MAK-NEWS 23/03/95 (M.I.L.S.) [**]
From: " Demetrios E. Paneras" < dep@bu.edu>
Ta nea ths hmeras, opws ta eide to MILS:
[01] ** CRVENKOVSKI: NO DATE YET FOR GREEK-MACEDONIAN TALKS
[02] ** MACEDONIA UNDERMINING TALKS, ACCUSES GREEK MEDIA
[03] ** GREECE HOLDS UP TRANSPORT OF MACEDONIAN OIL
[04] ** GLIGOROV-READER MEETING FOR MILITARY COOPERATION
[05] * MINISTERS OF FOREIGN TRADE TO MEET IN SKOPJE
[06] . PARLIAMENTARY BRIEFS
[07] * DOWN UNDER GOES OVER THE TOP
[08] * U.S. HELPS IN FIGHT AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING
[09] . SEMINAR ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
[10] . DELO BOUNCES BACK
[11] . PALAIR-MACEDONIA PROMOTES NEW FLIGHT SCHEDULE
[12] . MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: STOCK MARKET OPERATIONS IN MACEDONIA
(Kapital, March, 1995, written by MA Dragoljub Arsovski)
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M I L S N E W S
Skopje, 23 March 1995
[01] CRVENKOVSKI: NO DATE YET FOR GREEK-MACEDONIAN TALKS
Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski says no date
for direct Greek-Macedonian talks at the ambassadorial level
has been set. Upon returning from the Paris Conference, he
told A1 Television reporters, " We believe all necessary
preparations have to be fully completed before such a
meeting takes place. It is just too early to give an exact
date of the meeting." He denied reports that Macedonia had
promised to change its flag and constitution in return for a
lifting of the Greek embargo. " We have not promised
anything; we have not even discussed any such thing. Nothing
like that could have happened, as we clearly stated we would
not accept to have the embargo even discussed during the
talks and would not be ready to give anything in return for
the lifting of the embargo." Speaking of other meetings in
the U.S., Crvenkovski said he and U.S. Secretary of Defense
William Perry talked about the role of peacekeeping troops
in Macedonia and the need for a separate mandate for them.
At this moment, he said, there will be no increase in the
number of troops, but the issue remains open and any serious
change in the situation in the region will be reacted to
appropriately. As for the visit to Paris, Crvenkovski said
it was of extreme importance for the future of Europe and
Macedonia because it was stressed that Macedonia is a region
where peace must be maintained. The role of Macedonia was
underlined in almost all discussions, he said. During the
conference, the Macedonian delegation met with Douglas Hogg,
The British Minister of State for Foreign affairs, and the
Secretary General of the French Foreign Ministry, Deffour.
[02] MACEDONIA UNDERMINING TALKS, ACCUSES GREEK MEDIA
The Greek media has reacted sharply to yesterday's statement
by the Macedonian government spokesman Djuner Ismail on
Greek-Macedonian talks being unacceptable for Macedonia
while the Greek embargo remains. The conservative Greek
newspaper, Kathimerini, has said the statement undermines
negotiations even before they start. This complicates
relations between Greece and Macedonia, the media writes.
The pro-government paper, Ta Nea, says this Macedonian
viewpoint limits hopes for any progress in the talks. The
paper also says Crvenkovski has allegedly agreed to start
the talks with the embargo still in force. According to
Elefteros Thipos, Washington is pushing Athens into a
dialogue with Skopje, while the Macedonian government
preconditions this with the lifting of the embargo.
[03] GREECE HOLDS UP TRANSPORT OF MACEDONIAN OIL
A1 Television cites Makpress as reporting Greece has again
blocked 20,000 tons of oil and crude oil for Macedonia, oil
which Greece released under the PHARE program of aid. Greek
Railway announced the transport would start last weekend,
but the shipment has not moved because of incomplete customs
documentation for transit through Greece.
[04] GLIGOROV-READER MEETING FOR MILITARY COOPERATION
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov yesterday received Joseph
Reader, U.S. under-secretary for land forces. Also in
attendance was Victor Comras, Chief of the U.S. Liaison
Office in Skopje, and Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoja
Handziski. They concluded the military cooperation is
satisfactory and expressed the hope it will yet improve.
Reader repeated the American interest in maintaining peace
and stability in the southern Balkans, including Macedonia's
territorial integrity. Depending on the further development
of the situation, the U.S. will consider increasing its
troops in Macedonia, Reader said. Pointing to the positive
development of military cooperation, Gligorov hoped that
U.S.-Macedonian relations will shortly be elevated to full
diplomatic ties.
[05] MINISTERS OF FOREIGN TRADE TO MEET IN SKOPJE
Macedonian government spokesman Djuner Ismail, along with
under-secretaries in the foreign ministry, Victor Gaber and
Dimitar Belcev, held a press-conference yesterday focusing
on the meeting of foreign trade ministers of the Central
European Initiative (CEI) to be held in Skopje, March 24 and
25. This is the first such meeting since Macedonia gained
independence. The meeting will include ministers of 10 CEI
member countries, including Macedonia, along with several
international observers. The conference will be covered by
nearly 100 reporters from Macedonia and abroad. The economic
aspects of the conference will focus on four issues:
economic development of Central Europe, economic cooperation
between CEI member countries with an accent on trade,
European agreements, and the economic importance of regional
cooperation.
[06] PARLIAMENTARY BRIEFS
The Macedonian Parliament yesterday continued its 15th
session, adopting laws on protection and improvement of the
environment and on urban planning. They also passed the
Space Plann for Macedonia. MP's rejected government-proposed
changes of the Profit Tax Law.
[07] DOWN UNDER GOES OVER THE TOP
Jack Kenneth, Prime Minister of the Australian state of
Victoria, the ordered the Macedonian language be referred to
as Macedonian-Slav, Makpress reports. The order is already
in effect and the parliamentary secretary explained it was
done " in order to maintain peace and order in Victoria."
Senator Garret Evans, Foreign Minister of Australia, said
the decision is completely wrong, as the federal government
has not made a similar decision. A spokesman for Kenneth
said the decision was made under " new pressures by Greece" .
Mile Terziovski, president of the Macedonian community in
Melbourne and Victoria, said Macedonians in Australia will
take the ruling to the Australian Council of Equality.
[08] U.S. HELPS IN FIGHT AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING
U.S. Drug Administration officials, George Caruntsos and
special agent Tomas Londrigan, are visiting Skopje to help
authorities fight the illegal drugs trade. The visit is
organized by the U.S. Liaison Office in Skopje. The U.S.
officials were received by Dime Gjurev, under-secretary in
the Ministry of Interior. They held a seminar for Macedonian
police officers, discussing techniques in discovering drug
smuggling and the techniques used by drug smugglers in the
Balkans. The visit is expected to turn into a series of
contacts and cooperation between the Macedonian Ministry of
Interior and the U.S.
[09] SEMINAR ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
In Skopje, yesterday, a one-day seminar titled " Let Us
Prepare for Changes" gathered representatives of more than
20 non-governmental organizations in Macedonia. Dr. Nettie
Nelson of Lincoln, U.S., conducted the seminars. The event
was organized by the USIS in Skopje, the Macedonian
Committee for Peace and Civilian Initiatives and the
Macedonian Center for International Cooperation.
[10] DELO BOUNCES BACK
Delo yesterday accused the Interior Minister of acting
against democracy and the constitution in his libel suit
against the weekly magazine. Delo was reacting to a
statement by government spokesman Djuner Ismail where he
said the private court appeal of Interior Minister Frckovski
against Delo is a democratic court case in which a minister
sues a magazine for publishing false information. According
to Delo, this in fact is an act against democracy, contrary
to the Constitution and law in Macedonia, as it presupposes
the court sentence, indirectly interfering with the affairs
of the court. The hearing is scheduled for the beginning of
next month.
[11] PALAIR-MACEDONIA PROMOTES NEW FLIGHT SCHEDULE
The airline Palair-Macedonia yesterday announced its new
flight schedule for the summer. The company has introduced
four new destinations - Belgrade, Zagreb, Vienna and
Goteborg. The company criticized the government for
hesitating over introducing a service to Belgrade. During
the summer, Palair-Macedonia will introduce charter flights
to Izmir, Antalya and Malta.
Board president Vanja Bitoljanu said the first phase for
international recognition of Macedonian flight tickets has
begun. Starting on 27 March, tickets issued by Palair will
be valid with nine international airlines, including KLM,
Malaysia Airlines and Midwest-Airlines.
[12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: STOCK MARKET OPERATIONS IN MACEDONIA
[(Kapital, March, 1995, written by MA Dragoljub Arsovski)
Upon an Act of the government of Macedonia, as well as the
Securities Law of March 1993, the Securities Commission of
the Republic of Macedonia was formed in June 1992. The basic
role of the Commission is to evaluate the quality of issuers
of exterior long-term securities, keep evidence of and
conduct control over issuing of securities, as well as to
issue licenses for organizing and the working of the
Macedonian market for long-term securities, i.e., a market
of capital and securities.
So far, results of the process of establishing a stock
market culture in Macedonia have been only modest. Main
partners of the Securities Commission, when deciding on
granting licenses for emission of securities, are banks,
mostly newly formed ones. The law obliges banks to
coordinate the amount of their founding capital with the sum
set by the Law on Banks and Savings Houses (DM 3 million
for banks, and DM 9 million for banks authorized for foreign
operations).
Up to November 1994, the Commission granted 28 licenses for
issuing long-term securities (shares in all 28 cases) to 16
legal entities, with a total value of nearly DM 40 million.
This means that some legal entities have issued long-term
securities more than once.
The process of development of stock market culture and
habits in Macedonian companies is still at the so-called
" zero mark" . Only one enterprise and one insurance company
have so far verified their exterior emission of shares with
the Commission. This may be a result of the companies being
insufficiently informed or their lacking experience in ways
and procedures for issuing long-term securities.
Nevertheless, it should be underlined that the issued shares
will not be valid at the future stock market, unless
officially verified by the Commission. This also refers to
the process of turning interior shares of firms into
exterior ones. This will require submitting reports to the
Commission on the type of shares issued, their serial and
control numbers, as well as on other elements necessary
before the shares are made tradable at the stock market.
This is the only way to accept international standards.
Current laws regulating stock market operations will have to
be changed and completed. In fact, it is the rules of the
game which will have to be specifically determined. What are
these rules?
The first thing to do is to precise and define the place and
role of institutions in establishing the future capital
market, particularly the securities market. The current laws
grant the Commission the right to issue licenses for work of
the securities market. Yet, the Commission's authorization
goes only as far as the issuing of securities. Trading with
securities, however, has not yet been regulated by any laws.
The experience of all newly-formed stock markets in post-
communist countries show that the ways and procedures of
trading with securities has been paid much attention.
The second step for successfully establishing a stock market
would be to complete the current tax system. This would
include certain " tuning" of relations concerning stimulation
of investments in long-term projects, especially investment
in long-term securities. More precisely, the laws to be
adopted would have to secure avoidance of any double taxing
of profits made by investments in securities, stimulation of
re-investment of gained dividend, as well as lower tax basis
for such profits.
Besides these measures, the law would have to eliminate all
potential administrative obstacles, currently met by banks
due to the macroeconomics policy of Macedonia. The obstacles
are mainly the limits imposed on the scope of investment of
finances. Under present conditions, when as much as up to 95
per cent of the total assets are in possession of banks and
their investment is limited because of the monetary policy,
a free development of the stock market is practically
impossible. At the same time, the stock market can not be
developed beyond banking circles.
This development is very dependent on potential participants
in the stock market. To have an efficient stock market, the
state should establish other types of institutions, such as
firms to guarantee the distribution of shares at the stock
market (so-called underwriters), institutions to keep the
securities (securities custodians), deposit institutions and
clearing houses, institutions for managing property and
assets, institutions or bureaus to analyze securities,
companies providing financial information, and, at a later
stage, companies for capital investment.
(end)
mils-news 23 March '95
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