in Macedonia amounts to £687,000. This money is to fund projects in the fields of stability, conflict prevention and human rights, each with a particular emphasis on inter-ethnic relations. A large122W proportion of this money was given for the construction of the South-East Europe University in Tetovo, a project sponsored by the OSCE to provide higher education in the Albanian language for the first time in Macedonia.
HMG are also backing local projects: £56,160 for a disability rights project and £30,000 for a project against institutional violence.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office funding is in addition to the Department for International Development's pledge of £5 million to provide for technical assistance programmes, over a three-year period, and the European Union's euro 90 million stability assistance programme.