The President of the Republic of Turkey Suleyman Demirel is due to arrive on a friendly and working visit to the Republic of Macedonia today. Beside holding talks with his host President Kiro Gligorov, the Turkish President will address the members of the Macedonian Parliament tomorrow. During his stay, the two presidents are expected to sign a number of inter-state agreements. Arriving with President Demirel will also be Foreign Minister Erdal Ineni, who will lead talks with his Macedonian colleague Stevo Crvenkovski. The Turkish delegation will also consist of a number of Turkish businessmen and representatives of the commerce chamber of this friendly country.
The ministers in the Macedonian Government Emilija Simoska (education) and Dimitar Buzlevski (transport and connections) received the delegation of the Commission for foreign affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Albania yesterday, in separate meetings. During the talks in the Ministry of Education, Emilija Simoska stressed that the international standards in the sphere of education for all minorities are upheld in Macedonia, whereby the main accent is placed on quality. Macedonia, as a country inhabited by a number of nationalities, must pay attention to the integrity in the field of education as well, foremost at the highest level, was said at the meeting.
For the overcoming of some problems and greater cooperation on the basis of reciprocity between the two countries in the field of education, both sides emphasized it is necessary to hold a meeting at ministerial level between Macedonia and Albania, as soon as possible. Other efforts in this direction would also be to sign a protocol for validation of the diplomas from both countries.
At the meeting with the Minister of Transport and Connections Dimitar Buzlevski, the two sides expressed satisfaction with the cooperation to-date, in the field of road transportation between the two countries, as well as the interest in the East-West corridor.
Towards the end of the meeting, after the guests showed in interest concerning the closing of a number of radio and television stations in Macedonia, the Minister of Transport and Connections informed the delegation from Albania that it was done on the basis of the criteria of technical character and the existing legislation for protection of the wave lengths.
Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski received the delegation of the Commission for foreign affairs of the Albanian National Assembly, led by its president Eduard Seljami.
Both sides concluded that the overall relations and cooperation between the two countries are on an upward course and expressed the wish for them to continue progressing.
They emphasized the need for a sooner signing of the prepared and exchanged projects of bilateral documents for the advancement of certain fields, such as the state border, its delineation and the settlement of the border incidents, the transport of persons in the border zones, the legal help to the citizens, culture, education, etc.
At the invitation of the SDAM, a delegation of the Social Democratic party of Germany, led by its secretary Gunter Ferheuge, is staying on a several-day visit to the Republic of Macedonia, "Nova Makedonija" reports.
Yesterday, Ferheuge was received by President Gligorov, Prime Minister Crvenkovski and the Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament Stojan Andov.
At the press conference, the Secretary-General of the Social Democratic party of Germany Ferheuge explained that "in Germany, all the democratic forces are unanimous that the relations with Macedonia should be built at a higher level. Germany is giving Macedonia support for the realization of its chief political goals - general international recognition, insurance of the borders, accession to the international organizations such as the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the initiative 'Partnership for peace'."
The esteemed German guest added: "We support Macedonia's efforts for the establishment of relations with the EU, and as for the embargo, we regard this Greek policy as wrong and unjust, as Macedonia does not pose any threat."
It has already become common practice for the numerous unsettled internal questions or problems in Macedonia to be the topic of discussion at various international Forums, missions or conferences, through various mediators or special envoys. That's all right, or one could even say, in line with the proclaimed commitment of the state for openness and readiness for dialogue, in relation to all possible open questions. From this perspective, we can also view the latest visit to Geneva, i.e. the headquarters of the Conference for former Yugoslavia by the six-member Macedonian group, made up of two ministers and four representatives of the political parties of the Albanian nationality in Macedonia. The final version of the visit is that in the presence of the commissioner for inter-ethnic questions and human rights within the Conference, Gerd Arens, a couple of delicate questions were discussed from the inter-ethnic sphere in Macedonia and in particular the part of the high education of the nationalities in Macedonia. And that is good, as some would say, because every variant of expressing ones internal misunderstandings in front of an outside and unbiased listener, there is a degree of usefulness, contained in the suggestions or the eventual new approach to the problem. Still, there are some unclarities or in other words, illogicalities in all of that.
Before all, it must be made clear that Mr. Arens, as a high-ranking responsible official of the Conference, is in charge of "inter-ethnic questions and human rights for all former Yugoslav republics and not only Macedonia, so his agenda for meetings and talks also contains a part foreseen for visits to our country, which he has been using actively in the past period. In all of his to-date reports and public appearances at the meetings with the press, Arens has shown that he has a good grasp of the situation on an inter-ethnic plan in Macedonia, so also the latest discussion with him, or in his presence, in light of what both sides would have to say, does not bring anything new beforehand. At least not for the official representatives of the Government, whose stances concerning the high education of the nationalities have been known for quite some time, and exploited enormously. And from here, the basic question, why talk about issues that have already been talked about too much, when it is already known what will be said.
The representatives of the Albanian political parties from Macedonia (two from PDP and one each from PDPA and NDP), when it comes to the sphere of high education, are like-minded. Therefore, it would be illogical to expect some of them, in the presence of Arens, to deviate from their own party fundaments, such as proclaiming the Albanians a nation, and having their own university is only a logical sequel to that. This makes it understandable why they are trying to internationalize this question so much, especially in the present moment, in the wake of the adoption of the new law on high education, and before all, on local self-management. And, there is no better place for that than Geneva, as this city has already become synonymous of the negotiations between the battling sides from former Yugoslavia, so it would also be considered agreeable to hold the negotiations between the two "opposing sides" in Macedonia there too. And, Radio Tirana reported that even the same day, and our two ministers, participants in the group for discussions with the Commissioner Arens, were left with nothing else but, with a couple of days delay, to deny that some kind of negotiations were held, but procedural talks at a procedural meeting.
In this context, we would also mention the second illogicality contained in the question as to why they went to Geneva in the first place. The explanation of the representatives of the Macedonian Government is that the visit also served for many other useful meetings and talks. We'd say that is quite alright, as the seat of the UN is in this Swiss city, so in the context of the preparative ceremonies of the celebration of the 50-year existence of the world organization, it is useful to establish contacts with some international authorities as well. However, the seat of the Conference on former Yugoslavia is also in Geneva, as part of which the dominant diplomatic and mediating activities between the sides in the conflict in the former YU regions are held. And, if Macedonia is trying with all its strength to get out of the basket of equal treatment with a Bosnia and Herzegovina in which a war is waged, or a Serbia, which is under international sanctions (considerable progress was made here with the separation of the UN mission for Macedonia), then who needs to put a thorn in a healthy food. Especially when it is known that the services of our neighbors, like the example with the Albanian radio and the misinformation about the "negotiations" in Geneva, are hardly waiting for a chance like this to come up, and the denials always arrive after the misinformation.
Under the motto "If you don't think about the future, you can't even have it," and "The future is our time," the mixed stock company "Viner Broker insurance - Skopje," held its founding assembly yesterday.
At the assembly, the activities were verified for fulfilling the legal census for life insurance up to 500,000. After the money is paid, and following the carried out transformation, the company carries on with its work in the sphere of insurance of persons. Otherwise, "Viner Broker" has been existing in Skopje since 1993.
With the transformation of the founding stock deposit, the structure of the "Viner Broker's" founding capital is 11.6% of the shares, which are owned by a foreign legal entity, 79.2% are owned by a domestic legal entity.
The number of unemployed, according to the records of the Skopje Employment Bureau, prepared for the first six months of this year, has reached 51,156. Compared to the same period last year, when 46,962 people were registered, the number of unemployed in the town has increased 21%. This increase is owed mostly to those 7,000 people who have been left without jobs as technological surplus to the Skopje companies which are on the list of 25 "loss-makers," but also the bankruptcies and technological surplus from the other firms.
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