"Nova Makedonija" is informed by UN sources in New York that there is still no confirmation about the first direct Macedonian-Greek meeting, which, as Greek sources persistently mention, will be held on April 6. However, it is claimed that the mediator Cyrus Vance and some circles from Washington will not give up this date so easily and that they are insisting on getting an affirmative answer also from the Macedonian side. As it is known, an official letter - invitation for negotiations has been sent to the address of the Macedonian Government at the UN, but there is still no affirmative response, as the Macedonian side is insisting on the stance not to negotiate under conditions of an embargo.
Otherwise, sometime after tomorrow, the UN Security Council is expected to finish reviewing the report of the Secretary-General Boutros Ghali, which applies to the continuation of the mandate of the UNPROFOR forces, and according to sources from the UN, the adoption of three separate Resolutions - for Macedonia, Croatia and B&H. Reportedly, the basic recommendation of the Secretary-General, to divide UNPROFOR into three parts, for each country respectively, has been accepted and adopted.
Before the beginning of the Macedonian-Greek dialogue with the mediation of Cyrus Vance, the differences in the stances between the leader of New Democracy Miltijadis Evert and its honorary President Konstantinos Mitsotakis rose to the surface, Makpress reports.
The former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, speaking of the "Macedonian question," condemned the attempts to exclude the "alleged" problem with the name, emphasizing that "it is nationally unacceptable to close the question and lift the embargo without making a final decision in relation to the name." According to Mitsotakis, the delay in bringing the only solution - a compound name, only does a service to President Gligorov. The former prime minister warned the Greek Government that if it did not head toward an acceptable solution over the name issue, the entire world would soon start calling the country - shortly, the Republic of Macedonia. The party chief Miltijadis Evert, commenting Mitsotakis' statement, only briefly said that the cards should not be opened when one goes to negotiations.
In anticipation of the proposal for renewal of the negotiations to also be accepted by the Macedonian Government in the next days, it is said much more calmly in Athens that the dialogue, now in an initial phase, might be carried out at a lower diplomatic level, that is, between the permanent representatives at the UN Malevski and Zaharakis, and not between the foreign ministers Crvenkovski and Papoulias.
Yesterday, in the central news, the Macedonian TV announced the unofficial information that the "Skopje" refinery was informed yesterday by the Greek firm "Mamidakis" that the Greek authorities had stopped the delivery of humanitarian aid from the PHARE program, intended for Macedonia.
The help consisted of 7,000 tones of diesel fuel and 14,000 tones of crude oil that were supposed to arrive in Macedonia these days, directly from the "Mamidakis" storehouses in Salonika.
MTV also reports, from reliable sources, that 70 wagons of the Macedonian railways, that were waiting in Salonika to take over the diesel fuel for Macedonia will be sent back, empty. Also unofficially, the high circles of the Greek administration are considering some other additional possibilities of hermetically closing the Macedonian-Greek border for all kinds of traffic of goods and people, between the two countries. In addition to other restrictive measures for full blockade of Macedonia, the Greek side is also contemplating cutting off all telecommunications between the two countries.
According to MTV, these latest measures are brought into close connection with the latest developments in the Macedonian-Greek dispute.
Yesterday's continuation of the 93rd Conference of the Inter-parliamentary Union was held on the theme "Bioethics and its implications in the protection of human rights in the world." Dr. Ratka Kuljan Zografska, member of the Macedonian delegation, also took part in the parliamentary debate on this theme. In her speech, she emphasized the necessity of proper regulation of the situation in the field of medicine and biology and discussed the positive legal regulations which protect the basic human rights in Macedonia, in relation to the taking and transplantation of parts of the human body, for treatment and pregnancy termination. In emphasizing more specifically the issue of pregnancy termination as one of the most pressing issues today in the world, Dr. Kuljan-Zografska explained the stance that abortion must not be used as a way of family planning, but should only be placed in the interest of the physical and mental health of the women and children.
The vice-president of Parliament and member of the Inter-parliamentary Council of the Union, Tito Petkovski, who was received yesterday by the Spanish King Huan Karlos, spoke at the beginning of the second day into the work of the Conference, on the theme: "The international community, faced with the threat of misfortune, caused by armed conflicts and natural catastrophes, as well as catastrophe's caused by the human factor." Due to the insufficient efficiency of the UN, he emphasized the need of strengthening new mechanisms for conflict prevention.
The Macedonian delegation also submitted a draft- Resolution to this theme, which will serve during the preparation of a joint Resolution of the Conference, on this item of the daily agenda.
In yesterday's session, the Macedonian Parliament adopted the police laws - the law for internal affairs, with 72 votes, and for Intelligence Agency - with 61 votes. These laws rounded off the entire system of reforms of the police. The essence is in the factual division of the Interior Ministry into three separate segments. The first one is the very Ministry, as part of which the classical (uniformed) and criminal police will remain, as well as all administrations. The second one is the Department for security and counterintelligence, which will have a certain autonomy in relation to the Interior Ministry. Its director will be appointed by the Government and he will answer directly to the Interior Ministry. The third segment is the Intelligence Agency, which is a fully independent organ, and its director is appointed and personally answers to the President of the state.
Minister Frckovski made the introductory speech on the transformation of the police, emphasizing that these two legal acts passed through the expert analysis of several independent foreign organs. Explaining the contents of the laws, he stated the foreseen forms of control over these security organs, in detail. Of the submitted amendments, only those of a terminological nature gained support, which delved into the contents of the legal texts.
The PDP MPs, as they previously announced, did not attend the tenth session, just like their colleagues - representatives of the Albanian parties in Parliament. Only three Albanian MPs, two from PDP and one independent MP, took part in the 11th session, which lasted only an hour. Eight legal projects for deals in various fields, between Macedonia and foreign countries were ratified in the 11th session, as well as two decisions, and one law from the health sphere.
"Komercijalna Banka" - Skopje, has made a decision to introduce new interest rates from the 10th of next month, which will be 20% lower than the present ones.
The bank lowered the active interest rates from 5.45% to 4.50%, while with the passive interest, the reduction was implemented only with the fixed denar deposits. The interest rate on the after sight denar deposits (current, drawing accounts and savings accounts) will remain unchanged at 0.5%, in order to stimulate the citizens to keep their money in banks, while the interest on the fixed term deposits has been lowered to 2 to 3.5%, depending on the fixed time.
According to the general director of the bank, Aleksandar Manevski, the reduction is being carried out so as to encourage and motivate new investments and revival of the economic activity in the Republic.
According to Manevski, the reduction of the interest rates is not in contradiction with the banking gentleman agreement for handling the interest policy, as it determines the maximum borders of the interests.
So far, the Privatization Agency has received a total of 550 requests for reserving estate for the former owners of the companies which were nationalized after the Second World War.
The Government privatization commission has given positive opinions on the privatization of over 150 state-owned companies, and from them, parts in 7 companies have been reserved for the former owners.
In the case with "Alkaloid" from Skopje, an entire plant has been reserved for the former owner, while 4 objects to the value of over 1 million DEM have been reserved for the former owners of the company "Solun" from Gevgelija.
The remaining estate reservations for the former owners have been carried out in the form of shares. Shares valued at 6 million DEM have been reserved for the former owners of the chocolate factory "Evropa" from Skopje, while 7 families - former owners have been reserved a part of the stocks, valued at 500,000 DEM, in the Prilep brewery. The successors of the hotel "Bristol" have been reserved a part of the untransformed capital, to the value of 650,000 DEM. A part of the shares have also been reserved for the former owner of the company "Javor" from Bitola, while the former owner of the factory "Vitaminka" from Prilep has been reserved a part of 200,000 DEM.
This year, the Republic of Macedonia is to receive international help of up to US$ 70 million, in the form of technical help or as individual donations. Most of the help has already been approved, or it is soon announced, Makpress reports. The bulk of the help comes from the PHARE program, in the form of equipment, raw materials, intermediate goods and spare parts for the need of the numerous Macedonian economic and non-economic companies.
Certain donor countries are expected to make donations for interventions in investments in infrastructure objects in Macedonia. Germany is expected to give some 6 million DEM for the border tunnel and the railroad toward Bulgaria.
The Macedonian Government is approving the help in the form of credits under favorable terms, while the return funds will be used to form compensation funds.
The World bank, EBRD as well as the governments of some European countries are expected to allocate Macedonia credits of a total US$ 100 million, for developing the country's private sector.
According to officials at the Ministry of Development, after the consolidation of the balances of "Stopanska banka," the negotiations for receiving a credit of US$ 20 million for development of the small business in the private sector, will start.
The familiar credit for development of the private farms and for building small processing capacities of US$ 18 million, is in a final phase of negotiations with the World bank. In addition to these funds, the Macedonian Government will also take part in this project with US$ 8 million.
The World bank is also ready to start talks for the allocation of a credit of US$ 40 million for development of the small business in the private sector, and these talks are expected to start in April, this year. Otherwise, these funds are not included with those of US$ 85 million which will belong to Macedonia with the signing of the stand-by arrangement.
One more possibility to stimulate the development of the private business will be the foundation of the Fund for providing new jobs, with participation of the governments of FR Germany and Macedonia, which will provide 10 million DEM, each. The credits will be issued through separate banks which will not be allocated by the state. However, they will require mortgages to the value of the credit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------=