"The Republic of Macedonia has made a lasting orientation for peace, open frontiers, equal cooperation with all and Europeization of the Balkans. That requires the urgent closing of all bloody Balkan pages and paths." This was emphasized by the President of the Republic Kiro Gligorov, who, as supreme commander of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia, took part in yesterday's work of the program-electoral session of the Republic Organization of military officers. This session, focusing on the future activities of the military officers, was also attended by the Minister of Defence Blagoya Handziski and the Chief of the General Staff of the Macedonian Army Dragoljub Bocinov.
In his speech, Gligorov stressed that the defence of Macedonia should, foremost, be viewed in light of our personal preparedness, as well as from the aspect of our inclusion in the collective systems of security, underlining that today, no one aspires toward providing his own defence. "Our preparedness," according to President Gligorov, "should present a prerequisite for membership in the collective systems, as no one will accept us if we are unorganized and incapable of defending ourselves." "The two components are inseparably connected and therefore we should take care," he said. The President added that "although we are a small country, although we can not have a large army, although we have historic heritage with the neighbors, such as it is, nevertheless, we must create at least a small, modernly equipped army, which, on the other hand, will be able to count on the enormous composition of reserve officers, as part of the democratic structures of the Republic of Macedonia."
In continuation, President Gligorov took up the issue of the defence ability, safety and internal stability of the Republic, for which, as he said, it is very important for us to build good inter-ethnic relations. Starting from the general postulates that all the citizens in the country are equal, President Gligorov emphasized that everyone should take part in its defence, manifesting by that that Macedonia is the fatherland of all the citizens.
Germany is in solidarity with Greece, as a member of the EU, it does not approve of the embargo, however, feels that the negotiations should also include the name issue.
These assessments, as Makfaks reports, were emphasized yesterday in the central Greek newspapers, commenting the visit of the German minister Claus Kinkel to Skopje. The Greek press assesses that Claus Kinkel tried to maintain a doze of equidistance with his statements made at the press conference, stating that the time had come to make some kind of progress in the efforts of the UN mediator Cyrus Vance. The newspaper "Katimerini," calling upon German sources, claims that minister Kinkel "disagreed with the stand to discuss the possibility of compromise also over the name." "Katimerini" adds, with regard to that, that President Gligorov did not back down from his adamancy, and that minister Stevo Crvenkovski raised the question of the Slav minority in Greece again.
The newspaper of the moderate left-wing "Elefterotipia" assesses that during yesterday's visit, Kinkel "exerted indirect pressure on Skopje." The newspaper also adds that Kinkel "compassionately called on both sides to end the stalemate" and to "settle their differences." The pro-government "Ta nea," calling upon diplomatic sources in Bonn, claims that during the visit on Tuesday, the German side made it clear that it did not approve of the name Republic of Macedonia. The Athens news agency reports that Kinkel emphasized a way had to be found to abolish the sanctions against FRY and the Greek embargo, so as to provide stability to Macedonia.
The German press paid a lot of attention to the Tuesday visit of the German Foreign Minister Claus Kinkel to Macedonia and his talks with the Macedonian political leadership, Makpress reports.
In the text entitled "Macedonia must be given support," the daily newspaper "Die Welt," brings a detailed report of the talks between Kinkel and the Macedonian leadership, emphasizing that some way of settling the Greek-Macedonian dispute should be found.
"Frankfurter Allgemaine Zeitung" points out that Kinkel's visit can be regarded as a factor for the easing of the tension between Athens and Skopje.
The Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Turkey Mehmed Golhan was welcomed in Skopje yesterday with highest state honors. To meet him at the airport were his colleague, the Minister of Defence Blagoya Handziski, as well as the ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Macedonia Suha Nojan and the military attache lieutenant colonel Mehmed Tas. Minister Golhan gave a brief statement at the airport: "I am visiting your country at the invitation of Defence Minister Handziski. As you know, Turkey has recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name and brought the mutual relations at the level of embassies. We have exchanged a number of visits, and your highest leadership wishes to expand the cooperation. My visit will give new contribution to the development of our relations."
In bidding him welcome, the Macedonian minister Handziski said: "The visit has great significance for the development of the overall relations with the Republic of Turkey. A number of agreements have already been signed and ratified. Now, we will discuss strengthening the cooperation for military techniques and industry."
Today, minister Golhan will meet with the President of the Republic Gligorov, Prime Minister Crvenkovski and minister Handziski. An agreement is expected to be signed in the Hall of the Macedonian Army.
The Macedonian Youth Council (MYC) has been accepted as a member-observer of the general assembly of the European Union Youth Forum. Observing member is the highest status that can be given to a youth council coming from a country that is not a member of the EU. The significance of this admission is even greater seeing this is the first association of an organization or institution from the Republic of Macedonia in some of the structures of the EU. It is interesting that the admission of the Macedonian Youth Council to the EU Youth Forum was preceded by a negative recommendation from the secretary-general of the Organization, under the explanation that a positive decision could be interpreted as a provocation of Greece - a member of the Union. However, the representatives of fourteen youth councils and a larger number of international youth organizations came out in support of the membership of the MYC, and changed the recommendation by taking a vote. The only vote against, as could be expected, was the one of the Greek Youth Council.
The President of the Supreme Court, as well as 15 judges of this highest court in the Republic, were elected yesterday by the Macedonian Parliament. Thereby, the state Supreme Court is constituted, for the first time, according to the new Macedonian Constitution. The elected judges, whose mandate is unlimited, were proposed by the Republic Court Council, which also has to speak its mind soon, about the remaining nine empty spots in the highest court instance.
Dimitrie Dimiskovski was elected president of the Supreme Court, while the following have been elected judges: Kiril Cavdar, Agim Miftari, Pavel Manev, Vangel Gagacev, Fidancho Stoev, Konstantin Hadzi-Lega, Zekjir Selimi, Milojka Kalkaslieva, Vasil Petkovski, Milica Smickova, Ranko Maksimovski, Petar Golubovski, Blagorodna Dulich and Ljubinka Muratovska - Markova.
The owners of the duty free shops on the Macedonian- Yugoslav border will submit a proposal to Government, these days, requesting the re-opening of all 11 free shops. Namely, the duty free shops were closed 6 months ago, pending the definite resolution of the regulations for their work.
The proposal should include all relevant information necessary for the opening of the duty free shops, according to the report of the Grouping of owners of free shops, within the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce.
In the meeting, the damages that Macedonia is suffering due to the closing of the free shops, were emphasized, foremost, due to the outflow of foreign currencies in Yugoslavia.
According to the Macedonian Customs Administration, the "Special agricultural corridor '95" is due to be opened from April 15, this year. This is achieved after several-month coordination and negotiations, all with the aim of alleviating the export of these products on the markets of Western and Central Europe.
The following crossings have been used for the corridor: Deve Bair - Gjuesevo, between Macedonia and Bulgaria, Ruse - Gjurgju, between Bulgaria and Romania, Bars - Artand, between Romania and Hungary. The Macedonian trucks will also be able to use the crossing Novo Selo - Zlatarevo, on the Macedonian-Bulgarian border. The trucks will also be able to use the ferry-boat on Dunav, and the border crossings Vidin - Kalifat and Orahovo - Beket, with special permits from the Bulgarian authorities. All the trucks that will be included in the corridor will be required to have TIR carnettes.
The vice-president of the World Bank from Washington Wilfred Talvich and the new director of the bank's European department Rachel Lomax, are due to arrive in Macedonia today afternoon. Also today, they are scheduled to meet with a group of bankers, in order to get detailed information about the reforms in the banking sector.
In the next two days, Talvich and Lomax will visit the companies - biggest "losers," private farmers, as well as to hold two meetings with a group of ministers, the Minister without portfolio Ljube Trpevski stated.
This is the first visit to Macedonia of the director of the European department Rachel Lomax, after recently taking over this position from her retired predecessor Michael Vien.
An error was made in yesterday's edition of MIC. Under the heading "Question about name is silly" it says "In regards to the name, we are ready for compromise, and in essence, if the situation......"
Correctly, this information should say "In regard to the name, we are not ready for compromise, and, in essence, if the situation....."