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MILS NEWS 96-10-07Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 07 October, 1996[01] TWO TRAINS COLLIDED IN A TUNNEL ON VELES - SKOPJE RAILROADIn a tunnel between the stations of Kadina Reka and 'Rajko Zhinzifov' on the railroad section Veles-Skopje, two trains collided last Friday night. Five people were lightly injured and one had got more serious injures in the accident.Local media reported that the accident had taken place because the international train 'Hellas' nb. 334, which runs on the Thessaloniki to Budapest line, had to stop inside the tunnel due to a defect of its locomotive. Several minutes later, the passenger train running on the Bitola to Skopje line, crashed into it. There were over 200 passengers in both trains at that moment, and those hurt had been in the first cars of the international one. It had been difficult for the rescue teams to reach the people hurt because of the tunnel, and it took them several hours to accomplish the action. The section was closed till Saturday afternoon. The Ministers for Transport and Connections Dimitar Buzlevski, for Health Ilija Filipche and for Internal Affairs Tomislav Chokrevski visited the location on Saturday morning. Initial reports said that the reason for the accident had been that the engine driver of the passenger train had not been informed on time that the international train had stopped and had crashed into it. There were claims that the engine driver had not respected the traffic lights and had not stopped at the red light, but neither of this has still been proved. The authorities had excluded the possibility for the reason to be the new time calculation in Macedonia which does not coincide with the European one. [02] FRCHKOVSKI: FREE TRADE ZONES WITH ALL COUNTRIES IN THE REGION'There is a possibility for Macedonia to be the only country which would sign agreements on free trade with almost all countries in the region, and it would be a comparative advantage for all companies that would be interested in entering the Macedonian market,' stated Macedonian Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski at a press conference last Saturday, in the context of presenting details and results of the meetings Macedonian delegation had at the 51st session of UN General Assembly in New York. According to the media, Frchkovski had said that besides the agreements on free trade zones with former SFRY republics, it was expected for such agreements to be signed with Albania and Bulgaria also. He underlined that the meeting he had had with his Bulgarian counterpart Gjorgji Pirinski had been a constructive one and that they had agreed on intensifying the negotiations for the language dispute between the two countries, as well as to harmonize the Declaration on Friendship and Cooperation and to discuss the possibilities for signing an agreement on free trade zone.Macedonian Foreign Minister had stressed that SFRY succession and international recognition of FR Yugoslavia had been the main subjects discussed by him and Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic. It was said that Macedonia would support the FRY membership in international organizations not in a way which would make it the only successor of SFRY, but according to same principles which refer to the other former Yugoslav republics. Frchkovski explained that such a stand was a result of the belief that after FRY would become a member of the international institutions, its relations with neighbours would be possible to be put on the agenda. At the meeting Frchkovski had had with Albanian Foreign Minister Shehu it had been concluded that there had not been any disputable 'points' in Macedonian-Albanian relations, since Macedonian Head of Diplomacy had expressed the readiness to have all open issues (such as the education of Albanians in Macedonia) discussed according to European standards on rights of the minorities. The two Ministers invited each other to pay visits to their countries. They had agreed to additionally schedule those and the long time planned visit of Albanian Prime Minister Meksi to Macedonia. Australian Foreign Minister had informed his Macedonian counterpart that the Government in Canberra was trying to change the way Macedonian emigrants are referred to in Australia, i.e. as Macedonians, and not as Slav-Macedonians. According to Frchkovski, the Australian Foreign Minister had shown a surprisingly good understanding for Macedonian stand that lack of a resident Embassy complicated the possibilities for Macedonia to take care of its emigrants and that the term 'Slav-Macedonians' was creating problems with representatives of other ethnic communities in the country. Frchkovski informed the press that he had discussed the intensifying of the economic connections between Macedonia and South Korea and Singapore with the Foreign Ministers of these two countries. He also reported that he had asked for a support of the candidacy of Macedonia for a temporal membership in the UN Security Council from the representatives of Guinea Bissau, the Secretary of the Arabian League and Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Udovjenko. Ljubomir Frchkovski concluded his report with an information that Macedonia would submit a draft resolution on 'prevention of forceful disintegration of states' to the UN, and that a special organ would be formed to coordinate the work regarding the nomination of Macedonia for UN Security Council membership. [03] NEW YORK TALKS ARE CONTINUING TODAYThe talks on name issue between Macedonia and Greece should continue today in New York, Macedonian media reported an information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia. The talks will continue to be led by the Greek representative Hristos Zaharakis and the Macedonian Ambassador to the UN Ivan Toshevski, and will be mediated by Cyrus Vance.The last round of these talks took place in July, and the one that was scheduled for August was postponed due to the early parliamentarian elections in Greece. [04] BETTER INFORMING IS NECESSARY FOR THE NEEDS OF MACEDONIAN AND USA ECONOMIESOne of the basic conditions for enlarging and balancing the goods exchange between Macedonia and USA is better informing about possibilities and needs of the two economies. In that direction, the Economic Chamber of Macedonia is planning to establish closer bilateral connections with business organizations from USA states, besides the already existing one with the Macedonian-American Business Council. The official announcement from the meeting said that this has been concluded in the talks between the American Ambassador Christopher Hill and the representatives of the Macedonian Economic Chamber.It was also said that economies of both countries had great and realistic perspectives for the mutual business cooperation to be followed with much longer cooperation terms. Ambassador Hill also said that the Republic of Macedonia had gained a great confidence due to successful reforms especially in the economy, and that one of the priorities of the USA Embassy in Macedonia was the improvement of the economic relations between the two countries. [05] 'BETA': YUGOSLAVIA WANTS TO GIVE PART OF ITS WEAPONS TO MACEDONIAToday's issue of 'Dnevnik' daily reads that Belgrade agency 'Beta' had reported that Defense Ministers of Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia would meet today in Belgrade. As alleged, the Yugoslav Government would propose to Macedonia to give a part of its military equipment to the Macedonian Army, since Dayton Accord obliged FRY to destroy a great part of its weapons. In case Macedonia accepts this, Yugoslavia would suggest the value of those weapons to be calculated in the property of former SFRY. According to 'Beta' agency, the idea had been initiated in the talks of Yugoslav Government with the USA on the implementation of the Dayton Accord, i.e. of the part referring to the destroying of surplus military equipment. Because of the estimations of Belgrade that it would be hardly fulfilled within the term required, due to technical reasons, the idea had been presented to the American mediator Richard Holbrooke.[06] ELIZABETH REHN - 'ALTHOUGH THEY HATE ME IN MACEDONIA, I WILL GO THERE''Although they hate me in Macedonia, I will go there. I want to go where they hate me.' According to 'Dnevnik' daily, this was stated by the Special Rapporteur of UN Secretary General for Former Yugoslavia, Elizabeth Rehn during her two-days-long visit to Kosovo. Rehn explained that Macedonian media had misunderstood her statement about the minorities in Finland, making parallels with the rights of the Albanians in Macedonia.[07] NORMAL RESULTS OF LABORATORY ANALYSES OF 'POISONED' PUPILS FROM BOGOVINJE'Medical examinations of pupils from the village of Bogovinje near Tetovo, who claimed that they had been poisoned, had shown that their physical condition had not been damaged, and usual laboratory analyses had also been normal. The possibilities for contagious diseases were annulled, as well,' the official announcement of the Secretariat for Information said. This matter had been discussed by experts in Macedonian Ministry of Health last Friday. It was then presented that at the period from 1 to 5 October, over 150 pupils had asked for medical aid at the Tetovo Medical Centre, due to various subjective reasons.[08] FIGHTS BETWEEN PUPILS IN KUMANOVO'Vecer' daily reported about fights between pupils of Macedonian and Albanian nationalities that had taken place in Kumanovo last Thursday and Friday. The police had also intervened, and there had been many pupils injured. 'Vecer' reporters had not managed to obtain an official information about this from the police authorities, but had noticed that police had strengthened the control of secondary schools in Kumanovo.The paper also read that pupils of the fourth grade of 'Goce Delchev' secondary school had left the classes last Friday and gathered in front of the Municipal Court in this town to express their support to a teacher of theirs, whose trial was about to start. The teacher was one of the six other people accused of hoisting only the Albanian flags at the meeting organized to support the 'Tetovo university'. After the trial had been postponed, the pupils had left. [09] DPM: 'MINISTER TODOROVA LOST CONTROL OVER HER SPHERE OF ACTIVITY'Leader of the Democratic Party of Macedonia (DPM) Tomislav Stojanovski, referring to the 'latest poisoning of Albanian pupils in Tetovo', had asked for the 'creators of those manipulations' to be revealed. He had criticized the Minister of Education Sofia Todorova for 'loosing control over her sphere of activity'. At the press conference, he stated that 'the moves of the ruling coalition of SDSM and PDP were much like those of the darkest eras of the bolshevism, and that any person who was not a SDSM member was regarded as an enemy of the country.'Underlying that his party would continue the efforts to correct the historical injustice made with the territorial dividing of Tetovo, Stojanovski informed the reporters that his party would nominate Professor Simeon Galevski from the Faculty of Law for a Mayor of Skopje, and that they would also have candidates for mayors of Shtip, Negotino, Strumica, Tetovo, Gostivar, Vratnica, Jegunovce, Brvenica, etc. [10] PDP DEMANDS THE POISONERS TO BE FOUNDParty for Democratic Prosperity had expressed its greatest worry for the poisoning that had taken place in several primary schools in Tetovo, estimating them as a dangerous scenario which threats the security of Albanian minority. Thus, the party had called on people, pupils, school authorities, teachers, etc., to make maximum efforts to identify those responsible for the poisoning. 'Beginning from the fact that poisonings have been taking place in places where only Albanians live, there is a reason to suspect that the reasons are political ones. Any attempts to cover the responsible ones would imply a serious responsibility on the police,' said the announcement of PDP.[11] 'TETOVO UNIVERSITY' RECEIVED MONEY FROM PDP'Flaka e Velazerimit' daily read recently that 'Tetovo university' authorities had received that DM 27,200 collected by PDP from Macedonian citizens who are temporarily working in Germany. On the other hand, other media had denied this information, claiming that the 'university authorities' had rejected the money.[12] DZAFERI: 'PDPA WILL ESTABLISH ITS OWN ADMINISTRATION''In those places where PDPA candidates will win, our party will establish its own administration, besides the existing governmental one, in order to find out how and in which way had the state financed the local government and to take measures for overcoming some unfavourable conditions, mostly in the employment,' PDPA leader Arben Dzaferi had stated at a party meeting yesterday. According to 'Dnevnik', Dzaferi stated that Macedonian government had realized its intentions, i.e. it has 'centralized the governing on a local level as well, by passing the Laws on Territorial Dividing and on Local Elections'.[13] LIBERALS ASK FOR EXPLANATIONS ABOUT MUNICIPAL ELECTORAL COMMISSIONS'Macedonian State Electoral Commission should explain the establishing of the municipal electoral commissions and answer why had only 51 members and 34 deputies been accepted of the total number of 65 members and 64 deputies proposed by the Liberal Party. On the other hand, all the 272 members and deputies proposed by SDSM had been accepted,' Liberal Party representatives had said at a press conference.Vice President of the Party Risto Ivanov had protested against the fact that they had been deprived from having their commission members in strategic places such as Bitola, Shtip and Radovish. He also pointed out that instructions for opening of giro-accounts of parties and candidates were vague, that there had been a delay in the issuing of the global electoral list, and that terms for inspection and necessary corrections had still not been announced. MILS SUPPLEMENT[14] 'Exchange Without Customs Duties'('Nova Makedonija', 07 October, 1996)Beginning from today, customs duties between the Republic of Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia will be abolished. In that way, the part of the bilateral Agreement on Trade referring to the customs is starting to be applied in practice. The other payments of 7.5% are also abolished, and only 1% for customs evidence will be paid. The Agreement, signed by Macedonian and Yugoslav Prime Ministers Crvenkovski and Kontic on 04 September this year, anticipates a gradual liberalization of the mutual trade, in order to provide conditions for establishing a Free Trade Zone till 1 January, 1999, the latest. Macedonian entrepreneurs have welcomed the non-customs duties regime between Macedonia and FRY, as they hope for the current economic exchange only $201 million worth to increase, as it is far less than the one of over $2 billion in 1989. Normalization of the relations between the countries is expected to bring to a much livelier goods and passengers transport, and forecasts say that exchange should reach the figure of $1 billion till the end of the year. Certain quantitative limitations are planned in export and import, which would be also gradually abolished, and it is not planned for new such limitations to be introduced. Current limitations refer to products which had been estimated as ones that are of a great significance for the national economies protection. The Republic of Macedonia will mostly protect its agriculture products (pork, milk, cheese, delicatessen, etc.), tobacco industry, non-ferrous metallurgy, refrigerators and buses production, and oil derivatives. FR Yugoslavia has limited the import of livestock, raw materials for oil and sugar production, fodder, as well as raw and processed leather. The products which import has not been limited will be imported in both countries according to market conditions by paying the above mentioned 1% of customs evidence, which should all extend and improve the trade exchange. The Agreement establishes global regulations for the exchange of pharmaceuticals, as well as technical regulations, sanitary measures, rules for origin of goods, transit, exclusions (global and security ones), intellectual property protection, mutual payments, damping, subventions, etc. (end)mils news 07 October, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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