Vice-Premier for European Affairs Teuta Arifi, who is visiting the United States, held talks with UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri.

The talks focused on UN Women-supported projects in Macedonia, aimed at meeting the national objectives for gender equality, which are also part of the country's reforms towards the EU membership, the Secretariat for European Affairs said in a pres release on Saturday.

Improving the women's status in a society will contribute to better future of the Western Balkan, Arifi and Puri agreed.

Arifi also had a meeting with UNDP Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Cihan Sultanoglu, discussing the ongoing projects in Macedonia, supported by this organization, which are rather significant for the power decentralization process and regional development.

Arifi and Sultanoglu consider that the high level Macedonia-EU dialogue presents a solid opportunity for the country to bolster the reforms and speed up its accession to the Union.

Sultanoglu said the UNDP was ready to support the dialogue by concrete projects, the press release reads.