Macedonia's Foreign Ministry denied news that calls upon reports in the Greek press, that the permanent representative of the Republic of Macedonia at the UN Denko Maleski signed the Collective demarche for compensation of the losses suffered by countries hit by the UN sanctions against FR Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).
Although the Republic of Macedonia is supportive of the essence of the Collective demarche, which was initiated by the Republic of Bulgaria, it did not sign the document as it did not state Macedonia's constitutional name.
Macedonia will express is viewpoint and interests on this issue to the UN Secretary-General Boutros Ghali, in a written form.
Washington has given up efforts to persuade Athens to lift the embargo against Skopje before the start of the UN backed negotiations, however, it is keeping the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Macedonia as a strong trump card.
This, according to the Greek newspaper "Elefterotipia," was stated by the special envoy of the White House for the dispute between Athens and Skopje Matthew Nimetz, speaking at a congregation of Greek migrant organizations in New York.
Nimetz said that the U.S. side wanted to settle the dispute between Greece and Macedonia as soon as possible, yet, according to "Elefterotipia," he added that the U.S. Government was using the decision as to when it would establish full diplomatic relations with Macedonia as a strong trump card in the relations with Athens and Skopje.
The ruling PASOK and the oppositional New Democracy are secretly collaborating and have agreed to leave the settling of the Greek national questions over to the U.S.A., the leader of the ultranationalist party Political Spring, Andonis Samaras claims. He asked for an irregular session of Parliament at which the leaders of PASOK and New Democracy Andreas Papandreou and Miltijadis Evert would speak publicly about their stances on Greece's national issues.
Under the term national questions, Greece means the relations with the neighbors, mainly Macedonia. The reason for Samaras' protest was the visit of Miltijadis Evert to Washington and his "restrained optimism" concerning the settling of the dispute between Athens and Skopje.
Starting from tomorrow, and through the next three days, the traditional ceremony "Macedonia in the honor of St. Cyril" will take place in Rome. On behalf of Macedonia, a high- ranking state delegation, comprised of President Kiro Gligorov and the ministers of foreign affairs and culture Stevo Crvenkovski and Eshtref Aliu, as well as representatives of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, headed by the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia Mr. Mihail, will pay homage to the work of the all-Slav educator.
The Macedonian delegation, which will arrive in the Italian capital today afternoon, will hold numerous and important meetings during the ceremony, including meetings with the highest representatives of the Italian state, led by the president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.
On Friday, the Macedonian delegation is expected to be received by the head of the Roman-Catholic church Pope John Paul II. The separate meetings with president Gligorov and the head of the MOC will focus on the current moment in the mutual relations and the possibilities of their advancement in the coming period.
The Criminal council of the Tetovo Municipal court, at the proposal of the defence attorney Mahmut Yusufi, has decided to set the bail for the self-proclaimed president of the "Tetovo University" at 200,000 DM.
As it is known, Sulejamani's defence, after the announcement of the verdict, offered 50,000 DM as bail money for Sulejmani, as well as a guarantee that he would not flee or hide until the end of the trial.
Krsto Popovski, president of the Tetovo Municipal court announced this decision yesterday, informing, at the same time, that Fadil Sulejmani will be released on bail only after the Court is given proof that 200,000 DM have been paid and after the defendant's passport is taken away from him.
At the Skopje car fair, which is still on, out of 400 displayed exhibits, 80% have already been sold. The sold cars also include the most expensive ones, like "Honda NSX," which costs 155,000 DM. Beside this car, the most exclusive ones at the fair are "Porsche - 911 Carrera," which costs 203,000 DM and "Merzedes Roadstar" and "Merzedes 350TD" which cost 155,000 DM and 175,000 DM, respectively. It is believed that the reason for this large percentage of sold exhibits is owed to the price reduction which ranges from 5 - 10%.
"Merzedes" and "Citroen" had presentations yesterday as part of the fair. "Citroen" presented its latest models, and the representative of the agent firm "Bomak commerce international" from Skopje, Emil Anastasov, stated that his firm intends to expand the sales network from 8 to 12 sales points throughout the country, by the end of the year. Anastasov added that his firm would also start working with the renown pneumatics manufacturer "Michelin."
The representative of "Merzedes," Slobodan Zivojinovich stated that a "Merzedes" service shop would be built near the Skopje hotel "Continental" in the near future, covering an area of 2,000 m2, which will require an investment of 3 million DM. Since the beginning of the year, 20 "Merzedes'" have been sold in Macedonia, while the tendency is for the sales to reach an annual level of 100 cars per year.
In view of the success of the fair, according to officials at the Skopje fair, there is a possibility for the fair to enter the B - list of the European car showrooms from next year. Participating in this years showroom are 89 exhibitors from 23 countries from three continents - Europe, North America and Asia.
The lowest salary, i.e. the lowest price of labour should be treated as an economic, and not a social category. It exists everywhere in the world, and should be determined as such also in Macedonia. This was said at yesterday's press conference held at the Union of Syndicates of Macedonia.
The category lowest salary is the topic of discussion between the Syndicate, the Government and the Chamber of Commerce. As to its level, which has still not been determined, Alekso Kiprovski, president of the Union of metalworkers, energy- workers and miners, stated that the Syndicate must not make a mistake here and allow the sum of the lowest monthly salary to be much too low, as with the improvement of the economic situation, there will always be a low starting basis for increasing the salaries. The president of the Union of Syndicates of Macedonia said that the lowest salary would nevertheless be set, as the facts and figures are already known as well as the lowest possible sum. The president of the Union of workers from the administration and judicature said that these people's wages must not go below 200 DM per month.
Geologists have discovered reserves of 20 million tones of manganese in the Kichevo municipality, near the regions Cer and Stogovo.
The first results of the analysis conducted on several thousand tones of manganese ore have come out positive, but according to the director of the near-by iron mine "Tajmishte," it is still uncertain when the mining of the ore will start, as it requires additional financial investments.
The mine for iron "Tajmishte" has enough ore for the next 100 years, but it had to be closed down as a victim of the transformation of the Skopje ironworks, whose part it is, and which is recording enormous losses and is one of the 25 biggest "loss-makers" in the state. Under these conditions, the mine is being used to grow health food. Additional financial investments for the mining of the manganese are expected to come either from the Government or the international financial institutions.
Near the mining-energy combine "Bitola," en route to the village Makovo, the beginning of the construction of a 400 kilovolt power line Bitola-Skopje will be marked formally. The chosen contractors for the job are EMO from Ohrid, in cooperation with the Turkish firm Galkon. This project will be realized with the US$ 22 million credit which Macedonia and the Macedonian Electrical Industry obtained from the EBRD. The work has to be finished in 18 months, it will be long 113.5 km. This will enable the electric energy to be transported to Skopje by the shortest route, which is where the biggest consumers are located.