The representative of the White House in the Greek- Macedonian dispute, Mathiew Nimitz, before leaving Macedonia stated for TV "A1" that his optimism before the discussions with the Macedonian leadership, and after the discussions with the President and the Minister for foreign affairs proved to be justified, reports Makpres.
Mathiew Nimitz evaluated the discussions in Ohrid as positive stating: "We reviewed the issues in depth, we reviewed important ideas from various aspects and I believe that a real will exists to move the process from the current staus quo".
Asked if the discussions in Ohrid were about the so- called "small package", which excludes the problem with the name, Nimitz replied: "we have a rule that we will not reveal anything about the contents of our discussions and I know that that does not make the journalists life easier. I will not say what we spoke about, but I will confirm that in Ohrid we spoke about the same things that we spoke about in Athens. Which means that both sides are reviewing the same ideas and are coming closer to a solution, pointed out Nimitz in his statement for A1.
We remind that Mathiew Nimitz, during his holiday, held discussions with the Greek leadership about which the portparole of the Greek Government, Evangelos Venizelos clearly pointed out that the discussions were about the so-called small package, reports Makpres.
Athens and Skopje have reached an agreement about the so-called small package and it only remains to sit down on the negotiating table and to officially sign what was agreed, reported yesterday the pro-government "Ta Nea".
Under the title "Coming closer to Skopje", the newspaper explains that the Macedonian leadership, mainly because of internal-political reasons, still continue to insist that the negotiations can not begin unless the embargo isn't first of all lifted.
"Ta Nea" informs that the American side knows that Skopje and Athens are interested in normalizing their bilateral relations, even if an agreement is not reached about the issue of the name, and that is why President Kiro Gligorov is being pressured to sit down on the negotiating table before the Greek counter-measures are lifted.
The conservative "Katimerini" evaluates that "according to all indicators, no progress was achieved during the Nimitz's contacts in Macedonia". The newspaper concludes, from the press release of the Macedonian Ministry for foreign affairs, that Skopje insists on the lifting of the economic countermeasures before the beginning of the direct negotiations, with which the Greek side does not agree. On the other hand, informs the newspaper, "Athens cautiously greeted Nimitz's initiative for possible positive results, because there were no indications that Mr. Gligorov's regime has any intention of changing its stance".
In similar tone the newspaper of the moderate left "Elefterotipija" reports about the press release of the Ministry for foreign affairs of Macedonia, concluding that "Nimitz did not convince Skopje".
The opposition newspaper of the right "Elefteros Tipos" evaluates that in Andreas Papandreu's hands the "Skopje issue" is turning into a new Cyprus, because, as the newspaper concludes, the Prime Minister, because of of the political price does not want the name Macedonia to be included in the solution.
On the occasion of the national holiday Ilinden, yesterday the village Bitushe, from the "Dolno-rechanski" region, was host to the large gathering that was held in organization of the Board for the renewal and reconstruction of the local churches. At the gathering in the village, on the mountain Krchin at 800 meters above sea level, besides the citizens and guests from neighboring villages, present was also the President of the Republic Kiro Gligorov.
The celebration started in the early morning hours, with the re-sanctifying of the reconstructed church "St. Arhangel Mihail-Orangel" carried out by the bishop Timotej. Within the frame of the celebration President Gligorov visited the Cultural Hall, "Makpterol's" factory for the production of glass-plastics and the museum dedicated to the First partisan printing office. He also had a lengthy meeting with representatives of the local communities from ten villages from the Dolno-rechanski region: Bitushe, Rostushe, Velebrdo, Zirovnica, Trebishte, Skudrinje, Prisojnica, Janche, Vidushe and Adzeivci.
During the meetings the villagers pointed out the problems with the roads, the PTT lines, education and similar. The majority of the participants in the meeting, see the solution to these problems in receiving the status of local autonomy, more precisely in forming the municipality Rostushe, in the new territorial division of the state.
Expressing satisfaction from the meeting, president Gligorov said that it is time to pay special attention to this region. This is the "stain" of the economic policy that goes years back, as a result of which not enough attention was paid to the development of this region. The president pointed out that having in mind the internal stability and the security of Macedonia "I will make an engagement so that a special economic program for the development of this region is prepared. Here we have to prove the vitality and rightness of our policy. It is important that everyone preserves his language, culture, customs, which will represent the foundation for further stability", pointed out the president.
Yesterday, on the occasion of St. Ilija day, President Gligorov visited several houses in the village Bitushe. Afterwards he visited the watchtower "Bitushe" that is located close to the village. The celebration continued with a gathering.
"Macedonia's future is optimistic. Macedonia is not faced with the immediate danger of war", - said yesterday President Gligorov. "The discussions by various European and other emissaries, mediators or others, concerns only those that are at war. They have nothing to discuss about us. We no longer have nothing in common with various conferences about the former Yugoslavia. We determined our future in a legitimate way, without conflicts with our neighbors", - pointed out Gligorov.
In dedication to the heroes of the Ilinden uprising and all those that died for the freedom and independence of Macedonia yesterday special services were held in the churches of the Macedonian orthodox church. During the services a special Ilinden epistle was read, addressed to the citizens and the clergy of the MOC by the Archbishop of the MOC Mihail.
The Archbishop held service in the cathedral "St Clement of Ohrid" in Skopje. "The messages of Ilinden will remain eternal for the Macedonian people, for all future generations" - it is said in the epistle.
With a variety of manifestations Bulgaria marked the 92 year anniversary of the Ilinden uprising. Concerts and services were held throughout the country and especially in Pirin Macedonia. However these manifestations were attended well below all official expectations.
The central manifestation was held in the Hall of culture in Sofia. The organizer of all the manifestations was the VMRO-SMD and the local authorities.
The attempts of "OMO Ilinden", organization of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, to organize celebrations of this occasion, were condemned by the officials as being "anti- Bulgarian provocations" and "unacceptable initiatives". On Sunday a police cordon stopped the gathering of "OMO Ilinden" on the location "Samoilova krepost" near Petrich.
The Ilinden uprising is treated by the official Bulgarian history as being the largest Bulgarian uprising in the 20th century, and as an attempt to unite the "Bulgarian nation with the Bulgarian lands".
The Macedonian posts decided to accept the offer of "Alcatel CIT" from France to buy digital telephone centrals and the offer of "HEKSABLO" from Turkey for telephone cables. The price of the equipment that will be delivered by ALCATEL CIT is US$ 19.860.895,00, and with these digital telephone centrals will be equipped Skopje, Prilep, Bitola, Ohrid, Struga, Debar and Resen. These telephone centrals will bring new 161,345 telephone connections. The price of the equipment from HEKSABLO will be US$ 4.6 million, for 170,000 kilometers of cables.
The funds for this and other equipment were provided by the European bank for reconstruction and development, which constantly participated in the preparation for the tender and the selection of the best offer. The consulting firm "Nepostel" from Holland participated in all of this.
Otherwise this is the first time that Alcatel has entered Macedonia with its equipment. Up till today SIMENS and ERRICSON had instaled equipment in Macedonia.
On the money exchange market of Komercijalna banka a.d. from Skopje, these days a rise in the interest to buy out foreign currency blocked in the banks was noticed. At the moment DM1 of blocked in the banks, is being bought out for DM 0.7, and it is expected that the price will soon rise to DM 0.75 or DM 0.8.
It is expected that the potential candidates for the purchasing of the blocked foreign currency will be citizens who are buying business premises that until recently was state owned and which can be bought with blocked foreign currency, as well as various firms that are in the process of privatization which can also be privatized with foreign currency blocked in the banks. At the moment the demand is DM10 million witch is higher that the supply.
The unpaid bills of various firms and citizens for electricity in our country amount to US$ 58 MILLION.
This is a result mainly as a result of the unpaid bills by the large industrial firms which make up 65% of the debt, while 21% of the unpaid bills is by households.
Otherwise these unpaid bills represent 28% of the annual income of the Electrical industry of Macedonia.
The firms that are in the 25 large losers in Macedonia, among which by the way is also the Electric industry of Macedonia, can issue out shares to cover their debt, however these shares will be payable only after 1995.
As far as the debt of the citizens is concerned, their debt is considered to be the result of the general poverty of many families.
Otherwise, even though the Electrical company has submitted many court suits against the irregular payers, up until today it has not managed to realize not even one court suit.
There are attempts to overcome or minimize this situation by increasing the price of electricity for which the Electrical company has submitted a request to the Government to increase the price of electricity by 50%.