The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Miguel Angel Martinez, who will be staying in our country from June 6-8, landed at the Ohrid airport yesterday afternoon. The high-ranking guest was welcomed at the airport by the Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament Stojan Andov, together with a group of associates. Immediately after his arrival in Ohrid, Mr. Miguel Angel Martinez gave a statement for the press, saying, among the rest:
"This is a regular visit to a country that approaching the moment of becoming a full member of the Council of Europe. I feel there are no obstacles for that and presume that the accession will happen some time before the end of this mandate, which ends in January, next year," Martinez said.
Stojan Andov also gave a statement for the press, making a brief assessment of the significance of this visit.
"I believe that in the overall relations, this is probably the most important event following the acceptance of Macedonia as a special guest in the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council. We will sum up experiences to-date, and I feel this visit will help considerably," Stojan Andov said.
Yesterday evening in Ohrid, Martinez and his host Stojan Andov discussed Macedonia's accession as a full member of the Council of Europe, emphasizing that this act is the first and extremely important step for the full inclusion of our country in the European integrations.
In today's address in the Macedonian Parliament, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Miguel Angel Martinez expressed hope that Macedonia will soon become a member of this organization.
"It is so that your membership in our institution, and that of Albania, which will become a reality in the near future, should give you a chance to meet among us with Greeks and Bulgarians; and I am confident that all of us together will be able to build peace and progress in this part of our continent.
For a couple of years now our Parliamentary Assembly has been in close contact with your country, with your people and with your Parliament. And that contact has meant developing links of respect and sympathy. We have come to deeply appreciate among you a peaceful, democratic, flexible, hardworking people: a people who fully deserves our understanding and our solidarity. And our support to raise its standards of living and development.
Significant progress has been recorded in a number of essential fields: your Constitution was changed and you held elections which were defined as free and fair by our and other international observers. Important legislative reforms are being undertaken, specially concerning the sphere of human rights. Satisfactory cooperation has developed with experts from the Council of Europe which you consulted, for instance with regard to the rights of national minorities. Your participation as "special guests" in our Parliamentary Assembly gave all of us the opportunity to learn and make progress.
Our experts from the Human Rights Court and Commission provided us with a most useful report on your country's judicial background. And the Rapporteurs from our Assembly visited Skopje last month and came back very positively impressed. Indeed, a number of improvements will still be required, but my feeling is that the relevant committee of our Assembly will soon be in a position to recommend accepting your country as a full member of the Council of Europe."
As part of his first official visit to Japan, Macedonia's Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski met yesterday with his Japanese counterpart Yohio Kono and the Japanese Minister of Finance.
The meeting resulted with the signing of documents for a Japanese donation of US$ 5.5 million, as well as support of the country's balance of payments.
Furthermore, Crvenkovski also met yesterday with Asao, president of the Japanese foundation for cultural cooperation, with whom he discussed possibilities for the establishment of this kind of cooperation between the two countries, exchanging information about the possibilities and activities that can be undertaken in this area.
On his behalf, Asao said he would personally see to the realization of some concrete Macedonian interests in this field.
Together with his delegation from the Macedonian Foreign Ministry, Stevo Crvenkovski held a working meeting with representatives of the Japanese-Macedonian friendship association, which was also attended by several prominent figures from Japan's political, scientific and business scene.
"I believe that the U.S. policy toward Macedonia is somewhat schizophrenic. We sent the U.S. soldiers on the field, and then, we don't want to send an ambassador to Macedonia because of their domestic problems," the former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said an interview for ABC.
Baker supports the decision of President Bill Clinton's administration not to send American troops in turbulent Bosnia, as the conflict in this country does not present a wider Balkan or European war.
"Still, if it comes to an expansion of this conflict, for instance, in Macedonia, that would drag in Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Greece, and even Turkey. The U.S., whether it wants or not, will go back there, because history shows us that the U.S. can not tolerate the general instability in Europe," James Baker said.
At yesterday's formal opening of the 45th International Skopje Fair of goods for general consumption, intermediate goods and equipment, the president of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce Dushan Petreski, in wishing that the fair contributes to the more successful establishment of business cooperation between firms from our country and firms from abroad, stressed the exceptional importance of this oldest specialized international fair in the Republic, for the Macedonian economy.
At the fair that ends Friday, 195 exhibitors from Macedonia and 11 other countries, will present over 20,000 of their products from the field of machine, chemical, baking industry, etc. The fair is open from 10.00 - 19.00 hours, and during this time, a number of promotions, business meetings and presentations of production programs will be held.
AIR LINE SKOPJE-TIRANA: From June 20, this year, the Macedonian air company "Avioimpex" is establishing a new line en route Skopje-Tirana, Makpress reports. The aircraft "DC-9" will service this line twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The results from the realized goods exchange in 1994 between Macedonian and Poland are unsatisfactory and are not in conformity with the traditionally good relations between the two countries. This was said at the meeting of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce and the Polish-Balkan Chamber, held in Skopje, yesterday. The overall trade exchange between the two countries reached US$ 12.6 million last year, whereby Macedonia recorded a deficit of US$ 5.6 million.
The action of issuing decisions for the closure of private radio and TV stations in the country is continuing. So far, some 55 such decisions have been delivered, and according to officials at the Ministry of Traffic and Relations, the action will proceed in the coming period. First on the line are those stations that do not have any work documents, such as being registered in the court register or in the country's public media register.
At the same time, constant check-ups are being done, as to whether the issued decisions are being implemented. If it is concluded that the stations are still working, in spite of the decisions for closure, other measures are taken, such as sealing the doors of the stations, and if the seal is broken, charges are pressed.
The Skopje daily "Vecer," unofficially reports that two evenings ago, the inspectors from the Ministry of Finance, with the assistance of their colleagues from the Interior Ministry, sealed the doors of 4 casinos and one bingo in Skopje, and the same action was also carried out in a number of towns throughout Macedonia which have objects of this type.
The action of closing down casinos was carried out in compliance with the new gambling law enacted on May 26. According to this law, none of the objects closed down so far had the necessary work documents. Consequently, they were immediately emptied and their entrance doors were sealed with wax and rope.
As "Vecer" reports, the following casinos were closed down: Grand Hotel - Skopje, hotel "Panorama" and the two casinos in hotel "Continental," as well as the bingo of the Soccer Club "Vardar," located in one of the hall of the cinema "Vardar."