On 17-18 December 2012, for a second time in December, the National Statistical Institute hosts training for statisticians from the State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia. The visit is funded by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance of the European Commission (IPA 2009). The training aims to introduce Macedonian colleagues with EU legislation in the field of Transport and Environmental Statistics and its implementation in Bulgaria.

Experts of the "Statistics of Environment, Infrastructure and Regions" Directorate will share the experience of NSI in the production of statistics in both fields. Emphasis will be placed on waste statistics, water statistics and transport statistics. Of particular interest to the Macedonian experts is the organisation of the Survey on Waste from economic activity by type, as well as the collection of data for a municipal waste. More detail will be placed on the experience of NSI in water statistics - main indicators, methodology applied, development of methods and approaches for collecting spatial data. In the field of transport statistics there will be a presentation of the work of the "Energy and Transport" department concerning the collection of data on road, inland waterway, maritime and air transport.

The visit of Macedonian colleagues is a good opportunity for better mutual acquaintance of experts from both institutions who have lately strengthened their cooperation with the two visits of Macedonian experts to Bulgaria as well as with the ongoing Twinning contract MK/09/IB/ST/01 – "Support to the State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia for capacity building and improving compliance of statistics with EU standards" implemented jointly with the Federal Statistical Office of Germany and experts from Bulgaria, France, Denmark and the Czech Republic.