At the end of a three-day official visit to China, Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski held a conference for the press in Beijing, to inform reporters of talks with the Chinese cabinet vice-president, the foreign minister and the country's vice-president. Saying conditions are favorable for development of intensive relations between Macedonia and China, Crvenkovski stressed the importance of the 3 agreements signed during his visit and the possibility of building two water power plants in Macedonia with Chinese aid.
He also answered many questions regarding the crisis in former Yugoslavia and the presence of US troops in Macedonia. Today, Crvenkovski starts an official visit to Japan.
Permanent UN representatives of Macedonia and Kazahstan, Maleski and Arustanbekova exchanged official correspondence last Friday to establish diplomatic relations between the two nations.
A delegation of Macedonia's foreign ministry met in Bern with officials of the Swiss Federal Office for Foreign Relations to determine the text of an agreement on mutual trade and economic cooperation. The text is to be finalized at the next meeting, to be held in Macedonia in the near future. Talks also included the mention of irrevocable Swiss aid of 8 million Swiss Francs for Macedonia.
At the beginning of an ongoing visit to Germany, a Macedonian delegation, led by Minister of Development Bekhir Zhuta, signed an agreement with which Germany approves a DM 15 million aid to help Macedonia establish new small companies. The German government also offered to help in the construction of the Kumanovo-Bulgarian border railroad section, in the protection of the Ohrid Lake and in the formation of a fund for reintegration of Macedonian workers currently working in Germany.
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov received Stanislav Smirnov, president of the Russian Trade and Industrial Chamber, currently on a several-day official visit to Macedonia. They spoke positively of current efforts to establish direct contacts between large companies in the two countries, to further develop industrial, technical and financial cooperation, and to expand the tourist industry. - President Gligorov received a delegation from the British Parliament, led by Baroness David. Gligorov underlined the importance of parliamentary cooperation as a step towards overall development of relations.
Prior to leaving the country, the British PM's had been received by Parliament President Andov and Minister of Education Simoska.
The International Labor Organization will hold a regular summit in Geneva, June 6-20. A representative of the Macedonian Association of Trade Unions will take part in the summit to present collective agreements in Macedonia and the problems in their realization. The summit will focus on international conventions and has invited representatives of government, capital and labor of all UN member countries.
After three days of work in Athens, yesterday representatives of 15 countries ended the Balkan Forum of left and progressive forces, A1 Television reports. The meeting adopted an appeal for peace and a stop to the Bosnian war, which emphasized that peace can only be obtained through respect of existing borders, promotion of a climate of trust and confidence, and respect for basic human and minority rights in all countries. Mikhalis Papaionakis, European Parliament member of Spinazmos, said all Balkan countries must be included in the process of European integration. He reiterated his party's position for lifting of the Greek embargo against the "country which still has no name."
Jovan Pejovski, representative of the Socialist Party of Macedonia, pointed out that the Balkan states are a reality, adding they must be continually encouraged towards mutual cooperation by overcoming present obstacles in the form of various barriers and blockades. Warning that a destabilized Balkans would mean a destabilized Europe, he repeated that efforts to establish greater cooperation must be intensified.
The Democratic Party held a protest gathering in front of a large audience at the Skopje Universal Hall last Friday, focusing on the current "illegal and dishonest" privatization process in the country. Numerous weak points in the law and crude violation of law provisions, party leader Petar Goshev said, have led many companies to disaster, thrown thousands of workers out in the streets, has allowed illegal distribution of social capital resulting in unseen social division into classes among the population. He said the current government is the sole party to be blamed for negative trends in the country. The only way out, he assured, is the privatization model offered by his party, i.e., through so-called privatization checks to be distributed according to certain criteria to all citizens more than 20 years of age. The model, he said, has been implemented in as many as 20 of the 25 former socialist countries, with only Uzbekistan, Azerbeidzan, Croatia and Macedonia refusing to follow it.
Participants said no privatization should start prior to denationalization of confiscated property from citizens during former socialist regimes. The current privatization model, according to the party, is being turned into another form of revolutionary robbery of property by the same ruling class of 50 years ago or its heirs. At the end of the meeting a Declaration was read stating the basic demands of the Democratic Party: a stop of the illegal and dishonest privatization and the immediate start of a dialogue between all parties, trade unions and the chamber of commerce to change the law and introduce a quick, massive and socially just privatization; the initiation by the Public Prosecutor's Office of a procedure to examine cases of suspicious completed privatization cases; and the urgent adoption of a law on denationalization, as a precondition of further transformation of ownership.
A few days ago, the safe of the Moscow "Gas-export" company in the village of Vaksince near Kumanovo was emptied of an amount of 319,000 German marks. The official investigation refuses to comment on details, noting only that the finances had been set aside for wages of Russian workers, already working for a year and a half on the "Gama 800" project in Macedonia. There are no signs, the police say, that the safe was open by force.
Unless a larger portion of debts of "Pallair" and "MAT" has been settled by June 7, these two domestic air companies will be grounded. Their total debt amounts to some DM 4.5 million, and the government insists on their settling at least 40 per cent. The companies have asked for the debts to be refinanced, but the administration refuses to do so until 40 per cent have been paid.
The Macedonian Privatization Agency held a press-conference last Friday, stating results of the privatization process and a reaction to latest accusations by the "Orka sport" company of Skopje. Evgeni Zoografski, Director of the Agency's Financial Sector and Control, spoke of results in the privatization so far. Through May 31, he said, the Agency has received 386 privatization applications, 242 of which the Agency has already issued an opinion. The Government's commission in charge of the issues examined 207 privatization programs submitted by companies, approving of 116 cases. So far, he added, the Agency's income from the privatization, on basis of paid liabilities to the state, amounts to 481.558,920 Denars (about DM 17.835,515). Income made through the sale of shares amounted to 282,201 Denars (DM 10,452), while 1.118,772 Denars (DM 41,436) have been raised by selling shares for frozen foreign currencies. The total income is 672.854,827 Denars (nearly DM 25 million). As for the "Orka sport" case (objections to the Agency's choice of "Westfra Trade" as a privatization partner of "Makedonija-sports"), the Public Relations Director Olgica Mihajlova Tikvarova said the model of issuing shares based upon an additional investment is a decision made by the company itself; therefore, she added, no outside factor, including the Agency, has the right to suggest the choice of a partner for an additional investment. Besides, she said, "Makedonija-sports" was not obliged to choose a partner for an additional investment in the transformation process; the company could have simply done this at a stage prior to the privatization.
Nevertheless, the company's board has decided to act as it did, to which it is entitled by law. Having completed the first stage of privatization, i.e., once the government's committee approved of its privatization program, "Makedonija-sports" independently decided to publicly announce a need for additional investments. Initially, Tikvarovska said, the decision was not to include the Agency at all in the period before a final decision is made at the company's level. Nevertheless, in an attempt to secure protection of the social capital, it was additionally decided to introduce a control procedure even at this stage. For the purpose of protecting investors, a copy of all offers was submitted to the Agency as well, to be opened before the very beginning of a session of the Management Board of the Agency. The copy is also to be an argument against possible irregularities throughout the entire process of privatization. The sole authority of the Agency in cases like this is to approve or not a company's decision. The offers presented by both "Orka sport" and "Westfra Trade" had been closed within the Agency until the final decision, and it was opened by the Agency in order to decide upon accepting or rejecting the choice made by "Makedonija-sports". The Agency also respected the will of employees in "Makedonija-sports", who voted by 90 per cent for "Westfra Trade".
Verica Hadzi-Vasileva Markovska, director of the Agency's Restructuring and Development Sector, said all evaluations had been made solely on the basis of what had been included in the two offers. The element which brought approval for "Westfra Trade" was development strategy in which it had been evaluated on 17 different criteria.
With respect to three out of four main criteria (development strategy, employment, price and planned investment), "Orka sport" was given the advantage in points, but "Westfra" won the contest on grounds of a development strategy aimed, among other things, at preserving the fundamental activity of the company, i.e., production and then trade; contrary to this, "Orka sport" gave priority to trade over production. In addition, the offer made by "Orka" secured a lower final price with higher expenses, Markovska said, which also means lower efficiency. "Westfra", on the other hand, secures a higher final selling price and lower operating expenditures. At the end, it was pointed out that the Agency's Managing Board had held a session immediately preceding the press- conference with full attendance, and the unanimous decision was to confirm the approval of the final choice of "Makedonija-sports" as an investment partner.