Macedonia's Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski, who stayed in New York last week at the invitation of Cyrus Vance, said, in response to a journalist's question whether negotiations took place and whether there was any progress in the settlement of the controversy between Macedonia and Greece, that "a line of consultative meetings took place, at which attempts were made to make some kind of progress for the continuation of the direct negotiations," Makpress reports.
Crvenkovski stated that, at present, no concrete initiatives were discussed and that the Macedonian stances surrounding the negotiations were well-known - Macedonia does not accept negotiations under the pressure of an embargo.
The Macedonian Foreign Minister denied meeting with the Greek UN representative Hristos Zaharakis, or that he would remain in New York for an "indefinite period of time."
According to latest information, the Macedonian minister returned to Skopje last night.
The spokesman of the Bulgarian President has denied the information of Makpress that the presidents of Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria will meet in Ohrid. It has been announced that President Zhelyu Zhelev is not planning any such meeting.
The Bulgarian telegraph agency previously conveyed the Makpress news about the meeting of the three presidents, which would center on the East-West corridor.
In the Friday commentary, the Albanian independent newspaper "Koha jone" writes about the relations Albania- Macedonia, saying that at the meeting Gligorov-Berisha, which was held in Ohrid two years ago, "it was initiated to hold a meeting between the president of Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, i.e. the countries of the East-West corridor."
According to "Koha jone," the Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev reacted positively to this initiative, while the Albanian President Berisha has still not given his response, Makpress reports.
"Koha jone" assesses that the Albanian-Macedonian relations have chilled recently. Among the rest, the Albanian newspaper wonders "why can't the people who live in the border areas in both country still not enter Albania or Macedonia freely, without visas, although that was discussed at the meeting between the two presidents in Ohrid."
"Koha jone" claims that "the Macedonian border organs are aggressively demanding from the Albanian citizens to show them 1,500 DM in order to enter Macedonia," Makpress reports.
The Macedonian Minister of Labour and Social Politics Iliyas Sabriu and the State Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Order of the FR Germany Voerner Timaer signed an agreement in Bonn on Friday for hiring Macedonian workers in FR Germany.
The meeting also dealt with the expansion of the cooperation in other fields of employment and social politics, whereby it was concluded that there are possibilities for closer cooperation and a need to regulate these relations between the two countries, the Macedonian embassy in Bonn announces.
The Liberal party held its third Assembly on Saturday, which did not have an electoral character. The president of the party Stojan Andov discussed the current political and economic trend in Macedonia, explaining that LP is committed to the sooner adoption of the electoral laws, the laws on the state administration and local self-management.
The Assembly also adopted a couple of declarations, including the one on economic development and the declaration of the Alliance for Macedonia.
Among the rest, the declaration on the Alliance for Macedonia says: "The coalition is lacking the necessary degree of mutual agreement, there is insufficient realization of what was promised before the election and some irresponsible individuals from the Government are making damaging statements."
"The division of the Macedonians into Orthodox and Muslims is detrimental to the state, and that is what the party needs the least," Branko Crvenkovski emphasized, in his function as leader of SDUM, at the second electoral assembly in the Debar municipality.
Speaking of the situation in Macedonia, he said: "If we didn't allow nationalism to prevail four years ago, I don't see any reason why there should be any fears from that now."
Crvenkovski explained that the policy of tolerance, respect, recognition, which opens perspectives for the state at large, the positions of SDUM and the parties from the Alliance for Macedonia also become stronger.
Skopje's new mayor will be elected at the session of the City Assembly, scheduled for tomorrow, June 27. The only candidate mentioned for this function is Jove Kekenovski from VMRO-DPMNE, however, for the moment, his nomination is not officially confirmed, Makpress reports.
At the upcoming session in the City Assembly it is announced that Iliya Balevski from VMRO-MNDS will be replaced with a new vice-president, who is expected to be from PDP.
Following the liquidation of "Citi West Bank" from Bitola, these days, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of Macedonia Tome Nenovski announced that the private bank "Makbanka" from Skopje will also be closed. It is presumed that the closing of this bank is also owed to the failure to meet the limit of 3 million DM as working money for operations in the country and 9 million DM for operations abroad. Otherwise, "Makbanka" did not work with the population.
The governor of the People's Bank of Macedonia Borko Stanoevski previously stated that three banks would be closed, but the identity of the third one is still not known.
After the last sale of business areas in Macedonia, a total of 14.5 million DM were cashed in. 243 shops went on sale, and only 82 or 46% were sold. The shops covered a total area of 18,577 m2. The average starting price of the auction was 1,363 per m2, while the average sale price reached at the auction was 1,789 DM.
According to information from the Ministry of Finance, the state safe collected some 7.4 million MKD (US$ 200,000) in the period January-May, this year, only to the name of taxes on coffee imports. In the same period, the state, on account of taxing the coffee, gathered 40.1 million MKD (US$ 1.09 million). While, last year, in the same period, also from the taxation of coffee imports, the state took in 10.1 million MKD (US$ 273,000), and to the name of taxes on sales inside the state, it gathered 18 million MKD (US$ 487,000).
All of this, according to experts, indicates that the state has made serious errors in the control of the coffee, as the funds collected from the internal sales do not coincide with those from the imports.
Officials in the customs administration say that there are many attempts to smuggle coffee, mainly because of the high customs tariffs.
According to calculations, when it comes to the coffee, all the dues to the state amount to 74%. If it is considered that one ton of coffee costs US$ 3,500 on the world markets, then the price, per kilogram, is US$ 6.09 with all dues and customs. If this is added 25% from the shrinking of the coffee after it is roasted, then the price is US$ 7.61 per kilogram, and together with a 20% margin, the final price is US$ 9.14. That means that if one truck of coffee or 20 tones are imported, the state will collect US$ 51,800. Seeing that large quantities are in question, it becomes quite clear why this product is often smuggled.
27 domestic transporters, who transport passengers in Macedonia, are prepared to buy 221 busses from the bus factory "11 Oktomvri," on credit. The transaction is valued at 30 million DM.
The financing of the busses will be done through foreign creditors with favorable interest rates, while the bearer of the credit will be the factory "11 Oktomvri." The transport companies would pay 30% of the price at once, and the rest on credit, over a period of 1, 2 or 3 years.
In addition, FAS "11 Oktomvri" is also expected to sign an agreement with the German firms "Man" and "Merzedes" for the supply of motors for these busses.