US Ambassador Angela Aggeler welcomed the anti-corruption campaign of the Government, which included former Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi, the initiated reforms and the enhanced activity on the Bechtel highway construction sites. The charges against Grubi, who apparently fled to Kosovo, followed shortly after he was placed on a US black list.

I do believe that corruption has consequences. It should have consequences. It is my hope that leaders here and officials here follow up on that as well.. I’m heartened by the fact that many branches of the judiciary have come out since the announcement has been made on Monday night in Washington D.C. to say that there should be follow up. I hope that’s the case. We are watching very carefully, the investigations and detentions that have happened this past week, and I hope they bear fruit, Ambassador Aggeler said, before adding that she was not surprised when she saw Grubi’s name on the black list. “I would add that there is probably no-one in the country among the citizens, judiciary, anyone, who was surprised to see his name on the list”.

According to Aggeler, there is significant progress made by the new Government on energy diversification, on trade infrastructure and regional connections. “We’ll use the example of the Bechtel – Enka project. That was something that was talked about a great deal and yet virtually no progress has been made. And now, there is real progress. You can see the infrastructure being built, it is visible, above ground, and the citizens can see that for example the road between Bitola and Prilep is beginning to take shape”.