On 20th March, the Netherlands Ambassador H.E. Simone Filippini visited the State Authority for Geodetic Works (SAGW). The Director General of SAGW, Mr. Ljupco Georgiveski and his staff presented to the Ambassador the results of the cadastral reforms that have been implemented until today. The reform of the real estate cadastre is one of the main priorities of the Macedonian Government for improving the overall business environment for private sector  development. The real estate cadastre reforms intensified significantly in the last few years and as a result 70,5 percent of the territory of the country is currently covered by the real estate cadastre. The new Strategic Plan of the SAGW for the period 2007-2010 and the new ICT Strategy of SAGW were also presented at the meeting. The implementation of the two strategic documents should enable transformation of the SAGW into an effective, fast, modern, safe, secure and reliable service provider to the public. The increased use of ICT in the SAGW work will improve the access of the public to the SAGW's services.

As part of the implementation of the ICT Strategy, a new SAGW's website ( www.katastar.gov.mk) has become operational in 2007 and web based services for citizens and external professional users are being offered by the SAGW. The Netherlands has supported the reforms in the field of the real estate cadastre providing a funding for renovation and modernisation of a pilot Cadastre Office in Kumanovo in 2006, when the initial contacts between the SAGW and the Dutch Cadastre were established. Possibilities for further cooperation between the SAGW and the Netherlands Cadastre under the government-to-government (MATRA) programme that the Netherlands recently opened up for Macedonia were also discussed at the meeting.