Branko Crvenkovski has received another mandate to be the top man of the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia. Jane Miljovski and Blagoja Handziski were elected vice presidents of the party. One more vice president is left to be elected, as out of the remaining two candidates Ilinka Mitreva and Erol Hajretini, not one of them won the necessary majority in the two conducted election rounds. The new secretary of SDAM is Ljubomir Popovski, while a new Central committee of the party has also been elected, that numbers 90 members.
Beside these personnel questions, the changes and supplementations to the program declaration and the platform for the activities of the party in the coming period were also adopted at the second congress of the ruling party, that was held on Friday and Saturday.
Tito Petkovski and Lazar Kitanovski were not on the list of candidates for the highest party leadership. Petkovski and Nikola Popovski took the opportunity to give broader responses to the remarks of certain delegates as to why they are not in the combination for the highest positions. Petkovski explained that he did not run for vice president as he felt there should be less functions in the party, i.e. that he is both vice president of Parliament and head of the party's parliamentary group.
Nikola Popovski said that it was an honor for him to be a member of the party's Central committee.
Otherwise, the third vice president of the party will be elected at the next meeting of the SDAM Central committee.
The president of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia Stojan Andov, who is staying in Ankara as a guest of the president of the Great National Assembly of Turkey, Husamedian Dzinduruk, attended the main celebration organized on the occasion of the 75 year anniversary of the Turkish Parliament.
Beside the meetings with his host, Stojan Andov also attended the reception organized by the President of the Republic of Turkey Sulejman Demirel, in honor of the presidents and members of the parliaments of above 60 countries. He also held brief meetings with Prime Minister Tansu Chiler, Foreign Minister Erdal Ineni and other state ministers and high ranking officials. President Andov also had contacts with a number of presidents, i.e. high representatives of the parliaments of other countries - participants in the celebration, including the presidents of the parliaments of Romania, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Croatia and Bulgaria.
Following the visit in Adelaide and the meetings held in the Ministry of Education, as well as the organizations of the Macedonian immigration in South Australia, the Macedonian Government delegation, comprised of Emilija Simovska, Minister of Education and Victor Gaber, Under Secretary at the Macedonian Foreign Ministry, met in Melbourne and Wollongong yesterday with several prominent representatives of the political life of Australia.
In Melbourne, the delegation met with Jim Short, shadow minister for emigration and ethnic issues of the state of Victoria, while the Under Secretary Victor Gaber met separately with Phil Honeywood, adviser to the prime minister of Victoria. In Wollongong, the minister of education met with the Speaker of the Australian Parliament Stephen Martin. The talks focused on the problems of the Macedonian ethnic community in Australia, as well as the bilateral Australian-Macedonian relations. A meeting was also scheduled for yesterday in Wollongong, with the Macedonian community from Ilavarra.
In the interview on Sunday for the Australian Television, minister Simovska sent out a strong protest against the decision of the Australian Government to rename the Macedonians in Australia into Slav Macedonians, and the language into Slav-Macedonian.
The independent Greek newspaper "Elefterotipia" claimed on Sunday that Greece, in cooperation with the mediator Cyrus Vance, has already proposed to start direct negotiations in New York with both sides giving guarantees simultaneously. This idea, according to the newspaper, is being discussed on the route Athens - New York - Skopje, Makpress reports.
The Greek press further contends that, according to the simplest variant, it is foreseen for both sides to give informal and only verbal guarantees to the UN mediator, in relation to the concessions they would make. According to the other variant, on the other hand, it is envisaged to first reach an agreement about the essence of the negotiations, while in the direct dialogue in New York, only the mutual concessions between the two countries would be declared, which would also then be practically realized.
"To Vima" claimed in the Sunday issue that the direct negotiations at the seat of the World Organization will be renewed some time next month.
Another political party started functioning in Macedonia from two days ago - the "Party for Democratic Prosperity of the Albanians in Macedonia." That is the new name of the so-called seceded wing of PDP, better known as the "wing of the Tachists." The decision was made at the central assembly of the Party, which was held in the great hall of the Assembly of the Tetovo municipality.
The assembly started with an one-minute silence, i.e. paying respect to Abduselam Emini, who was called the "hero of education." Following the introductory speeches by Arber Dzaferi and Menduh Tachi, strong criticism was addressed against the official politics of PDP, headed by Abdurahman Aliti. What was characteristic about this assembly is that while it was being held, the flag of the Republic of Macedonia and the coat of arms of Tetovo mysteriously disappeared.
The representatives of the National Democratic Party, the Party for Democratic Prosperity of the Albanians in Macedonia, PDA - Islamic Way, PDP - Party for National Unity and the Association of Albanian Women, made a decision in Tetovo yesterday to organize a protest meeting tomorrow at 12.00 hours, in the town center.
The meeting will be held on the day when the trial of the rector of the illegal Tetovo University in Albanian language Fadil Sulejmani is scheduled to start. According to the announcement from yesterday's meeting, the protest is organized "against the politically rigged processes for the Albanians and the degenerated tendencies that endanger not only the Albanians, but also all citizens!"
In today's press conference in Skopje, the organizers strongly attacked the Government of intentionally raising the inter-ethnic tension in Macedonia over this past week, and creating conflict situations so as to divert the attention from the country's more serious social and economic problems. The Government was accused of generating tension among the Macedonians and Albanians which is not so high, with an intention of putting the social tension in the second plan. The representatives of these political parties stated that the Government was showing an absence of political will for the settlement of the problems of the Albanians and that the process scheduled in Tetovo tomorrow was not only a process against Fadil Sulejmani, but also against an idea that brings all the Albanians in Macedonia together.
It was announced that all necessary measures have been taken for tomorrow's meeting to pass peacefully and without incidents and that the ultimative demand for the release of Sulejmani would be expressed at the town square in Tetovo, and not in front of the court building. The organizers are expecting more than 20,000 people to turn up.
Otherwise, the representatives expressed moral support to the "Meeting of the hungry" which is scheduled to be held in Skopje on Thursday, and are refusing any kind of connection with that protest.
Over the weekend, under the organization of the Helsinki Human Rights Committee of the Republic of Macedonia, a seminar was held in Skopje in relation to the experiences of the NGOs in the protection of human rights. Beside the approximately thirty participants in the seminar from the Macedonian NGOs, representatives of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee also took part in the seminar, as well as the International Helsinki Federation and the Council of Europe. The seminar focused on the need for increasing the efforts of the organizations in this field, and the debate concentrated on the "standard" topics on such occasions - mainly the inter-ethnic relations in the country.
In the American publication "Who is who in America" and the edition "Who is who in the world," the following personalities from Macedonian were presented: Kiro Gligorov, as president of state, Branko Crvenkovski, president of the Government, Stevo Crvenkovski, foreign minister, Eftim Anchev, as minister in the Government, Risto Ivanov, minister and economist, Tushe Goshev, as minister, and Dzevdat Hajredini, also minister. Other high ranking officials listed are Denko Maleski, ambassador and Jovan Tofovski, obstetrician-gynecologist, and Jordan Arsov is listed as a judge from the Constitutional Court. Also present is Ksente Bogoev, administrator of a scientific-research organization, while out of the artists Blaze Koneski - poet and Gradimir Pankov - choreographer. Of the journalists, only Slobodan Chashule is included, while from the doctors - five university professors: Momchilo Lazarevski - obstetrician- gynecologist, Radovan Perchinkovski - cardiologist, retired educator, Momir Polenakovich - neurologist - medical administrator, Gjorgji Stavrich, medical educator and Todor Stojchevski - internist, medical educator.
The first official stock exchange in Macedonia is planned to start working in November, this year. With that purpose, a group of advisers from the British Know-How Fund are staying in the country for a couple of months, who, in cooperation with the Macedonian Commission for stocks, are working intensively on the stock market project.
The documents for the foundation of the stock market, signed by its potential founders, are expected to reach the daily agenda of the Commission for stocks within two months, at the latest, in order to be granted a licence for the stock market to start working.
For now, a Committee for development of the stock market has been formed, the time dynamics for its foundation and the work rules, and the phase is underway in which the preparations for the gathering of the necessary documentation for the foundation and work of the stock market are being carried out at the Finance Ministry.
According to adopted criteria, the Stock market will be a stock company of a minimum 5 founders, with the minimum capital of 1 million DEM. It will be a non-profit company of an open type - open to new founders at any time. It will be run by a Managing board in which more than half the members will be persons who are not directly involved in stock market activities. As for the manner of work, in the beginning, the work will be done "on the floor: with the physical presence of the brokers.
Otherwise, founders of the stock market can also be banks and other financial institutions, through a separately formed company for trading in stocks and other brokerages. They are also stock companies formed with a capital of 150,000 DEM, with a minimum working capital of 30,000 DEM, and to own a licence from the Commission for trading in stocks.
It is also foreseen for all the founders to be participants in the stock exchange, and to find their interest for founding through the possibility of trading in stocks.
The process of formation should go in parallel with the process of privatization and the development of shareholding, which implies a substantial quantum of stocks for the stock market to trade with.
According to the analysis carried out by the Central bank of Macedonia, the banks have formed the interest rates even up to 100% per year. In the period from January, last year, to February, this year, the interest rates were, in average, 8% per month, which added up to an annual level of 152%. Under the conditions of an inflation rate last year and an inflation of 5.7% for the past three months, such interests rates are regarded as much too high.
According to the governor of the National Bank of Macedonia Borko Stanoevski, no company can bear such rates, as it does not realize such a high profit rate in order to pay an interest of 152%. Therefore, the Central Bank of Macedonia is suggesting to the banks to lower their interest.
According to the statement of the general director of the Macedonian railways Panche Kovachev, the scope of the cargo traffic of the Macedonian railways has decreased 90%, while with the passenger traffic, compared to the period before the break up of Yugoslavia, the reduction is 15%.
He emphasized that this is owed to the closing of the southern and northern border, that is, the exits toward Europe and the Salonika port.
Therefore, 1,300 workers or 1/4 out of the total number of employees are left without any work.