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MILS NEWS 96-10-15Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 15 October, 1996[01] VANCE: 'CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN NEW YORK NEGOTIATIONS'Yesterday's two hours long meeting of representatives of the Republics of Macedonia and Greece in Geneva, during which talks on the name issue were continued, brought no results. According to unofficial information from the Macedonian Foreign Ministry, reported by A-1 Television, the main subjects discussed had been the speculations of the media about the matters discussed in the talks, which were said to be mostly speculations of the Greek media. According to A-1 Television, the initiator of the subject had been Macedonian Ambassador Ivan Toshevski. As alleged, Macedonia yesterday rejected nothing, because Greek party had not proposed anything at the previous meeting in New York.Greek negotiator Hristos Zaharakis had stated after the meeting in Geneva that the talks were developing satisfactorily and that there were even some optimistic notifications that a solution might be reached. The mediator Cyrus Vance had described the talks as useful ones and different from the previous ones, because a certain improvement had been made. The next round of talks, according to 'Vecer' daily, will take place in two weeks in New York. [02] PANGALOS: 'NEITHER GREECE NOR VANCE WOULD ACCEPT A TRIPLE NAME''The current of Macedonia can not be considered mutually acceptable, so the solution must be something else. Neither Greece nor mediator Cyrus Vance find the triple name formula acceptable,' Greek Foreign Minister Pangalos said after the meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Laslo Kovac, 'Makfax' agency reported. He said: 'Skopje has claimed that it could not change its name because it was a Constitutional issue, for which two thirds of the Parliament should vote. Thus, the issue of another different name is being opened.' On the other hand, Greek left wing paper 'Elefterotipia' read yesterday that the name issue was expected to be solved till Christmas by accepting the formula of a triple name for the northern neighbouring country.[03] DISCUSSIONS ON SUCCESSION CAME TO A DEAD ENDMacedonian media reported that negotiations on succession of former SFRY property had continued yesterday in Brussels, but the attempts to bring closer the opposite stands of FR Yugoslavia and the remaining former Yugoslav republics had been unsuccessful. FR Yugoslav party kept its firm stand, according to A-1 Television, that the subject of the debate should be the total property created by all six republics of the former federation during its existence. On the other hand, Macedonia and the other three former Yugoslav republics claimed the subject of the debate should be only the property in which former federation used to be in charge, following the report of Badenteur's Commission. The fact that Yugoslav representatives had not mentioned the 'secession as a reason for the dissolution of SFRY' this time is considered as their yielding. Slovenian agency 'STA' reported that the mediator in the negotiations Sir Arthur Wots had said that he might give up his mediating role in case no progress was made soon. Following his insisting, the negotiations will continue today in Brussels, A-1 Television reported.Meanwhile, FR Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic had stated for 'Dnevni Telegraf' daily that the agreements FRY had already signed with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Macedonia were, in fact, annulling the conclusions of Badenteur's Commission. [04] YUGOSLAV-MACEDONIAN AGREEMENT ON FREE TRADE -'TEMPORARY' FOR THE TIME BEINGThe Agreement on Free Trade between the Republic of Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia was applied on the basis of the clause 'temporary application of the agreement' which might last for six months, 'Dnevnik' daily reported an information obtained at the Macedonian Ministry of Economy. This Agreement has not been ratified by the Macedonian Parliament because of a lack of quorum at its 54th session on 02 and 03 October, but the Agreement is expected to be ratified at the session planed for tomorrow, since the Parliamentarian Law Commission has already approved it.[05] MACEDONIAN-TURKISH COOPERATION IN MILITARY INDUSTRY NOTIFIEDA group of Turkish businessmen will visit Macedonia to make agreements, especially in the field of military industry in December this year. This, according to the Macedonian Radio, was agreed in the talks between Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski and Turkish Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tansu Chiller yesterday in Ankara. Also, the current cooperation between the two countries has been estimated as a positive one, but it was concluded that the economic cooperation was dropping behind the other spheres.The Turkish Party had notified that Turkey was planning to continue to support the Macedonian peaceful policy on the Balkans.Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Turhan Tajan informed Minister Handziski that Turkey agreed with the extension of NATO in the south region, which meant that it would support the Macedonian membership in the Alliance.The cooperation in the field of defense had been highly estimated by the Ministers and signing of one more agreement had been initiated on education of Macedonian pilots in Turkey. The Macedonian delegation led by Minister Handziski was received by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army, General Chelik Mik (because of the absence of the Chief who was in China at the moment) yesterday in Ankara. During this meeting certain details in the sphere of military training and education had been concretized. Macedonian representatives are expected to be received by the President of Turkey Sulejman Demirel today and to visit several Turkish military objects. A Turkish Parliamentarian delegation led by Secretary General Nedzmet Bansa has been paying an official visit to Macedonia since yesterday, during which they were received by Macedonian Parliament Vice President Blagoja Filipovski and the Secretary Igor Spirovski. Macedonian Parliamentarian system and the cooperation between the two Parliaments were discussed. [06] MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA ARE COORDINATING THE STANDS ABOUT TRANSPORT AGREEMENTMacedonian media reported that delegations of Macedonian and Bulgarian Ministries of Transport had met yesterday in Skopje in order to continue the discussions for developing the cooperation in the area of transport.The talks were led by the Macedonian Vice Minister of Transport Branko Petkovski and his Bulgarian counterpart Vasil Rangelov. The decrees of the agreement for international transport of passengers and goods should be coordinated, and the number of transit licenses for 1997 should be agreed at the meeting planned to continue today. Also, the conditions for payment of transport taxes would be coordinated.[07] 'KONTINENT'-THE 'SHADOW' OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF 'MULTIGROUP' IN THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT RAISED'We agreed with President Gligorov to develop the bilateral economic cooperation, despite the different political attitudes regarding the Macedonian and Bulgarian language. At the meeting in Ohrid, it was agreed that 'Multigroup' was developing the business on the Balkans,' the President of 'Multigroup' Ilija Pavlov had said in an interview for the Sofia paper 'Kontinent', Macedonian media reported. In context of the accusations that 'Multigroup' had organized the assassination attempt on Macedonian President Gligorov, 'Kontinent' estimated that the meeting had thrown away the suspicions of any kind of company's involvement in it.[08] 'MAKPRESS': MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT ASKED USA FOR HELP ABOUT THE ALLEGED 'POISONINGS' IN TETOVO AREA'Makpress' agency reported that the American Information Center in Skopje had announced yesterday that Macedonian Government had asked for an American help regarding the cases of the alleged 'poisoning' of pupils in Tetovo area. 'We think that it would be best to meet the requests of the Government and are intending to do so soon,' the short announcement said. This was, in fact, a reply to the information issued by Radio Tirana the day before yesterday, according to which PDP leader Abdurahman Aliti and representatives of the US Embassy in Macedonia had agreed to have a team of toxicologists sent to Skopje. According to 'Dnevnik' daily, the meeting had taken place in the Government premises, and had been attended by the US Ambassador to Macedonia Christopher Hill, Government representatives, PDP President Abdurahman Aliti, PDP Secretary General Naser Ziberi and the leader of PDP Parliamentarian group Ismet Ramadani.Local media reported that experts of the World Health Organization are also expected to come to Macedonia in order to assist in the clearing up of the situation regarding the 'poisoning'. [09] MORE INTENSIVE IMMUNIZATION AGAINST INFANTILE PARALYSISMacedonian Government, at its regular session yesterday, accepted the suggestion of the Ministry of Health to introduce changes in the Programme for Obligatory Immunization of the Population in 1996. This was done in order to prevent an outburst of the infantile paralysis in Macedonia, because of which all children at the age of 3 months to 18 years, as well as all individuals who are traveling to the Republic of Albania would have to be vaccinated against this disease, the latter at least 15 days before their trip. The Government had also decided to instruct the customs administrations to demand from Albanian citizens who would enter Macedonia to have certificates for performed vaccination against infantile paralysis.Meanwhile, 'Makpress' agency reported that the first phase of vaccination against this disease in Albania had ended last night, and the Health Institute had estimated it as a very successful one. Until yesterday, 96% of Albanian citizens up to 50 years of age had been vaccinated. [10] THE NATIONAL BANK - AN ACCOMPLICE IN A ROBBERY?'Clients of the savings bank 'Alfa-S' had decided to bring charges against the National Bank of Macedonia, accusing it of being an accomplice in the robbery made by 'Alfa-S', $10 million US worth,' today's issue of 'Dnevnik' daily reads. The citizens had described this 'robbery' as the biggest one in the last 50 years in Macedonia. It had been underlined that the National Bank, although being familiar with the problem, had taken no measures at all, which is why it was considered an accomplice in the robbery.[11] GALA CONCERT 'LIVING TOGETHER'A gala concert to celebrate the diversity of Macedonian culture and promote social tolerance, entitled 'Living Together', will take place at the Macedonian National Theatre on Friday, 18 October at 8 p.m., jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP).The programme of concert will incorporate a rich combination of folk, classical and modern music and dance, representing the whole range of ethnic traditions. 'Living Together' aims to be an expression of cultural tolerance without political boundaries and an illustration of how human beings, regardless of race, colour, gender or ethnic or religious background can understand and appreciate each others' similarities and differences. MILS SUPPLEMENT[12] 'Debts Can't Be Paid In a Magic Way' - Part 2('Nova Makedonija', 12 October, 1996)The bankers in Macedonia are underlying the delayed payments made to them from the national budget, by which the banks make cash payments to the savers for weddings, funerals, existence, etc. also with a delay. Danica Bojcheska, the Director of Public Relations Department in Stopanska Bank told us that the budget owed about 20 million denars to the Bank. In order to prevent any delays of payments, the Bank engages its own money. One the other hand, this disturbs the Bank balance. 'To be honest, there were periods when we were given the budget money in advance, but it happened rarely,' Bojcheska said. The explanations of Komercijalna and the other banks are similar to the above cited one. They say in the Finance Ministry that banks are making the payments with a temporal delay, but it is not a big problem. 'It is well known that banks are making the payments of deposited 'frozen' savings from two sources: the already mentioned budget money and the money obtained from cash supplied with the buy out of state-owned flats, which banks are obliged to pay in a special budget account,' Dragoljub Arsovski, a Vice Minister of Finance said. 'Controls made had proved that the banks were paying in the money on that account with a delay or after the controls were made.' It seems, however, that both parties tolerate each other in that procedure. According to the Ministry of Finance, the greatest problems appear with savings deposited at the Foreign Trade Bank. This used to be on the second most powerful bank among its competitors. It had DM 312 million on its accounts at the beginning of this year, but due to the bankruptcy procedure it is submitted to, the savings are being paid by Makedonska Bank. Arsovski explained that because of all those circumstances, this bank is mostly burdened, which is why a possibility is considered to have another bank included in making the payments in the name of the Foreign Trade Bank. It is planned for this year, similar to the last one, to have 1,2 billion denars in the budget intended for payments of the 'frozen' foreign currency reserves. Last year, 650 million denars were paid from the budget, and 550 million denars from the money obtained by sale of state-owned flats. The same procedure was used this year. Till 30 September, according to Arsovski, 75% of the 650 million denars were used, which is in accordance with the plan. However, since the sale of state-owned flats had been accomplished, the income expected from it has not been realized. It is expected the sale of those flats to bring 350 million denars till the end of the year, while the financial gap of 200 million denars is suggested to be filled in by budget money which had not been used. It is almost certain that the Law on Deposited Foreign Currency Savings, which allows those savings to be selectively used for strictly established purposes, will remain in force in the next year, as well. The ideas to turn the savings into bonds which would be traded with at the Macedonian Stock Exchange or to liquidate the bankbooks with smaller amounts are still not applied, since the state does not want to start something about which success it is not certain. Of the 14 models proposed by the Programme, 12 have been carried out in practice. The remaining two were not because of the lack of regulations, they said in the Ministry of Finance, referring to the possibilities for establishing investment funds and private pensions funds. Those possibilities might be institutionalized when the Draft Law on Issuing and Trading with Securities and the decisions for establishing investment funds would be submitted to a Parliamentarian procedure. In that way, the owners of 'frozen' savings would be offered the possibility to become share holders. It means that they would be given shares as a replacement for their savings. The investment fund would buy out parts of enterprises and if it gains a dividend, the shareholders would make profits. These and the other possibilities examined would certainly not completely solve the problem of 'frozen' foreign currency savings, but they would definitely reduce it. (end)mils news 15 October, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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