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MILS: News from the FYROM, 97-08-21Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS NEWSSkopje, 21 August, 1997[01] UN SECURITY COUNCIL DID NOT DISCUSS `UNPREDEP' MANDATEAt yesterday's closed session in New York the UN Security Council analyzed the Report submitted by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the mandate of `UNPREDEP' in Macedonia. The Macedonian Radio reports that Macedonian UN Representative Naste Chalovski denoted the reception of the Report by the Council as preliminary information on the performance of `UNPREDEP.' It was further revealed that assessments regarding the latter had been positive, and that the mandate had not been discussed as there was already one Resolution on this issue which obliged the Secretary-General to act accordingly. `Accordingly' in this case would mean the reduction of the `UNPREDEP' Forces Component as of 1st October.[02] TRAINING OF MACEDONIAN OFFICERS IN POLANDFollowing talks with his Macedonian counterpart Lazar Kitanovski yesterday, the Defence Secretary of the Republic of Poland Stanislav Dobczanski stated that Macedonia is growing into a regional stability factor by conducting a rational and efficient policy. Other discussed issues incl. bilateral relations in the defence sector and conditions in SE Europe. Both officials also agreed to deploy observers to military exercises held in any of the two countries; the attendance of Macedonian officers of training and study courses at Polish military academies and cooperation throughout the upgrading of both Armed Forces within - among others - the `ASOK' Programme. Upon congratulating Poland on its imminent NATO membership (as one of the 1st three CEE countries), Kitanovski further delved into Macedonia's constructive role of Macedonia in preserving peace in the Balkans and the initiative to form a regional training center for peacekeeping operations. According to Kitanovski both sides have agreed to hold consultations on one of the most significant projects for every potential NATO member-state: airspace control and management.General conclusions confirmed that relations between both countries are friendly, that both agreed NATO structures to represent the best warranty for stability on the continent and in addition to this Poland expressed its support of Macedonia's endeavour to obtain NATO membership. Besides this the Polish Defence Secretary has also been received by PM Branko Crvenkovski and Foreign Secretary Blagoj Handzhiski. During both meetings throughout this several-day visit bilateral relations, EU and NATO integration were once again at the top of the agenda. [03] MACEDONIAN-ALBANIAN TALKS ON TRANSPORT LIBERALIZATION IN THE REGION...This Wednesday Macedonian Transportation Minister Abdulmenaf Bedzheti met with Shkljekim Dzhadzhiu, Head of the Transportation Dept. at the Albanian Ministry of Public Affairs and Transportation. Both sides dwelled on projects concerning the road and railway infrastructure comprising Corridor No. 8; the improvement of communications in the region and the further liberalization of regular `across border checkpoints' transport. A-1 TV reveals that the visit of the Albanian delegation to Skopje has been part of the preparation to an imminent meeting on a `current Balkan hot potato': the gathering of Transport Ministry representatives of Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia.[04] SWEDISH SOVEREIGN IN MACEDONIA ON SUNDAYHRH Karl Gustav XVI. of Sweden is to arrive in Macedonia on Sunday - according to the Information Secretariat. During his one-day visit King Karl Gustav XVI. is to meet President Kiro Gligorov, visit the UNPREDEP HQ and one of the Observation Posts manned by Swedish troops within this peacekeeping operations.[05] KONTINENT: `GLIGOROV PROMISED NO FURTHER BORDER INCIDENTS'Sofia-based paper `Kontinent' wrote in yesterday's edition that `Kiro Gligorov promised there would not be any further border incidents involving Bulgarians.' In a comment on the telephone conversation between Gligorov and Stoyanov - as `Makfax' states - there is no mentioning of Gligorov's view that humanitarian relief actions should not be abused for political purposes - or of the protest by the Macedonian minority in Albania to the same purpose. What has been published is the intervention by President Stoyanov after the 7-hour-long detaining of the Bulgarian convoy at the Macedonian-Albanian border. The convoy had been delivering humanitarian aid under the patronage of the Bulgarian President `to the compatriots of Golo Brdo.'The latter - concordant to coverage in the above named paper - are soon to receive a new shipment of aid. In view of this and to avoid further incidents it would indeed be handy for our customs services to have a register of all the `compatriots' traversing our country or scattering themselves all over the world... [06] ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY: `GREATER-ALBANIAN NATIONALISM - MAIN FACTOR OF BALKAN DESTABILIZATION'The Presidium of the Ethnological Society of the Republic of Macedonia concluded during its extra-ordinary session yesterday that `anti-Macedonian forces increasingly threatened peace and stability in Macedonia and the region, from a position of Greater-Albanian nationalism and secessionism - while employing forged data, distorted facts and slander.' Those were also labelled the main destabilization factor in the Balkans. Concerning the `crocodile's tears' shed by Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov about the plight of his `fellow-Bulgarians' at Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo in Albania, the above mentioned society denoted this as Stoyanov's nurturing of a `medieval ethnic romanticism' and `illusions... as these settlements have never been inhabited by Bulgarians, but by Macedonians.'[07] THREE YEARS `BEHIND SWEDISH CURTAINS' FOR TRAMPLING ON THE FLAGOn Wednesday Icho Gavrilov (Kadino Selo, Skopje) has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by the Court of Krushevo for damaging the honour and repute of the Republic of Macedonia. To be more precise, during the `Ilinden' celebrations (2nd August) at `Mechkin Kamen' in Krushevo Gavrilov `used the flag of the Republic of Macedonia as a doormat.' For this offense he has received the maximum prison sentence (terms in prison varying between 3 months and three years) in spite of his statement - as `Makfax' reports - that he had been intoxicated at the time.[08] NBM GOVERNOR: `THE ONLY WAY IS UP...'NBM Governor Ljube Trpevski stated that the Macedonian economy has embarked on an upward trend (incl. an expected inflation rate), upon presenting the macro-economic conditions within the country to British Ambassador H.E. Amb. Mark Dickinson yesterday. Trpevski further emphasised the importance of acquainting international financial circles with the progression of reforms conducted within the Macedonian economy, in order to bring about an increase in international investments. Since gaining its independence - Trpevski said - Macedonia has succeeded in settling international dues amounting to more than it has received in international aid, while asking the British Ambassador to facilitate a change of mind on this issue in London. It has further been stressed that within the Paris Club of Creditors, Macedonia has settled all debts towards Great Britain. This should be conducive to a versatile and intense regime of bilateral economic cooperation.[09] DIFFICULT TO `GUESSTIMATE'...`The failure of negotiations between AUDI and the Macedonian Gvt. concerning a new assembly factory have been covered with moderation in order to prevent harming Macedonia in its endeavours to attract powerful major investors...' This is part of a statement given by AUDI Spokesperson Juergen Degrawer for `Deutsche Welle' Radio yesterday. In Degrawer's opinion the presence of AUDI still would have sent out an important signal to international investors - and though negotiations had been conducted seriously, economic conditions imposed the Gvt. had not been acceptable.It has further been said that `it is hard to assess the role of the WTO in the entire process, as this organisation had compiled the provisions for the new Investment Act in Macedonia. These provisions most likely made it impossible for the Macedonian Gvt. to give a positive reply.' Upon the question whether another partner-state would be sought for this project, Degrawer answered that there was no alternative for Macedonia, adding that Croatia merely had potential as a port for exporting vehicles into the Far East. Besides `Deutsche Welle', the only other German media to cover this issue was the paper `Sued-Deutsche Zeitung' in form of a short press agency release. [10] HOW MUCH IS THAT `PHARE' OIL IN THE WINDOW...?....i.e. on the wholesale market of Skopje. `Dnevnik' reports that sunflower-oil from the `Phare' Relief Programme may be bought in 5 l plastic containers at the cost of 60 denar per liter (2 denars less than the price for oil produced by `Blagoj Gjorev' at Veles). The owner of the storage facility peddling these `Phare' packages said that the oil had been regularly purchased from the `Cenex' commercial enterprise. At the latter no feedback could be obtained as the General Director is on vacation.The Development Ministry, in charge of distributing humanitarian aid from the `Phare' Programme, revealed that the last shipment of oil had been received by the National Stock Reserve in 1995. This has been confirmed by the `Phare' office in Skopje. It still remains uncertain how the oil supplied by `Phare' ended up on the wholesale market... A different type of oil (for heating purposes) procured by the `Phare' relief programme has been the core of another `trade venture' earlier this year: in April the supply given to the Economic Faculty of Prilep ended up `doing good' to the economy of Prilep at the `Proleter' (16 t) and `Vitaminka' (20 t) companies. [11] ULTIMATUM POSED BY `MAKEDONIJA REKLAM' CLIENTSAfter two hours of conversation with Finance Minister Taki Fiti, the Organisation Board of the clients deceived by executives of the `Makedonija Reklam' trade firm expressed their discontent with the fact that Gvt. was dodging the addressing of their problems. MTV reports that clients are not willing to accept the Minister's explanation that the completion of investigations had to be awaited. Clients were running out of patience, thus posing a three-day ultimatum: either they are going to be received by PM Branko Crvenkovski or undesired consequences may arise. It has also been announced that these deceived clients would join forces with `TAT' victims and those who had become the prey of other financial scandals, those whose hard currency assets had been frozen and those who were generally `fed up' with the situation in Macedonia.[12] `OHRIDSKO LETO' AWARDS BESTOWEDThis year's recipients of the `Golden Mask Award' within the Ohrid Summer Festival, given away by `Vecher' for best artistic achievements, went to Tatyana Kouzenova and Valentina Gramosti. At the closing ceremony the Kouzenova received the award for her performance as Jealousmine within the play `Farewell, My Clown' staged by the `Vera Komerissazhevska' Theatre from Sankt Petersburg, while Valentina Gramosti of the National Theatre of Bitola won hers for her performance as Medeia.[13] FOOTBALL: MACEDONIA LOSES TO ROMANIA WITH 2 : 4During the World Championships qualifier in Bucharest the Macedonian National Football Team lost the match against Romania with 2 : 4. The team coaches still have hopes for the runner-up slot in our qualifying group, as this would still mean a ticket to France.[14] THE NATIONAL STRATEGY ON THE LONG-TERM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF ECONOMY - PART 14Structure changes have also been achieved within industry, agriculture and other economic sectors, fields and branches. In 1995 a significant position within industrial production has also been occupied by the agricultural produce processing industry, the textile and leather goods production industry and energy production. These three sectors constitute over 60% of industrial production. More propulsive branches like the production of equipment and permanent consumer goods have contributed very little to the GNP, unlike the (non-)metal production sector whose share has been relatively high.The past period has also been characterized by a significant diversification of product ranges in certain branches. This has been entailing the increasing demands of the domestic market and the improving of export. Therefore the industrial tendency to enrich a large variety of products with new goods. In the agricultural sector positive changes are being achieved through increasing the GNP share of the livestock breeding sector. This unfortunately cannot be said about fruit production, farming appears to remain predominant. Due to crises in the region, the share of railways transport has been lowered considerably, unlike the percentage of motorway transport - especially in the case of meeting individual demands, thus only underscoring the irrationality of the system. Within trade the evolving of private initiatives and the expanded reconstruction of existing facilities - in addition to the creating of new sales premises - a faster development of large- and small-scale operations has been achieved, resulting in the increase of this sector's contribution to the GNP. The construction sector is being dominated by the building of high and low objects, while maintenance and irrigation system construction remain marginal. Structural changes achieved after 1990 have been strongly influenced by transition procedures and unfavourable exterior conditions - particularly the imposing of embargoes and sanctions entailed such an impact. The latter caused the greatest difficulties within branches mainly focusing on export with a high import dependence, particularly if they involve massive transport. The same applies to agriculture due to the short life of its produce and because of the fact that producers had been linked to technological systems and partners within the Former Yugoslavia. Unfavourable effects have also been registered in other economic sectors, transport in particular. In the case of certain sectors and branches, structure changes have been the partial consequence of abandoning the production of goods which could not be placed on domestic and international markets, as well as because of the liquidating of several businesses for these very same reasons. Structure Problems Within Economy The emphasised preference of industrialization in the past occurred in conditions of non-synchronized development of mutually dependent production sectors - not only in terms of economic sectors, but industry in general. Such conditions, complemented by other problems emerging in the 80s and especially after 1990, have been conducive to the insufficient exploitation of facilities, the deterioration of qualitative factors of economic activity and the palpable decreasing of production. Over a longer period of time the Republic of Macedonia had been concentrating on expanding facilities within primary industrial stages - characterized by a high capital intensity and relying on limited natural resources and an emphasised export orientation. This inadequate economic and development policy of the past have conditioned the creating of a less-than-ideal, inflexible and extensive structure incorporating an unfavourable combination of production and development factors - and led to a low profitability level within the industrial sector. At the same time such a production orientation in conditions of abundant human resources and lack of capital have entailed a high growth of the unemployment rate. From a quantitative perspective structural changes within the economy of the Republic of Macedonia have adhered t the average pace of countries constituting the lower level of medium developed countries in the world (see tables 6 and 7). In addition to this the economic structure of the Republic of Macedonia resembles the structure of certain neighbouring states. From a qualitative viewpoint, however, structure changes differ from the achievements of more developed countries where the most gravitating changes occurred within the economic sector more than anywhere else. Such changes may above all be observed through: the increased share of the service sector; the employment of new, more efficient technologies; the increasing of production competitiveness; the more emphasised export orientation; more efficient economic operations - generally speaking. Such structure changes have become the foundation of economic growth and permanent development. In the World Bank publication `From Plan to Market' (1996) tables indicate the economic structures of certain countries throughout the world. Within this ranking the Republic of Macedonia has been categorized as belonging to the group of low-level medium developed countries. These tables however do not contain data on the economic structure of our country due to different methods employed to determine the same. Otherwise the production structure of the Republic of Macedonia, concordant to the added value GDP for 1994, has been marked by an industrial share of 28.0%, and agriculture contribution of 11.7% and a service sector contribution of 60.3%. The industrial structure of the Republic of Macedonia has also been marked by the low share of propulsive production which could ensure the kickstarting of export, a rise in revenues, increased employment and the more successful integration into international trade. Another structural problem emerges in shape of the insufficient representation of small businesses. This entails a permanent lack of certain goods and services, narrowing down the maneuvering space for an increased utilization of the work force... (To be continued...)mils news 21 August, 1997Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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