Marjan Nikolov

Доцент Марјан Николов, Меѓународен Славјански Универзитет Македонија

Почитувани,

Добредојдовте на страницата на Македонија во заедницата за регионални студии. Ми претставува особено задоволство и чест да ја претставувам Македонија во оваа заедница на истражувачи од цел свет. Преку оваа заедница може да си ги остварите своите академски цели во областа на економијата, политичките науки и просторното планирање но и да истражувате и споделувате ваши идеи и истражувања преку интердисциплинарниот пристап. Платформата преку која може да ги споделите вашите истражувања се преку списанијата: Regional Studies, Regions, Regional Insights, Spatial Economic Analysis, Territory, Politics, Governance но и преку конференции и средби каде во понеформална средба може да се дружите и да разменувате мислења и искуства. Членството во оваа заедница ви носи можности за вмрежување, визибилност и поволности. За други прашања и сугестии слободно контактирајте ме.

Со почит,

Марјан Николов

RSA Annual Conference in Ljubljana

At the 2023 RSA Annual Conference in Ljubljana 14-17 of June, the EU Horizon Green force project organized a special session on Assessing the impacts on Just and Green transition in the Balkan countries.

The Regional Studies Association’s Annual Conference RSA 2023 was one of the largest knowledge exchange and networking gatherings in 2023. This four-day conference brought together academics and policymakers to exchange news, views and research findings from the fields of regional studies and science, regional and economic development, policy and planning. There was representation from around 50 different global territories as established experts and early career researchers gathered in the beautiful city of Ljubljana, including GreenFORCE researchers from Co-PLAN Institute for Habitat Development, Politecnico di Torino and Center for Economic Analyses – CEA. The conference was organised in partnership with the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development. The conference was held at the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana.

Marjan Nikolov the Ambasador of RSA in North Macedonia presented the preliminary results of the research: “The Just transition process in North Macedonia: A need for a place-based governance action”. You can find the presentation here. Marjan Nikolov also attended the RSA Territorial Representatives Annual Meeting.

As of April 2020, Republic of North Macedonia became part of the Adrion region. The new Strategy has been prepared and Marjan Nikolov was part of the team who prepared this document. Marjan worked on the economic framework of the Strategy as a key economist.

The Strategy, Territorial analysis and the Macro-economic analysis can be found here: https://www.adrioninterreg.eu/index.php/about-program/programme/towards-the-new-adrion-a-view-ahead-on-the-next-programming-period-2021-2027/

The RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia is part of the Center  for Economic Analyses. Click here to read their 2019 newsletter.

RSA Member Vesna Garvanlieva Andonova, participated in the European Week of Regions and Cities held in Brussels. Vesna took part in the panel “Territorial governance as development chance for the Western Balkans”. In response to the presented overall challenges of the Western Balkan by the TG-WeB, she presented some of the challenges in North Macedonia related to the decade long balanced regional development policy and the fiscal decentralization challenges. In the invited comments for the case of North Macedonia she stressed that the disparities among the regions between Skopje planning region and the remaining regions in terms of social, economic, demographic, spatial cohesion in the past decade have not shown convergence and closing the gap.

RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia event report 

The Network of Western Balkan Territorial Governance is the new Western Balkan (WB) unique voice for better territorial governance.

On 17th and 18th of May 2018 in Tirana and hosted by Co-PLAN, in view of current regional dynamics and sociopolitical ambitions in the Western Balkans a new regional network comprising of civic actors mainly from civil society and academia, who are voluntarily willing to organise and provide bottom-up contribution to the EU integration of our respective countries and WB region as a whole, initiated the Network of Western Balkan Territorial Governance.

The mission of the Network is to catalyze changes that develop and support innovations on better territorial governance for Western Balkan in line with its European Union ambitions. The Network will achieve its mission through tools and approaches that mirror macro-regional specifics and encompass, but are not limited to: dissemination of information and knowledge, addressing various audiences of professionals and decision-makers, establishment of living laboratories, networking and alliances, bridging with EU institutions, and establishment of evidence-based observatories on territorial development and governance.

The RSA Ambassador for North Macedonia presented the RSA profile and RSA funding opportunities as well the opportunities to publish at the RSA publications.

Please see document list below to view the participant book for this event.

It is anticipated that the second event of this Network will be held in May 2019 in Skopje-Macedonia hosted by CEA .

RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia event report 

At a recent event organised by the Center for Economic Analysis (CEA) attended by the Minister of Local Self-Government, the State secretary of Ministry of Local Self-Government, mayors, council members and professors, Vesna Garvanlieva as a member of the RSA had a stand with promotional material. Vesna shared the material with all present participants of the event through which they can learn about the highest standards of theoretical development, empirical analysis and policy debate of issues at this sub-national scale, incorporating both the urban and rural and different conceptions of space such as city-regions and interstitial spaces. You can read more about the event here.

RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia conference report from Albania 

RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia, Mr. Marjan Nikolov attended the: “Second Western Balkans Forum on Regional and Local Economic Development” organized by the Center for European Policy Studies for Regional and Local Development (CRLDS) Albania. The event took place in Valona at the University Ismail Qemali  of Vlora on 30 November 2017. The Second Forum on Regional and Local Economic Development is organized by the CRLDS in cooperation with the European Academy of Regions, the University Ismail Qemali of Vlora, the Regional Council of Vlora Region, Vlora Municipality, Regional Youth Center of Vlora and will be under the auspices, support and strategic cooperation of many international, European and Western Balkan Organizations as such  as OECD, Ersa, Western Balkans Network etc. The 2017 edition is supported by the Government of Flandres and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania, under the auspices of the Minister Mr. Damian Gjiknuri. RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia, Mr. Marjan Nikolov presented a research topic: “The regions in Macedonia: The determinants of the CSO participation at regional policy agenda” – click here to read.

RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia conference report

RSA Ambassador from North Macedonia Dr. Marjan Nikolov is a Local World Bank Expert on Municipal Finance for the Urban Partnership Program (UPP) of the World Bank. On the 14th and 15th of November the Ninth City to City Dialogue took place in Skopje, Macedonia to share practices and findings from Municipal Finance Self-Assessment and Urban Audit as a part of World Bank Austria Urban Partnership Program (UPP. The event was opened by H.E. Suhejl Fazliu, Minister of Local Self Government of Macedonia, Linda Van Gelder, World Bank Regional Director for Western Balkans and Gabrielle Janezic, Deputy Head of Mission, Government of Austria. The event was attended by more than 100 representatives from local government administrations, including Mayors, finance departments, local economic development officers, urban planners, NGOs from seven South East Europe countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Cities and municipalities of Banja Luka, Rijeka, Kisela Voda, Novi Sad, Strumica, Gjirokaster, Belgrade, Zenica, Pregrada, Zapresic among others had an opportunity to share experiences with their peers from the region and beyond in order to improve their management and planning. RSA Ambassador from North Macedonia, Dr. Marjan Nikolov presented how the Municipal Finance Review database can be used in measuring efficiency of local governments, a methodology which can easily be adopted for measuring regional efficiency as well (presentation attached). Dr. Nikolov also Chaired the session related to the WB’s tool Urban Audit and the experience in the region (Macedonia and Albania).

Macedonian RSA members at a recent conference

In September 2017 as Director of the Center for Economic Analysis, Marjan Nikolov hosted a conference in Skopje entitled The Rule of Law: Where are we Heading? This international event brought together representatives from academia, think tanks, civil society and policy-makers to take stock of where we are today and we are heading when it comes to the Rule of Law in Europe. These questions were assessed in the fields of Rights, Security and Economy in a number of expert panels, plenary sessions and keynote lectures. Particular attention was given to the situation in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. This Event was co-organised between the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, and the Centre for Economic Analyses (CEA) in Skopje, with the full involvement of the five selected members of the ENGAGE Fellowship including the RSA Ambassador to North Macedonia Marjan Nikolov. Click here to read more about the panels.

Macedonian Regional Aspects

Efficiency Powerpoint presentation

RSA Ambassador Macedonia

CEA_Newsletter_2017

Participant book for Network of Western Balkan Territorial Governance