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MILS NEWS 29/04/96From: "M.I.L.S." <mils@MILS.SPIC.ORG.MK>Macedonian Information Liaison Service DirectoryCONTENTS[01] GLIGOROV - 'RECOGNITION OF MACEDONIA AND OF ITS PEACEFUL POLICY'[02] GOOD CHANCES FOR MACEDONIA TO JOIN THE BLACK SEA INITIATIVE[03] CONDITIONS FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENTS INVESTIGATED[04] INCREASED DYNAMICS OF THE BILATERAL RELATIONS[05] CULTURAL COOPERATION WITH MONTENEGRO[06] NEW INCIDENTS IN KOSOVO[07] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION - 'PIRINSKI'S EXPLANATIONS DO NOT HOLD'[08] GREECE RECOGNIZED ALL THE COUNTRIES FORMED AFTER THE DISSOLVING OF SFRY[09] TOPONYMS IN THE PASSPORTS - OBSTACLES FOR BORDER CROSSING[10] ONLY THE GENERAL MANAGER OF KOMERCIJALNA BANK SUSPENDED[11] ANONYMOUS DATE SUGGESTED FOR THE TETOVO MUNICIPALITY HOLIDAY[12] SMALL RESPONSE OF THE VOTERS IN SEMENISHTE AND RASCHEMILS SUPPLEMENT:[13] 'To the West Through the East' ('Dnevnik', 29 April 1996)MILS NEWSSkopje, 29 April 1996[01] GLIGOROV - 'RECOGNITION OF MACEDONIA AND OF ITS PEACEFUL POLICY'Prince Anton of Lihtenstein handed the 'Cran Montana' Forum Award to the Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov in Bucharest last Friday. The Award is given for special contribution to the peace and stability in the region.In his speech at the ceremony, in front of 300 high officials and businessmen, President Gligorov said he was satisfied with the recognition his country peaceful policy. He said he was pleased that this Award was given by this Forum, which re-established the economy connections and the political friendship between Eastern and Western Europe. At the plenary session Gligorov emphasized the advantages of the regional approach, that respects the authentic economy and political interests, pointing out the importance of CEI, CEFTA, etc. He disapproved of the various 'cabinet integration models', stressing the European integration as the best alternative for regional peacemaking. Macedonian President emphasized five items, important for the reconstruction of the economies in the region: 1)opened borders for free flow of people, goods and ideas; 2) mutual recognition between all countries; 3) support of the market reforms; 4) access to the European and World markets, including access to the economic and finance institutions; and 5) effective realisation of the reconstruction programmes in the region. During his three-day stay in Bucharest, Gligorov met with the Romanian President Ion Iliesku, Moldavian President Mirechea Snegur, Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoe Kontic and Russian Foreign Minister Eugenij Primakov. [02] GOOD CHANCES FOR MACEDONIA TO JOIN THE BLACK SEA INITIATIVEDuring the Forum on Black Sea Region Economy Cooperation in Bucharest, the ministers of 11 member countries also met to discuss the applications of Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia for becoming the Initiative members, as well as those of Cyprus, Jordan, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina for obtaining the status of observers. According to 'Nova Makedonija', the requests will be discussed separately, and the Macedonian one is likely to be accepted, as there were no official objections to it.[03] CONDITIONS FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENTS INVESTIGATEDDuring the one-day visit to Macedonia paid the day before yesterday, the US Presidential candidate and a former senator Garry Hart investigated the conditions and possibilities for foreign investing in the country, especially for the including of the American companies in that process. Hart discussed this matter with the Macedonian Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski, Development Minister Abdulmenaf Bejetti and a number of businessmen.[04] INCREASED DYNAMICS OF THE BILATERAL RELATIONSFinnish President Marti Ahtisari and Macedonian Ambassador to Finland Tihomir Ilievski met the day before yesterday in Helsinki, and concluded that the continuation of the highest-level meetings would be a special impulse to the bilateral cooperation. President Ahtisari repeated his interest in the meetings with Macedonian President Gligorov.Ambassador Ilievski also met with the Finnish Foreign Minister Taira Halonen. [05] CULTURAL COOPERATION WITH MONTENEGROA delegation of the Macedonian Culture Ministry, during their stay in Montenegro from April 25 - 27, agreed on the cultural cooperation programme with their Montenegrin colleagues. The delegation, led by Vice Minister of Culture Borko Zafirovski, had several meetings with representatives of the public, political and cultural life of Montenegro.Some of the things agreed on was a tour of the Montenegrin National Theatre to Macedonian towns, and a tour of the fine arts exhibition 'Young Montenegrin Painters'. [06] NEW INCIDENTS IN KOSOVOThe recent incidents in Kosovo, in which 5 people were killed and 4 were wounded, were followed by a bomb explosion near the settlement of Velika Reka last Saturday, when the 12 years old boy Nejat Hasemi was killed, and several children were wounded. The Serbian police announced yesterday that the incident was accidental, i.e. that the children had found the bomb on a farm nearby and had been holding it in their hands when it exploded. On the contrary, the opposition party, Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, announced that the bomb was dropped from a car that had been passing by the village with an enormous speed.'France Press' agency reported that one more bomb had exploded the day before yesterday in Kosovo, near the house of Milan Scekic, the Prizren police Chief. This information was not, however, confirmed by the official FR Yugoslav agency 'Tanjug'. Meanwhile, 'Makpress' informed that, in the evening of April 27, the Albanians in Kosovo had switched off all their lights for five minutes, paing their respect to the late Albanian student, who was murdered on April 21. [07] BULGARIAN OPPOSITION - 'PIRINSKI'S EXPLANATIONS DO NOT HOLD'The most powerful Bulgarian opposition group, Democratic Forces Alliance, found the explanations of the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Gjorgji Pirinski for his postponed visit to Skopje weak. The leader of the Alliance parliamentary group Iordan Sokolov said the Minister had pointed out old problems as the reason for the postponing, by which he had confirmed the policy of creating the Sofia-Athens-Belgrade axis, led by the cabinet of the Prime Minister Zan Videnov.[08] GREECE RECOGNIZED ALL THE COUNTRIES FORMED AFTER THE DISSOLVING OF SFRYAgency 'Royter' informed that the Greek government, last Friday, had announced a formal recognition of FR Yugoslavia and of all other countries formed after SFRY had dissolved.Greece officially recognized FRY as an independent country within the internationally recognized borders and in accordance with the EU decision from 9 April. 'Greece also recognizes the other newly formed states, former SFRY republics, and expects that the relations with them will further improve,' said the announcement of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [09] TOPONYMS IN THE PASSPORTS - OBSTACLES FOR BORDER CROSSINGTrajche Grujovski, a member of the Presidency of Macedonian Veterans Union, was recently returned from the Macedonian- Greek border crossing Evzoni, because the toponym of his birth place was not written in the Greek language. Gruevski was officially invited to attend the Congress of the Greek Veterans Organisation, but despite showing the invitation letter to the Greek customs officers, he was returned, informed 'Nova Makedonija'.[10] ONLY THE GENERAL MANAGER OF KOMERCIJALNA BANK SUSPENDEDMacedonian National Bank Governor Borko Stanoevski last Friday denied the information that, besides the General Manager, the complete management team of Komercijalna Bank had been suspended. The announcement said that, excluding Alexandar Manevski, all other managers would remain on their positions, and that the Bank would be able to continue its work normally, as their were no charges raised against it as a legal subject.[11] ANONYMOUS DATE SUGGESTED FOR THE TETOVO MUNICIPALITY HOLIDAY'The new Draft Statute of Tetovo Municipality proposes the current holiday date of 19 November to be replaced by an anonymous date - 3 March, or by the day of the election of this Town Assembly,' announced the Democratic Party of Macedonia yesterday. President of the Veterans Association of Tetovo Sami Ismaili and the DPM deputy Zoran Efremov opposed to the proposal, reminding that 19 November was a historical date for the town and its citizens. The announcement concluded that it was worrying that some Macedonians at high positions in the Assembly have supported the suggestion.[12] SMALL RESPONSE OF THE VOTERS IN SEMENISHTE AND RASCHEThe voting at the villages of Semenishte and Rasche in the 102 electoral unit, was repeated yesterday, due to the irregularities found by the Electoral Commission. According to Macedonian media, only 46% of the voters came out to vote for Rizvan Suleimani, candidate of PDP, or for Sabahudin Mahmuti, candidate of PDPA-NDP coalition. The reason was, as alleged, the accepting of the PDPA-NDP appeal to the voters to boycott these elections. The media also reminded that the response of the voters at these locations had been almost 100% at the previous election rounds.The official results will be known today, but the victory of Suleimani (PDP) is considered certain, as he had won 5,076 votes so far, i.e. 679 more than Mahmuti (PDPA-NDP). MILS SUPPLEMENT:[13] 'To the West Through the East'('Dnevnik', 29 April 1996)'One of the main purposes of the 'Cran Montana' Forum, founded in 1989 - when the communism was collapsing, is to connect the East to the West. The liaisons between these countries are becoming stronger, and the international cooperation development more and more important,' says Jan Paul Carteron, the President of the Forum Council.Simultaneously with the giving of the 'Transition' Award to Macedonian President Gligorov, the Business Forum of the Association for Economic Cooperation of Black Sea region countries was taking place in Bucharest. The foreign ministers of the Association member countries (including Albania, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, etc.) discussed the applications for a membership. This matter was, however, postponed for the next session in Moscow. 'I am one of those who fully supported the membership of Greece in the Association,' says Carteron. 'And it was not easy then. I am sure that the international cooperation is becoming one of the most important goals of all democratic countries. I believe that the way for Macedonia to join this Association will soon be established, without any obstacles imposed. During the talks I had with your President, I realised how concerned he was about the membership and the cooperation with the countries involved. The greatest problem of the World today is the peace, whatever other problems are. Every person with a good will helps in and supports your request for a membership in the Black Sea Association.' Q: Do you believe in the Europeanisation of the Balkan countries? 'Certainly. Former Yugoslav republics should be candidates for the EU membership. Spreading of the EU would be wrong without certain limiting of the system. The EU system already has some problems, great political issues, and the EU spreading could be rather dangerous. I find the establishing of a Euro - Mediterranean zone promising, and a way for the EU spreading. The economic potential of the Balkan countries is great. This is the moment for you to find the best way to become closer to Europe, but also to become more involved in the Eastern cooperation. For example, Belgrade is the crucial point in the international air traffic. Over 600 airplanes fly over this city every day. The Danube also has to be mentioned. Balkan countries are of a great importance for the transport, i.e. for the connections between the East and the West. There are many original ways for setting your country's relations, as well as for the development of the relations between the Eastern and the Western countries.' Q: Does this mean that you are supporting the regional projects for joining the EU? 'You must connect with the EU, because of one of its best qualities - the peace. My opinion is that the connections with Europe are the way to the peace and security. Macedonia has to ask for an access to that 'family', because it is a peaceful 'family'. And you certainly know the price of peace.' Q: You are a person who is much familiar with the situation in Macedonia. Where do you think Macedonia is now, regarding the development of the democracy and the economic reforms? 'You are champions at the moment. And I am not the only one that gives such compliments. Robert Badinter thinks the same, and that is definitely something. Macedonian Constitution is of those rare that are for an open society, for a parliamentary democracy, and one that guarantees protection of minorities. And I can now see how much your President had done to avoid the spreading of war, which means you are on a good way to successfully end the transition. These are not compliments, but official evaluations of institutions and individuals.' (end)mils news 29 April, 1996 |
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