The high-ranking Macedonian military delegation, which is in Moscow since Monday, will hold talks with members of the General Staff of the Russian Army, aimed at examining possibilities for cooperation.
The delegation, led by Gen. Major. Janko Manasievski, will visit a number of military objects of the Russian armed forces, Makfaks reports.
This visit, as stressed in the announcement, is owed to the written correspondence between the Russian and Macedonian defence ministries, at highest level, letters which express mutual readiness for cooperation on a military plan.
The Minister of Education Emilia Simoska stated at yesterday's news conference that the draft-law on middle and high education foresees the possibility for the opening of private high schools. She explained that foreign legal entities are able to open high schools in Macedonia at which the classes will be conducted in one of the world languages.
The law gives the students the option, after completing their four-year specialized schools, to decide whether to take a final graduation exam, which would enable them to enrol in one of the faculties, or if they do not wish to continue their studies, to only take a final examination.
In order to enrol into high schools, the students will still be required to take entrance examinations.
The new law on high education defines the autonomy of the university and forms a fund for high educational activities, made up of representatives of the government and university.
The high educational activities are conducted in Macedonian language, with an option for education of staff for elementary and high schools, i.e. to conduct classes at the pedagogic faculties in the language of the nationalities. It is foreseen for a group of subject related to the nurture of the national identity and culture to also be conducted in the language of the nationalities, and a group of subjects to also be studied in one of the world languages.
The first session of the National commission for UNESCO of the Republic of Macedonia, which was formed by the Government on March 27, this year, was held in Skopje Tuesday.
This commission is instructed to realize our country's cooperation with UNESCO. Its president is the current Minister of Culture Eshtref Aliu, and Ljubica Miljkovich is general- secretary, chief of the Sector for international cooperation in the Ministry of Culture.
The proposed Statute was adopted at the session, and Ilinka Mitreva, a member of the Macedonian Parliament, was elected deputy to the president of the National commission.
The Second Congress of the Socialist party of Macedonia will be held on July 1, Saturday, in the hall of the construction company "Pelagonija," in Skopje. It will be attended by 236 delegate and approximately just as many guests. The invited guests also include representatives of the parliamentary parties from the country, representatives of the out-of-parliament parties VMRO-DPMNE and the Democratic party, as well as guests from the socialist parties of Albania, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria and Serbia, and a number of left-wing parties from Serbia, Greece and Italy, the president of the Macedonian Socialists Kiro Popovski announced at yesterday's news conference. He added that in an entirely democratic procedure, he was determined as the only candidate for president of the party in the coming period, and three, that is two candidates have been determined as vice-presidents and secretary.
Unknown burglars broke into the premises of the Macedonian embassy in Rome on Monday. The burglars caused material damages and escaped with 1,000 DM and 500,000 Italian lira, which were owned by one of the employees in the embassy.
Otherwise, in spite of official requests, the Macedonian embassy in Rome is still without police security, and the charge d'affaires in the embassy Risto Blazhevski was told that the "Italian police feels there is no need for that."
The representatives of the People's Democratic Party (NDP) are returning to Parliament, this party's president Iljaz Halimi informed at yesterday's news conference. The presidency of NDP has assessed that the intended effects with the departure have been achieved, and its representatives will return in Parliament during the 21st session (today) of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.
NDP's comment in relation to the announced coalition between VMRO-DPMNE and PDP is that the latter - the PDP are holding such talks only to express their dissatisfaction with their coalition with the Alliance for Macedonia, while the former - VMRO realized they had to relax their political views because it has become evident that such a policy does not lead to anything good.
In this context, it was said that VMRO-DPMNE has gone to the wrong address, since in the Resolution the NDP adopted at its Congress, it declared it was open to cooperation with all political parties, in order to create conditions for early elections - "but, so far, neither Ljupcho Georgievski nor Petar Goshev have come to talk about a coalition with NDP because it doesn't suit them," the NDP secretary Bedredin Ibraimi said.
The private TV station "Uskana" from Kichevo has started broadcasting announcements for the enrollment of students in the first year in the "para-university" in Tetovo, the Information Service of the Democratic party of Macedonian (in Tetovo) informs.
DPM feels that it is high time the legal state starts functioning, especially in the western part of the Republic of Macedonia, is said in the party reaction.
The two-year anniversary of the Democratic party was commemorated in the packed hall of the Macedonian National Theater on Monday. In the presence of a number of members, sympathizers and guests of the party, including also some from the ruling parties, the president Petar Goshev discussed the to- date activities and achievements. In the first place, he underlined the extensive party network and the membership of 20,000-plus, and then went on to make a critical analysis of the current situation in the country. "The Government is not realizing what it promised, it is not eliminating the budget deficit, it is not restructuring the companies, it is not giving out the pensions or opening up new jobs," Goshev said.
With a majority vote, the Assembly of the City of Skopje elected Jove Kekenovski from VMRO-DPMNE the new mayor of Skopje. Musa Ukshini from PDP was elected vice-president of the Skopje Assembly, which signifies the start of the new coalition PDP-VMRO-DPMNE.
In the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce yesterday, 15 out of 22 banks signed the agreement on interest policy, which also formally realizes the initiative for maximizing the annual interest rates at the level of 30% per year.
At yesterday's session, the bankers agreed for all the banks to speak out about being members of the Founding board for the formation of a stock exchange, whereby three persons each will also have to be suggested, who will be trained to be brokers at the exchange. Following this, the business with the formation of the stock exchange will be transferred to the state, which will have to bring the necessary laws.
Around 40% of the transactions in Macedonia are carried out in cash, unlike the U.S.A. and Germany where that figure is from 10 to 18%. This was said yesterday, at the session of the Executive board of the Chamber of Commerce.
It was also said at the session, which was attended by the Minister of Economy, that the manner of payment of the sales tax should be changed - instead of the trade, it should be paid in the productions sphere, which would provide more efficient control. It is also necessary to strengthen the customs services, since there are occurrences of goods coming in not being recorded. It was also said that the customs tariffs and taxes are much too high, and the businessmen asked the minister when the tax for newly-created value (VAT) will come into effect, through which the merchants will be subjected to self-control.
The Prilep factory for steel constructions and assembly "Metalec," together with "Gosa" from Smederevska Palanka, have formed a consortium for the building of a dam in the Suljana district and the hydro-land reclamation irrigation system of 35,000 hectares in Peru. This projects for the construction and assembly of the hydro-mechanical equipment and radial bolts for the dam, is expected to bring "Metalec" a profit of 600,000 DM. In addition, "Metalec" will also be working on the assembly of the long distance pipeline valued at 423,000 DM in Germany, and is negotiating other projects outside the country.
The factory for the production and processing of vegetables and fruit "Makedonija" has signed a deal with the German firm "Kafetau" for the sale of 1,000 tones of stewed cherries. The German buyer, according to information from the factory, will observe the production of the stewed fruit.
From the beginning of the year, "Agrokop" from Kichevo exported plants and forest fruit to the value of 400,000 DM. According to plans, this year, the overall exports should reach a value of 1.2 million DM.
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