SKOPJE, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland will give Macedonia 69 million euros (77.5 million U.S. dollars) over the next four years to help the country achieve European standards, Swiss ambassador to Macedonia Sybille Suter Tejada announced here Wednesday.
The fund aims to support various reform programs in Macedonia, Tejada told reporters at a news conference.
She added that the funds were also to help authorities here to build a socially-inclusive democracy, develop a free market economy, and manage natural resources efficiently.
"Some 19.5 million euros of the total will be meant for economic development and we expect 4,400 new jobs to be created in the process," Tajada declared.
Regarding politics, she said that the fund would help Macedonia to improve the efficiency of the electoral process and the political culture in general.
Noting that Switzerland remained one of the top bilateral partners and supporters of Macedonia, Tejada stressed that such initiatives and activities would continue in the future. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars)
