On July 11, 2018 the initial meeting of the Coordinative Body for Tourism Development in the East Planning Region was held in the premises of the Municipality of Stip.

The need for establishing such a coordinative body emerged from the developed Strategy for development of tourism in the East planning region with Action Plan 2015-2026, and the establishment is supported by the Programme for Nature Conservation in Macedonia - a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

On July 9, 2018, in the premises of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, an Agreement was signed for realization of projects for development of the planning regions for 2018. The projects are financed by the Programme for Balanced Regional Development of the Ministry of Local Self-Government and the Bureau for Regional Development, totaling 196 million denars.

On June 29^th 2018 (Friday), the Center for development of the East planning region and the Regional Administration Blagoevgrad held a final press conference to promote the "Green Buildings for a Common Green Future - GREEN" project CB006.1.11.038, financed by the First call of Interreg -IPA cross-border program Bulgaria-Macedonia 2014-2020.

The Center for development of the East planning region, as the lead partner in the GREEN project, at the final press conference promoted the results achieved within the GREEN project in front of the representatives of the municipalities in the two regions, the media and other stakeholders from the cross-border region.

Regional Administration Blagoevgrad and the Center for development of East planning region within the "Green building for common green future - GREEN" project CB006.1.11.038, financed by the First call of the Interreg - IPA cross-border program Bulgaria-Macedonia 2014-2020, develop a joint regional energy-efficiency strategy 2020 for the Blagoevgrad and the East planning region. In the framework of the EE 2020 regional strategy, detailed energy efficiency analysis for the following 8 public buildings will be made in both regions:

The Regional Administration Blagoevgrad and the Center for development of the East planning region within the GREEN project from 29-30 May 2018 in Hotel "OMON" - Blagoevgrad, organized a two-day training on "Green infrastructure" attended by 40 participants, representatives from municipalities and public institutions within the Blagoevgrad and the East planning region.

On April 25, 2018, the fifth session of the Council for Development of the East Planning Region was held in Probistip Municipality.

At the meeting, a decision was made to grant consent for the initiation of the procedure for the proclamation of protected areas Osogovski Planini and Čengino Kale in the Eastern Planning Region. The adoption of this decision was preceded by a brief presentation by the representatives of the Macedonian ecological society, which emphasized the most important achievements of these regions, as well as for the bills that follow in the process of proclamation of the protected area.

On March 5, 2018, the Fourth Session of the Council for Development of the East Planning Region was held in Delcevo Municipality.

The final accounts for the work of the Center for Development of the East Planning Region were adopted at the session, as well as on the accounts of the projects that were realized in the course of 2017.

On April 11^th 2018 in the "22 Septemvri" Hall in the municipality of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, the Regional Administration and Center for development of the East planning region organized a second one-day workshop on "Together for Greener, Bright and Cleaner Future" within the "Green Buildings for a Common Green Future - GREEN" project CB006.1.11.038, financed by the Interreg-IPA cross-border program Bulgaria-Macedonia 2014-2020. The thematic workshop was attended by high school students from "Ljupco Santov" -Kocani, "Vanco Prke" - Vinica and the Language gymnasium from Blagoevgrad. A total of 62 high school students attended the second thematic workshop. The event was opened by the Deputy Regional chairman, Ms. Antoaneta Jancheva and the Manager of the Center for development of the East planning region, Ms. Dragica Zdraveva. The lecturer at the second one-day thematic workshop was Dr. Stefan Kirilov

On March 29^th 2018 in the "22 Septemvri" Hall in the municipality of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, Regional Administration and the Center for development of East planning region organized a one-day "Climate changes" thematic workshop.