The Ministers confirmed their readiness and ambition to reach the environmental standards of the European Union. Despite economic hardship, the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) countries strived for keeping the environment high on the political agenda. The participants of the Meeting, which was held in Skopje, FYR Macedonia in October 2003, discussed the issues of approximation of legislation, strengthening of the environmental institutions, joint work on environmental enforcement and compliance. They estimated the efforts for strengthening the civil society, implementation of the Aarhus principles, fostering environmental education and integration of environmental concerns into other sectors.
