Decision to open borders with unconditional North Macedonia, taken next week

Next week, it will be set for the opening of unconditional borders between the countries of the region. This is the consisting of Kosovo and Macedonian health ministers who met in Skopje. Minister Venko Filipce and his Kosovo counterpart, Armend Zemaj, said removing the negative PCR test will be replaced with one of the other three options for free movement of citizens.

“There are more options, one of them is ultra-speed tests in 15 minutes. However, we appreciate that we have similar epidemiological situations. Borders closed on the one hand or PCR tests on the other in some situations are not enough security. We need to discuss other models, so by the beginning of next week, after the intensive work of the working groups, we will announce what position we will take of” Vance, Minister of Health of RMV, said.

There are also blood antibodies tests or just respect medical protocols in masks and distances.

The next “week will have detailed reports of the epidemiological situation, so we will also pass to the government decision-making level for free movement in the region as well as between the two countries. The rest is connected professionally to the demand for testing, whether molecular or serological. But our insistence is that with the improvement of the situation, we also facilitate the free movement of citizens and goods” said Armendi Zemaj, Minister of Health of Kosovo.

The meeting, held <x0online” two weeks ago between the six Western Balkan countries and Greece and Bulgaria, has intensified the working group's activities to reach a regional deal for free movement of citizens under the conditions of pandemic. Unofficially, the next meeting “online” will take place on Wednesday, and if an agreement is not reached with the entire region, the two-way protocol between Kosovo and Macedonia will be made for free movement without the PCR negative test, Alsat-M reports.