As a part of international cooperation, the Director of the State Archives, Dr. Emil Krsteski, and the Head of the Department, Svetlana Usprcova, had meetings in Madrid with Dr. Severiano Hernandez Vicente, General Director of the Directorate of State Archives of Spain, and with Dr. Juan Ramon Romero Fernandez, Director of the National Historical Archives of Spain.
At these meetings, it was discussed the possibilities for deepening bilateral cooperation, more specifically for recording the documents that refer to Macedonia, which are located in the Archives in Spain, as well as for support in the process of digitization of archival documents and materials in our State Archives and its inclusion in European archival projects.
"The State Archives of Spain were the first in the world to start the digitization process, back in 1995, and their experience is significant for the realization of that process in our State Archives" - said after the meetings the director, Dr. Emil Krsteski, who added that soon expects from the Spanish colleagues to obtain copies of the archival documents testifying to the participation of the 137 Macedonians in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), who fought on the side of the Republic, of whom 65 died on the battlefields.
At the meetings and conversations at the Historical Archive of Spain in Madrid, in which our ambassador to Kingdom of Spain, Oliver Krliu, also participated, it was also discussed the support of the Spanish government for our full integration into the European Union, which they will preside over in the second half of this year and on whose agenda the digitization processes of the administrations in societies, including the state archives, are placed high on the agenda, for which special funds will be created. The ambassador, Oliver Krliu, especially emphasized the cooperation of the two countries as a part of the Mediterranean Union.