The President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov yesterday received Mr. Hugo Anson, representative of the special envoy of the UN Secretary General for former Yugoslavia, on a farewell visit, at the end of his mission in Macedonia.
Participating in the meeting was also Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski.
President Gligorov evaluated Mr. Anson's mission as very successful, and expressed conviction in the future successful cooperation with the mission in the Republic of Macedonia.
Yesterday, Anson also met with the Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament Stojan Andov.
At the invitation of the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Stevo Crvenkovski, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark Mr. Nils Petersen will be staying on an official visit to Macedonia from today to June 18th.
The visit is expected to contribute to the quicker development of the bilateral relations in the political, economic, cultural and other spheres, and topped off with a protocol for cultural and scientific cooperation, as well as protection of investments and evasion of double taxation of the citizens.
Today afternoon, Mr. Petersen will be received by the President of the Republic Kiro Gligorov and Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski. In addition to the talks with UNPREDEP representatives and minister Crvenkovski, scheduled for tomorrow, the Danish Foreign Minister will also have a meeting with representatives of the oppositional parties in Macedonia, as well as a meeting with representatives of the Albanian nationality in Macedonia.
The talks are also expected to revolve around a donation from Denmark, as support of the balance of payments of the Republic of Macedonia, amounting to $ 2.4 million.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Macedonian Army Gen. Col. Dragoljub Bocinov is on a several-day visit to the Slovak Armed Forces, since Wednesday.
Yesterday, Gen. Bocinov met with the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovak Army Gen. Col. Jozhef Tuhina, and representatives of the General Staff of the Slovak Army.
The talks revolved around the possibilities of cooperation in the field of defence and their concrete realization. Today, Gen. Bocinov is planned to meet with representatives of the Slovak Defense Ministry.
Following his visit to Slovakia, Gen. Bocinov will also pay a visit to the armed forces of the Czech Republic.
The Macedonian Academic and Research Network MARNET was officially put into operation yesterday in the president's office of the University "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje. Simultaneously, MARNET was connected with the biggest computer network in the world INTERNET.
Thus, Macedonia has become part of the world information system, while the computer network will be used to service the needs of the educational sphere and the Government.
Following three-day talks between the delegations of the Macedonian Ministry of Transport and Connections and the Transport Ministry of the Russian Federation, the text of the draft-agreement for international road traffic between the two countries was finalized in Skopje, yesterday.
Protocols on the implementation of the Agreement and on the led talks were also signed, whereby both delegations agreed, until the signing of the Agreement at a Government level, to immediately start implementing the decrees determined in it.
Today, virtually the whole Athens press quotes parts of yesterday's text in "Nova Makedonija" on the visit of U.S. officials to Greece, with strong criticism.
The conservative "Katimerini," in the text entitled "Bush's visit irritates Skopje," assesses that it is the "sharpest commentary" on the occasion of the visit of the former U.S. President George Bush, the private vacation of the special envoy of the White House Matthew Nimetz, as well as the arrival of the UN Secretary-General Boutros-Boutros Ghali. Conveying parts of the commentary, "Katimerini" assesses that "in essence, it is a criticism of the overall U.S. policy" in the Macedonian- Greek dispute.
After saying that the "Skopians are furious over Nimetz' visit," the oppositional "Elefteros tipos," in its familiar style, assesses that "Gligorov's newspaper sent a provocative attack, without precedent and with strongest attacks" on the three renowned world politicians. The pro-government "Ta nea" also feels that "it's a personal attack without precedent," on the Secretary-General Ghali, the former U.S. President Bush, as well as the mediator Nimetz, who, as it is underlined, are regarded by the Macedonian press as "agents of Athens."
The moderate "Elefterotipia," on the other hand, in conveying large parts of the commentary in "Nova Makedonija," feels that it is a case "of a dirty attack on Greece and the Greek lobby in the U.S.A.."
"Instead of looking for a 'Macedonian minority' in Bulgaria, it would be better for Skopje to settle its dispute with neighboring Greece, as well as the Albanian minority in its own country," the Sofia newspaper "Continent" writes, in comment of the two-day visit of the delegation of the Macedonian Parliament to Bulgaria.
The commentary entitled "Looking for a minority," the newspaper "Continent" stresses that the organization OMO "Ilinden" is banned. "If Skopje supports this organization," the newspaper warns, "that means that Macedonia has territorial pretensions toward Bulgaria, since the ideas of the members of 'Ilinden', who call themselves 'Macedonians', are purely separatist."
Is Shaban Murati ambassador of the Republic of Albania to Skopje or is he the ambassador of the ruling Democratic party of Albania? The newspaper "Koha jone" asks in today's issue, in analyzing the relationship between ambassador Murati and the political parties of the Albanians in Macedonia.
The newspaper reminds that so far, ambassador Murati has avoided meeting with representatives of PDP, but, on the other hand, he has met on several occasions with the group of Arber Dzaferi.
Quoting PDP sources, "Koha jone" writes that Murati reacted to the warm welcome that PDP organized in Tetovo for the largest Albanian oppositional party - the Socialist party. He reproached the president of PDP Abdurahman Aliti for this. The newspaper, however, was not able the find out whether this was done over the telephone or eye to eye. But, which ever way, the PDP leader has not mentioned anything like that in public. Still, what is important in this matter is the fact that Aliti told Murati that it was PDP's personal affair who it would invite and who it would send off.
Meanwhile, the Socialist party of Albania says that it wants to have good cooperation with PDP, noting that ambassador Murati is interfering in the internal affairs of the parties of the Albanians in Macedonia.
Otherwise, a delegation of the Socialist party, led by its vice-president Luan Hajderaga, arrived in Tetovo at the beginning of this month, at the invitation of PDP. At highest level, with the participation of MPs and ministers from PDP, the delegation held talks in Tetovo, as well as branches in Debar, Skopje and Struga.
In the first 5 months of this year, some 200,000 tones of lead-zinc ore were dug up in the lead-zinc mine "Sasa." The biggest quantities were dug up in the new mining site "Big River." Nearly all the ore has been processed in the personal flotations of "Sasa," with an output is 24,075 tones of collective concentrates.
This output is nearly 10% more than planned, while the quality of the ore is also better than expected. All of this, according to assessments, should enable the increase of the overall quantity of concentrates some 3% in comparison with last year.
Vegetable producers from the Strumica municipality have protested to the highest state organs over the illegal import and re-export of Turkish tomatoes with Macedonian certificates, to FR Yugoslavia.
The members of the local assembly expressed their support of the protest and asked the authorities in the Government to explain this situation.
The book "Monetary Economy" by Tihomir Jovanovski, professor at the Skopje Faculty of Economics, was promoted in Skopje yesterday.
The study elaborates on the theoretical and practical aspects of money, credits, the monetary and credit system, the monetary (un)balance, inflation and deflation.
The number of collective farms in Macedonia has been reduced to 140, with a tendency of recording a drastic drop by the end of the year.
Earlier, Macedonia had 568 collective farms which encompassed some 1,800 inhabited places in the country.
According to Simeon Peovski, president of the Cooperative Union of Macedonia, the remaining collective farms are barely securing the social existence of their own members, and many collective farms are on the brink of collapsing.
A Foundation for Central and Eastern European Cooperation for Macedonia has been formed in Skopje, which will carry the international project for opening a multi-lingual satellite TV channel for Eastern and Central Europe, in Macedonia.
The channel will be called "ALFA TV," and it will include 25 countries in the region. This was said at yesterday's press conference by the secretary-general of the Foundation for Macedonia, Ljupcho Tozija.
This Foundation will be the owner of the channel "ALFA TV," and the experimental program is envisioned as a mix of contents from the field of culture and economy, which will be created in every country separately. The program is expected to star in 1996/97.
An error was made in the MIC INFOMAC SERVICE dated June 14th. Namely, in the text entitled "KIRO GLIGOROV TO ADDRESS ASSEMBLY OF WEU" the correct date of the President's address is June 20th, and not May 24th.
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