"You are a small country, but you rank very high in our strategic calculations. Macedonia is important for the security and stability of the entire Balkan region," the Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for European and NATO policy of the United States, Joseph Crusel, stated on Sunday, following his meeting with the Defense Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Blagoy Handziski.
In the statement following yesterday's meeting, Joseph Crusel said that the U.S. are satisfied with the to-date progress of the bilateral cooperation and that they expected productive talks from the stay of minister Handziski in the U.S.A..
Assessing the relations between the U.S.A. and the Republic of Macedonia as fruitful, the Macedonian Minister of Defense stated that this fruitful cooperation was also present in the field of defense.
"The invitation from William Perry for this visit is great confirmation of everything Macedonia has done for the development of democracy in the state, of all the efforts it is making to keep the peace and stability in the region. That is also the assessment of the whole international public. Often in the past, the U.S.A. and Macedonia have been on the same side and we also expect to carry on in the same way in the future, in order to find common optimal solutions for all the problems burdening the region," stated minister Handziski following the meeting with Crusel.
Yesterday, minister Handziski had a meeting with the U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry. The talks with William Perry were also attended by general- colonel Trajche Krstevski, general-major Philip Cotelli, the head of the cabinet of minister Handziski Jordan Stojanov and Ljubica Achevska, Macedonian representative in the U.S.A. On the American side, the talks were attended also by Walter Slowcombe, Vice-Secretary of Defense, Admiral Owens, Vice-Chairman of the Allied Headquarters of the U.S. Forces, Richard Holbruk, Assistant Secretary of State, Joseph Crusel and James Pardue, Director of the Balkan Tactical Forces.
The members of the bilateral working group established with the Memorandum for cooperation were also in meetings yesterday.
"Only the U.S. President can decide whether he will oppose the powerful Greek lobby and only he can assess the eventual political damage, as opposed to the endangered national interests," the former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said in the article on Macedonia, published in the Friday edition of the "Washington Times."
"In view of the danger that a destabilized Macedonia can expand the fire of the war on Kosovo, the need for the President to decide is obvious. If decisive action does not follow, the consequences will be catastrophic," Baker warns.
"Beside trying to convince the Greek Government to lift the blockade, President Clinton should take urgent measures for the establishment of formal diplomatic relations with Macedonia and to appoint a competent American ambassador," Baker says.
Further on, Baker reminds: "The NATO diplomats of Washington have warned that the best way to stop the conflict on the Balkans is, foremost, to stabilize the potential points to which the war can expand, and they have agreed that one such very important point is Macedonia. They are warning that Greece must be forced to lift the embargo."
According to the information received from the Austrian ambassador in the Republic of Macedonia, based in Tirana, Mr. Curt Schpalinger, starting from yesterday, Macedonian citizens will be entering Austria only with visas. They can be obtained in the diplomatic-consular missions of this country in Tirana, Belgrade and Sofia. The Austrian ambassador says that persons applying for working visas or an education visas, will have to submit their application forms exclusively to the Austrian embassy in Tirana.
In order to obtain an Austrian visa, every applicant must fill in a special form, submit a photograph and 400 Austrian shillings. The tax for the visa is the same for all kinds of visas. The applicant must also enclose a letter of guarantee, i.e. invitation from the Austrian side, i.e. the host in Austria of the Macedonian citizen.
In yesterday's edition of the Sofia "Standard," the newspaper "Nova Makedonija" and the newspaper's correspondent from Sofia Branko Trickovski came under strong criticism for allegedly "creating anti-Bulgarian spirit and aiming at preserving the Serbian influence in Macedonia."
The author of yesterday's text in "Standard" writes that the hatred directed against everything that is Bulgarian is present on the pages of "Nova Makedonija," and explains this with the "Serbian training of the journalists."
The "Nova Makedonija" correspondent denied the allegations of the Sofia "Standard," saying they were without foundation or arguments to sustain them, as even the very text does not have any quotations from Trickovski's texts for "Nova Makedonija" which would confirm such assertions of the Bulgarian newspaper.
The information has come out in the Albanian press in RM that Fadil Sulejmani, rector of the illegal University in Albanian language in Tetovo, who has been passed a sentence of two and a half years in prison for "inciting resistance," will be released on bail today.
Apparently this information originates from the statement of the president of PDP Abdurahman Aliti, made at the recent meeting of this party in Tetovo.
With regard to this, the president of the Municipal court in Tetovo Krsto Popovski stated for "Nova Makedonija" that the defense lawyer of the accused Sulejmani had announced he would make an appeal against the decision to hold Sulejmani in custody, who also offered bail of 50,000 DEM. The district public prosecutor Boris Milosavlevski also lodge an appeal.
After the District court in Skopje voices its decision in relation to this proposal, i.e. the request for bail, which is expected these days, the Criminal council of the Municipal court in Tetovo will also make a decision over the same matter.
The construction companies that are working on the track connecting Macedonia and Bulgaria are expecting to receive approval to build some 18 km of track, from a total of 42 km, from the village Beljakovce to Kriva Palanka. In addition, the main projects are finished for sections of the track, that were given to the construction firms.
In parallel, the plant of "Remont na prugi" (trans. note "Track repairs") with the Macedonian Railways is making preparations for reconstruction of the existing track from Kumanovo to the village Beljakovce, spanning 30 km. Approval has already come for reconstruction of 20 km of this section, while the main project for the remaining 10 km is now in the works.
In order to start work more seriously on this section, and expand the gage, it is necessary to settle the problem with the supply of tracks. Namely, it's a matter of choosing the best offer out of a total of 11, which is how much have come in, so as to supply the necessary 10,000 tones of rails. With this in mind, a delegation of the Macedonian railways will leave for Ukraine on May 23, which is where the cheapest offer came from.
In addition to the documentation prepared so far, a number of projects have also been drawn up for bridges and tunnels, geo-mechanical research is being done, and the geodesist project of the border tunnel has been completed, while the main projects for these objects are also being done.
The planning office of the Macedonian Railways is also preparing draft-projects of the upper part of the route from Kriva Palanka to the Bulgarian border, which is 12.5 km long.
As for the other activities, expropriation of the land is being done, for which the terrain has been inspected and a survey of the demands and compensation has been done. There are a few housing and other objects in the part up to Kriva Palanka, so there are no greater problems on this plan.
In parallel with the preparatory work on the terrain, the production of cement ties which started at the beginning of April, and 170,000 ties have to be made for this track. The production of the ties is done under the supervision and with the help of experts from Germany, from where the equipment for their production was also supplied.
On May 18, the Board of Directors of the World Bank, beside the FESAC credit, is also expected to approve the credit for social programs, of US$ 14 million. This project is valued at US$ 17.1 million, and the Government will have to find the rest - US$ 3.1 million from other sources.
According to Mr. Alberto Eguren, representative of the World Bank in Macedonia, there are also funds for re-employment in this credit, which will cover a part of the social expenses for people that will be laid off. This part will apply in particular to those dismissed from the 25 "loss makers," but also the other companies.
These activities, namely, should also help these persons form their private businesses, for which they will have support for a certain period, until they become independent in their work.
The German agency "Treuhand" has been chosen as the consultant for this program, foremost, due to its vast experience on the plan of re-employment.
According to the Government program, it was foreseen to meet the end of this year with a 0.8% growth in the GDP, and as a result of this, also a 0.7% growth in industrial production. Nevertheless, in the first three months of this year, the industrial production noted a drop of 18.6% compared to the first three months of last year.
In the statement for "Vecer," Prime Minister Crvenkovski claims that comparing these three months with the three months from last year would be inappropriate seeing the Greek embargo was not in effect at the time, and also, economic growth can not be expected whilst two key processes in the state are being carried out: rehabilitation of the banks and restructuring of the "loss-makers."
On the other hand, the Minister of Economy Risto Ivanov told "Vecer," as well, that it still remained unsaid on the basis of which measures the Government was planning the growth in the GDP, as, according to him, in the macro-economic policy for this year, no measures for the industrial sector are foreseen - those measures are almost entirely for the financial sector. The only trump card the Government can count on could be the public investments in the infrastructure, however, such operations do not give fast results.