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The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joins the UNECE Water Convention

On 29 July 2015, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia deposited its instrument of accession to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), including the amendments to the Convention that allow accession by countries outside the UNECE region. Therefore, on 27 October 2015, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will become the forty-first Party to the Convention. This will make the country the newest Party at the seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention, which will be held from 17 to 19 November 2015 in Budapest.


The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is not new to transboundary water cooperation. In 2004, it signed the Agreement for the Protection and Sustainable Development of Lake Ohrid and its Watershed together with Albania, followed by the establishment of the Lake Ohrid Watershed Committee in 2005. The country shares all of its main rivers and lakes with its neighbours in South-Eastern Europe, where as much as 90 per cent of the territory falls within transboundary river basins. Accession to the UNECE Water Convention by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is an important step in the process of strengthening transboundary water cooperation in the region, particularly because its co-riparians — Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia — are already Parties. As a candidate for membership in the European Union (EU), ratification of the Water Convention is also key for approximation towards EU legislation.


Indeed, the country’s process of accession to the Water Convention has already contributed to the water community, as it provided the impetus for the development of the Guide to Implementing the Convention, adopted by the Meeting of the Parties at its fifth session (Geneva, 10–12 November 2009). The Guide explains of the procedural, legal, administrative, technical and practical aspects of the Convention’s requirements. With the opening of the Convention to global accession, the Guide is an invaluable tool for other prospective Parties around the world hoping to apply the Convention’s provisions.

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