SKOPJE, AUGUST 25, 1995 (MIC)
It's possible that Macedonia might also be taking part in the Conference on former Yugoslavia, which is initiated by Hungary and scheduled to take place in Budapest, the pro- government newspaper "Nova Makedonija" reports.
The newspaper says that Macedonia is foreseen as one of the participants in the Conference and it has also been asked about its opinion in relation to the idea to hold such a conference. Slovenia, which is also invited, has conditioned its participation in the Conference with a request to be treated in the same way as FRY and Croatia.
"Nova Makedonija" writes that a number of details surrounding the Conference still have to be stated precisely before Macedonia can confirm its participation with certainty. The newspaper also claims that if Macedonia agrees to take part in the Conference, it will also demand a status similar to that of the former YU republics which are directly or indirectly involved in the Bosnian conflict.
In expressing its stance on Macedonia's participation in the Conference, the newspaper writes that "if the Budapest Conference turns out to be a place where Macedonia can realize extensive contacts with the neighbors and where it can discuss the advancement of the mutual relations, then such a meeting would benefit our country and Macedonia will have an opportunity to take an active part and make its contribution for normalization of the relations between the states in the region.
The first part of the talks between the mediator for minority issues of the International Conference for Former Yugoslavia, Gerd Arens, and the representatives of the Party for Democratic Prosperity finished in Tetovo.
Regarding the unconfirmed information that during the talks Gerd Arens was handed a mutual platform for the high education of the Albanians in Macedonia of PDP, PDP of the Albanians and the National Democratic Party, a representative of the PDP negotiating team Mevljan Tairi told Makpress:
"The view of the three parties on this issue are very similar. PDP feels that this problems should be settled through the law on high education, which should enable the registration of high educational institutions also on the languages of the minorities. As to the submittal of some kind of joint platform, I am not informed about something like that," Mevljan Tairi said.
In the afternoon, the talks continued in Skopje, this time also in the presence of government representatives. The talks focused on the local self-management and the high education in Macedonia, however, Makpress reports, the possibility of "analyzing other current issues" is not excluded.
Otherwise, in the statement for Makpress, Mevljan Tairi, on behalf of his party, expressed the dilemma concerning the party's future participation in the talks with Gerd Arens.
"Although at this level, the talks about the problems with the local self-management and the high education are underway, the Macedonian Government has already adopted these two legal projects. This manner of working is not serious, to say the least," said Tairi.
The talks with the mediator of the Conference on former Yugoslavia will continue tomorrow.
In the statement for Makpress, immediately after the end of the talks with Gerd Arens (mediator for minority issues of the International Conference on former Yugoslavia), the leader of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of the Albanians in Macedonia (PDPA) Arben Dzaferi says that the Government of the Republic of Macedonia is undermining these talks by already introducing into parliamentary procedure the legal projects that are actually the theme of the negotiations.
"We talked about the local self-management, the high education, the use of the languages, and the Government has already adopted these legal projects."
To the question whether that also means a possible withdrawal of the PDPA from the talks with Gerd Arens, Dzaferi says that one should be very careful in such a situation, not to make any sharp moves for the sake of the global situation in the region.
Concerning the unconfirmed information about the submitted joint platform of his party, PDP and NDP, Dzaferi says in the statement for Makpress that such a document will be handed to Mr. Arens during the afternoon party of the talks in Skopje.
The 24th session of Parliament is scheduled for September 5, starting at 10.00 hours. According to the proposed daily agenda, a number of legal proposals are expected to be discussed, including the laws on imports, taxes on sales and services, trade, business associations and law on telecommunications.
After the 24th session, the Parliament will continue the 20th session, at which the MPs will discuss a number of requests of District courts in Macedonia, for giving approvals for opening criminal proceedings against judges, as well as the 21st session, which will concentrate on the Report on the work of the Agency of the Republic of Macedonia for transformation of the companies with state-owned capital in 1994 and up to March 31, 1995. Parliament will hold its 25th session on September 12, starting at 10.00 hours. The daily agenda, among the rest, will also include the law on high education and a number of requests for giving an authentic interpretation of articles from the Law on customs, Law on taxes on estate and other laws.
Soon, or more precisely, toward the end of this month, a group of prominent Dutch tourist bosses are expected to arrive in Ohrid. Their visit is aimed at examining the possibilities for arousing greater interest among Dutch tourists in the coming tourist season. Their arrival in Ohrid, Struga and the other towns is anticipated with impatience, as it also brings hope that there will be many more Dutchmen, Belgians, Germans and other guests from abroad, next summer.
The director of the large Dutch tourist agency "ARKE," which takes guests to very famous tourist destinations in Europe and outside, is also expected to arrive with the group. The representatives of this agency are also interested in having many more Dutchmen coming here next summer. It should be mentioned that the organizer of these meetings in Ohrid and other places in Macedonia is the air company "Palair Macedonian."
As it seems, these people from Holland will firstly get acquainted with the current situation in the country, as well as the quality of the services in the hotels, for which the arrival of a couple of TV crews from Holland has already been announced.
As the public has been informed, the border police on the border point Deve Bair near Kriva Palanka discovered a group of 23 Albanians, including one minor, inhabitants of a number of municipalities in Kosovo, FRY, mainly from Vitina, who tried to cross the Macedonian-Bulgarian border with false Macedonian passports, by travelling with the bus of a private firm from Skopje.
In the meantime, the police on Deve Bair discovered three more Albanians from Kosovo yesterday, also with false Macedonian passports.
According to the information of the investigative judge of the District Court in Kriva Palanka, Cvetanka Ranevska, these Albanians from Kosovo illegally crossed the Serbian-Macedonian border near Blace and entered RM. Their final destination was Germany. The perpetrators stated that they got the falsified passports from an Albanian woman from Skopje, called Dasulja, and that they paid for the passport, together with the bus transport to Berlin 4,350 DEM each. At present, it is not known how this Albanian woman from Skopje obtained the traveling documents, however, it is presumed they were stolen or bought from Macedonian citizens illegally.
Yesterday, the District Public Prosecutor brought charges against all 23 perpetrators at the District Court in Kriva Palanka, while the investigation on the newly-discovered perpetrators is underway. The trial of the suspects of committing the criminal act - falsifying passports, according to article 222, item 3 from the Criminal law of the Republic of Macedonia. All the forgers of Macedonian passports are held in custody in Kriva Palanka.
After two days of work, the First Macedonian-Russian Slavic Conference finished in Ohrid yesterday. The Russian side emphasized that the Second Conference will be held in Moscow. A Macedonian-American Slavic Conference was held in Ohrid last year, and next year, a Macedonian-Czech Slavic Conference is planned.
The second convoy with humanitarian aid, provided through the charity action organized by the Red Cross of Macedonia and intended for the Kraina refugees, sheltered in FR Yugoslavia, left Skopje yesterday. The help consists of some 40 tones of food, clothing, shoes, blankets, hygienic packets and other products that will be distributed in Belgrade, Vranje and Kraljevo. The help was gathered with the help of the citizens of Macedonia and a couple of companies ("Zito-Polog," "Jelak- Tetovo") and, for the first time, the Union of the metalworkers, energy workers and miners of Macedonia joined in, while the support of various citizens' associations did not fall behind as well.
The action for gathering help for the Kraina refugees, which is carried out in cooperation with the International Federation and the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, is continuing. According to announcements, the third convoy of the Red Cross for FR Yugoslavia is expected to depart from Skopje in two weeks.
Yesterday, 15 out of 20 state-owned shops that went on auction were sold. The most expensive one cost 8,450 DEM per 1m2. With the exception of this one and a couple other shops, the price per 1m2 of the other ones ranged from 1,900 DEM to 3,000 DEM. The remaining and last 24 shops in Skopje will be auctioned off today.
The Bitola farmers are expected to produce 8,000 tones of industrial tomatoes, which should give 1,000 tones of mashed tomatoes.
The Bitola factory for commercial canning started with the processing of the tomatoes, and its capacity amounts to 400 tones of tomatoes per day.
The factory's output will be export oriented, as every year. The director Mile Premovski claims that the marketing of the mashed tomatoes is not arranged beforehand, however, they have never come across any problems as yet. Otherwise, the factory exists 4 years already, and it markets its products mainly in former Yugoslavia and Germany.
The purchase price that the factory pays to the farmers is 0.1 DEM per kilogram.
By July 31, this year, the Register of organizational units in the Statistics Bureau contained a list of 82,613 companies, which is one percent more than in June, i.e. 1.2% more compared to the same period last year. According to the data of the Bureau of Statistics, in 696 new companies were registered in July alone.
95.7% of the companies are privately owned, 1.5% are state-owned, 1.6% are mixed, while 1.2% of the companies are co- operatively owned. Most, or 62.4% of the companies are business companies dealing in trade, followed by industry and mining, with 9.5%, the financial activity (and other services) with 6.7%, while 4.8% of the companies offer crafts services and 4.6% transport services. The founding of the companies is mainly financed by domestic capital - 96.3%, with mixed capital - 2.4% and foreign capital - 1.3%.
The average net salary per worker in Macedonia in June, this year, was MKD 8,625 (US$ 218.3), which presents a 1.5% decrease compared to the previous month. In June, in the economy, the average salary was MKD 8,379 (US$ 212), and in the non- economy - MKD 9,333 (US$ 236.2). The highest net salary in the economy sphere was paid in the companies for financial-technical and other services - MKD 13,750 (US$ 348), transport and connections with MKD 9,470 (US$ 239.7). From the non-economy, the first place is occupied by the socio-political communities and organizations, with MKD 9,735 (US$ 246.4) net salary.
The lowest salary was paid in construction - MKD 6,476 (US$ 163.9) (from the economy sphere) and in education, science and culture, where the average June salary was MKD 9,157 (US$ 231.8).
According to the information of the Bureau of Statistics, in June, 19.5% of the workers in our country did not receive their salaries at all. In companies from the economy sphere, 24.3% of the workers were left without salaries, while in the non-economy - 3.3%.
At yesterday's continuation of the 35th session, the Macedonian Government, which was presided over by Branko Crvenkovski, discussed a number of proposals from the field of economy, finance and public activities.
The Government was informed about the implementation of the dynamics for the purchase of the wheat from this year's harvest. To-date, for MKD 28.4 million (US$ 718,800) were paid as premium for the purchased quantities of wheat from the individual sector - namely 14,200 tones, while 65,000 tones of wheat were purchased from the public sector, for which the dynamics of the payment of premiums has already started, and will be realized according to the influx of funds in the Budget. The Government concluded yesterday that larger quantities of wheat have already been purchased, but that the payment of the premium for this year's crop is carried out according to the instructions of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Supply and the properly submitted documentation of the producers. At the same time, the Government concluded that it should be informed on a daily basis by the competent ministry about the situation with the purchase and payment of the wheat premiums.