The President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov met in Rome on Friday, at their request, with the mediators in the Greek-Macedonian dispute, the special envoy of the UN Secretary-General Cyrus Vance and the U.S. envoy Matthew Nimetz.
The talks were qualified as working-consultative and focused on the possibilities of a resumption of the Greek- Macedonian negotiations. It was jointly concluded that it was very important to create conditions for the resumption of the negotiations and that the normalization of the relations between Macedonia and Greece had wider significance for the stability in the region.
Gligorov emphasized the readiness of the Republic of Macedonia to start direct negotiations between the two countries, with the help of the mediators. He reiterated that the continuation of the embargo is profoundly against the needs for the creation of necessary conditions and a favorable climate of trust between the two countries. It was agreed for the consultations between the mediators and the representatives of Macedonia and Greece to continue.
The meeting of the Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov with the head of the Roman-Catholic church Pope John Paul II, crowned the stay of the Macedonian delegation in Rome, as part of the celebration "Macedonia Honors St. Cyril."
Macedonia received full support from the Vatican and the Pope himself in its European political orientation, and it can also count on help from the Vatican in the future.
President Gligorov invited the Pope to visit Macedonia. In the discussion with Gligorov, the head of the Roman-Catholic church discussed his latest eccumenical letter, sent to the eastern Orthodox-Christian churches, which he described as particularly important, as the wish for reconciliation between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East corresponds with the processes of European integration.
It was emphasized that it could not come to a unification of Europe without the consequential unification on a spiritual basis. The Pope expressed particular interest in Macedonia's problems, especially with the neighbors, and pointed out the need for the other churches to also recognize the reality of the existence of the Macedonian Orthodox Chruch. President Gligorov stressed that Macedonia was a symbol of how people could live together on the Balkans.
Following the talks with the Pope, President Gligorov had a meeting with the State Secretary of the Vatican, Cardinal Angello Sodano, who was interested in the situation in Macedonia, and announced the soon appointment of a Nuncio in Skopje. The Macedonian side expressed the wish for the Vatican to help in the processes of recognition of the Republic of Macedonia in the Latin American countries.
Otherwise, President Gligorov met yesterday with a delegation of Italian industrialists, whereby a joint wish for advancement of the economic cooperation was concluded. The Italian industrialists were especially interested in the construction of the East-West corridor.
The Macedonian delegation returned to Macedonia on Saturday.
On Satruday, all of the central Greek newspapers, mainly without comments, conveyed President Gligorov's statement from the press conference in Rome, emphasizing in the headings that "Gligorov insists on lifting of embargo as precondition."
Only the conservative "Katimerini" asserted in the heading "Skopje does not want relations to improve." The newspaper also says that Gligorov tried to "obstruct the possibility for advancement of relations with our country," by stating that "a dialogue with Greece will not be accepted, unless the embargo is lifted."
"The Macedonian President," as Makfaks reports, "theoretically spoke in favor of a direct dialogue," "Katimerini" asserts, "and even proposed a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, only to make an impression."
A delegation of the Macedonian Foreign Ministry, led by minister Stevo Crvenkovski is leaving on a several-day visit to the People's Republic of China today, at the invitation of the Vice-President of the Chinese Government and Foreign Minister Chien Chichen.
Minister Crvenkovski will meet with high representatives of the Chinese political, public and cultural sphere, and visit some important Chinese institutions.
The visit will concentrate on issues that are of mutual interest for both countries, in particular the bilateral relations and cooperation in the sphere of political life, cooperation on an international plan, as well as economic, cultural and other themes.
Several documents are also expected to be signed during the visit.
It is worth noting that this is the first state visit to China of an official Macedonian delegation.
Patrick Buchanan, a conservative commentator who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, urged on Suday that U.S. troops be withdrawn from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, lest they too become hostages, Reuters reports.
"I would pull the 500 Americans out of Macedonia," Buchanan, one of nine candidates for the Republican nomination, said on the NBC News programme "Meet the Press."
"They're there as a trip-wire. They, too, could turn out to be hostages or targets of attack," he said.
President Bill Clinton sent about 500 troops to Macedonia in 1993 as a part of the UN observer force. They serve as a kind of human buffer against Serbian attacks on Macedonia, which borders Greece, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Buchanan said the Serbs were basically right in concluding that NATO did not have "the will or the desire to defeat them on the ground."
He added: "They're willing to fight and die for what they've taken and to kill in great numbers. If you resume air strikes and hit the Serbs from the air, you've got to expect them to hit you from the ground. They will attack the safe havens and slaughter the Moslems, as they did in Tuzla. They will take hostages. They will shoot UN forces."
The President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov received the delegation of the executive directors of the World Bank, led by Mr. Abdul Karin Loddi, in Ohrid yesterday.
The talks focused on the current situation in our country and the activities undertaken for the realization of reforms for full transformation of the economic and banking system.
President Gligorov underlined the importance of the to- date cooperation with the World Bank and the support it is giving to our country, which contributes a great deal to its speedier and stable economic development.
The Presidency of the Republic Community of Cultural- Scientific Ceremonies of the Macedonian Muslims, is surprised and astonished at the act of the Meshihat (trans. note Holy Synod of the Islamic church) of the Islamic religious community in Macedonia. Namely, according to yesterday's press release, for quite some time now, it has suspended the official Macedonian language from use. Hence, the official letters are written and sent in areas inhabited by Islamized Macedonians only in Albanian language. Also, the only language used in the meetings of the Meshihat is the Albanian, which is unintelligible to the believers of the other nationalities.
All of this speaks that not only does the Islamic community have no respect for the country it lives and works in, its Constitution and laws, but it also presents a source for majorization of the Albanian language, for elimination of the Macedonian language, the penetration of the Albanian alphabet as official for all members of the Islamic religion. Thus, the presidency raises the question in whose service this Meshihat is, if not only the Albanian nationality, which speaks enought that the Islam is involved in anti-Macedonian political games, and the Macedonian Muslims, as decoration in the face of politics, are victims in the practical actions of the Meshihat of the Islamic community.
The People's Democratic Party (NDP)will not back down from its platform also in the future, i.e. it will continue to act in line with its national interests. As a resume, this was announced at yesterday's first Congress of NDP, which was held in Tetovo on Saturday, in front of some 200 delegates and numerous guests from political parties from Albania and FR Yugoslavia (Kosovo), as well as representatives of the political parties of the Albanians in Macedonia.
The Congress began after the playing of the Albanian national anthem, without the playing of the Macedonian anthem as well, and high up on the platform, the Albanian flag and the flag of the party were raised alongside the Macedonian flag.
The Congress supported NDP's platform and the activities surrounding the Tetovo university. In his introductory speech, the president of the party Ilijaz Halimi said that the party's programme was not directed against anyone, and that it consisted of realistic requests, which were both rational and feasible. The Congress is demanding equality of the one-third Albanians living in Macedonia, the census conducted under international control is negated, while the work of the Parliament is assessed negatively. as it works with majorization and outvoting.
According to Halimi, the Constitution is the generator of all the problems in Macedonia, and therefore it has to be changed. As one of the solutions, he pointed out that the Albanians needed greter autonomy and new parliamentary elections.
The businessman and multi-billionaire George Soros responds to the attacks by "Nova Makedonija," in the newspaper's Saturday edition. In the letter entitled "I've proven myself a true friend of Macedonia," Soros says: "My talks with the President of Macedonia Mr. Kiro Gligorov and other officials, were private, but since your text entitled "Self-willing political arbitration" claims to know the contents of these talks, I have the right to correct some of my stands which were misrepresented."
Soros explains that he had never supported the Tetovo university (as "Nova Makedonija" claimed) and that, to the contrary, he regarded it a devised political provocation. Soros dismisses the accusations that he had insisted that the two vice- presidents of this illegal institution be invited at the round table on the education in Skopje. Soros also explains that he is in favor of a citizen's concept of the state, in which all the citizens, the Macedonians and Albanians as well, would enjoy equal rights. That, according to him, is completely different from any concept of two nations in one state.
"In my correspondence with President Gligorov, I really used to word Slav Macedonians, and he opposed the use of this word, but if you have a state called Macedonia - to which you have the right, - you have to make the distinction between the ethnic Macedonians and the other ethnic groups. If you insist that all Macedonian citizens are Macedonians, you will do the same crime to the Albanians and the other ethnic groups in Macedonia, as the Greeks have done to the Slav Macedonians in Greece.
I expressed my stance in regard to the flag in the letter from 1992, addressed to the Macedonian Parliament, on the occasion of my offer for a loan of US$ 25 million. Then, I emphasized that it presented an unhappy choice. The Greeks are right in regarding it as a provocation and Macedonia would strengthen its position in the dispute if it changes the flag at its own will. I haven't changed this opinion," George Soros says in his letter.
The French concern Alcatel Alsthom will open an office in Macedonia through its trade company "Alcatel Trading International." The Macedonian office is expected to start working in September, this year. It's an interesting fact that Alcatel is entering Macedonia directly, through its Paris headquarters and it will be using its name in Macedonia, which is a precedent in relation to the other large telecommunication companies, which open offices in Macedonia through their partners.
In the first 5 months of this year, FENIMAK from Tetovo produced and exported 2,250 tones of nickel, realizing US$ 15 million. This year, it is planning to produce 5,200 tones of nickel, which will require additional investments in the Combine.
The director of the Combine says that if the price of the nickel stays at a level from US$ 7,200 to 7,430, it is quite possible that the Combine will not record any losses in its work, for the first time, but profits.
As for the restructuring of the Combine, 85 workers have been dismissed, who have been declared technological surplus, and their dismissal has been subventioned. At the Combine, they're saying that these layoffs will not disrupt the technological process.
The Executive board of the Association of Banking and Insurance of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce has accepted the agreement for maximalization of the active interest rates, while the passive ones would be formed freely on the market.
That means that from June 1, this year, the active interest rate of the banks would be 30% at an annual level. It will be determined on the basis of the planned inflation rate for this year, of up to 18%, increased for 12 percentage points.
The National Bank of Macedonia has been appointed in charge of supervising the implementation of this agreement.
The savings banks have asked the Association to decide whether the savings banks could eventually join in the agreement, as well.
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