MILS: News from the FYROM, 97-08-27

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From: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>

CONTENTS

[01] `THE WEST STILL UNDER THREAT OF SECESSION'

[02] `EXOUSIA' ON THE POSSIBLE ALBANIAN COALITION

[03] REHN ARRIVES IN MACEDONIA

[04] `YEAR ZERO' ENTERS IMPLEMENTATION STAGE

[05] THE SEA IS TO GET ROUGH...

[06] OWNERSHIP TRANSFORMATION REVERSED

[07] POSITIVE IMPACT OF DENAR-DEVALUATION

[08] FAIR CHATS

[09] MEETING `TRUCKIES' HALFWAY...

[10] MACEDONIAN HUMANITARIAN AID...

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[11] `Show Me the Money!' (`Dnevnik' - 26th August 1997)

[12] `Small Businesses in Seven Municipalities' (`Vecher' - 26th August 1997)

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 27 August, 1997

[01] `THE WEST STILL UNDER THREAT OF SECESSION'

[02] `EXOUSIA' ON THE POSSIBLE ALBANIAN COALITION

[03] REHN ARRIVES IN MACEDONIA

[04] `YEAR ZERO' ENTERS IMPLEMENTATION STAGE

[05] THE SEA IS TO GET ROUGH...

One only has to think of the LDP view according to which the Tetovo/Gostivar briefing is being `Directed by' the SDSM and the PDP in order to boost their rating. Ergo this party will most likely abstain from any debating on this matter. The PDP camp is not inclined to back the information to be offered at the briefing - whereas the resignation of Interior Minister Tomislav Chokrevski is on the top of their 1997 letter to Santa. The PDP will also request the forming of a survey commission within the Parliament which is to assess the liability of Minister Chokrevski.

The SDSM is, of course, willing to accept the report - as well as the establishment of such a commission. This however does not apply to the request for the Minister's resignation signed by five DPA representatives. The latter party is resolved to discard all offered data and persist on Chokrevski's resignation. The DPA also conditions any further cooperation with the PDP and the remaining within the Parliament with the fulfillment of these terms.

[06] OWNERSHIP TRANSFORMATION REVERSED

In concordance to the draft-bill these objects are to be transformed into regional enterprises governed by the state. This, according to Penov, would paralyze the normal functioning of the city and city authorities as proscribed by law / the Constitution, the City of Skopje Act and the Public Utilities Act. Amendments proposed by Mayor Penov demand additional changes to the draft-bill which refer to the basic competencies of the city towards public parking space and the obstruction of forming inter-municipal public utility facilities in the city of Skopje.

[07] POSITIVE IMPACT OF DENAR-DEVALUATION

The influx of hard currency assets transcended all expectations which - in combination with the net-inflow in interest rates - contributed to the softening of the dive hard currency reserves (generated by settling of international dues amounting to 19.1 million dollars and by negative exchange rate differences totalling 3.6 million dollars) had taken to a considerable extent. According to Ivanov by the end of this year the Govt. expects the complete recovery from negative trends within the monetary sector - in addition to the achieving of the projected funds mass on an annual level. During this Monday's session the Macedonian Govt. also confirmed the opening of a resident mission of the Republic of Macedonia within NATO HQ in Brussels, which is to be headed by our current Ambassador to Belgium Jovan Tegovski.

Besides this the Govt. has approved legal provisions on social security, copyrights on publishing, phonographic production and radio broadcasting. Other projects receiving their blessing concern the strengthening of drug control facilities and the establishing of an Agency to implement the international project on countering the illegal production, trade and abuse of narcotics.

[08] FAIR CHATS

The meeting with Nenad Porgez (Croatia), according to the Information Secretariat, delved into the trade rate against the backdrop of the recently-signed Free Trade Agreement between Macedonia and Croatia. Joint conclusions confirmed that treaties affecting other sectors should be signed ASAP - particularly those regulating ownership rights; several cooperation possibilities have also been discussed (esp. the inclusion of Macedonian construction contractors in Croatia or joint emergence on third markets; then the involvement in construction procedures on Corridor No. 10).

Talks with Italian Minister Fastozzi had placed emphasis on Italy's willingness to support small and medium-sized businesses in Macedonia, as well as on the necessity of mutual updating and direct contacts between stakeholders. On this occasion Minister Rikalovski advocated the implementation of the already approved Italian loan for Macedonia.

The negligence exhibited by Slovenia in determining its import quotas on Macedonian agricultural produce (without customs duty and tax payments) has led to the further increase of Macedonia's trade deficit, stated Macedonian Agriculture Minister Kiril Dokuzovski during a meeting with his Slovene counterpart at the `CEFTA' Ministerial Meeting on agriculture held in Maribor last week. In connection to this Dokuzovski revealed yesterday that the Slovene side had been made aware of the fact that the Macedonian Govt. would be forced to introduce reciprocal measures should the entrance of Macedonian produce into Slovenia remain obstructed. This would particularly affect Slovenia's export of chicken, milk and preserved goods into our country. In addition to this, Minister Dokuzovski also pointed out irregularities surfacing during the import of Macedonian wines - such as the coercing of Macedonian producers to declare their wine of belonging to an inferior quality category.

[09] MEETING `TRUCKIES' HALFWAY...

Issues concerning the lowering of paytoll tariffs and the issuing of a green card (at the maximum price of 500 DM) by the Macedonian Transport Ministry have been discarded as non- justified requests. As is the case with issuing transport permits at the border until a liberal goods export-import regimen has been established. Besides this the attempted siege of `Medzhitlija' has been assessed as a measure outside the bounds of standard behaviour by the Macedonian Govt. and the latter is prepared to undertake all necessary steps against those violating the law of Macedonia.

[10] MACEDONIAN HUMANITARIAN AID...

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[11] `Show Me the Money!'

(`Dnevnik' - 26th August 1997)

Those few with in-depth knowledge on economic conditions in the country claim that so far outcomes of the transformation of national capital have been derogatory. To add insult to injury the privatization process conducted in Macedonia has been dubbed `commercial', i.e. one covering its own expenses. Even the Head of State referred to this `commercial privatization' as successful venture, during his recent speech made at Mechkin Kamen. Unofficial data from the Privatization Agency confirm that so far only 25 million DM have been gathered throughout the privatization process `in cash' - while the overall value of privatized assets amounts to 3.299 billion DM. Nobody within the Agency expects these conditions to improve. What, however, few or no people have been made aware of is the fact that even this `wee bit of money' must be accounted for by the Privatization Agency.

Economic Chamber Chairman Dushan Petrevski stated that he had no knowledge on the further implementation of those funds, since the Chamber had not received any sort of report on this subject. He also stressed the necessity of changing this practice. `In Slovenia, for example, 50 million dollars of such funds have been reallocated to export-orientated businesses - as a kind of stimulus. Where are our privatization yields?' wonders Petrevski.

Vladimir Shahov, the Deputy Director of the Privatization Agency, claims that criticism is `hitting the saddle and not the mule.' While not denying that initially funds are being forwarded to the Agency, `the Privatization Act allows us to keep them 30 days; then they are forwarded to an ancillary account of the national budget. Thus, quite normally, the Govt. decides where the money ends up eventually.' According to Shahov the Agency merely functions as the `till.'

In concordance to the above mentioned Privatization Act, funds accumulated throughout the privatization process may be used by the state for development projects and social purposes, e.g. covering expenditures for procuring re- employment for laid-off workers or new investments. As regards the 25 million DM and their whereabouts, so far the only known fact (disclosed by a high-ranking Govt. official) is that they have been spent on `trouble-shooting' in the social sector. He also called the Economic Chamber's interest in these funds `strange...' `I do not agree with those denoting the privatization process completed, and that the Agency has done its job. Now is the time when this institution should become active in terms of commercial and investment promotion. If the Agency thinks that this was all it has been established for - I am bound to be not too far off the mark by saying that in this case we might just as well have set them up in a wigwam - without ever bothering to procure premises and myriads of employees. We could have saved the money, assembled staff on a freelance basis and get the job done', stated Petrevski for the `Economic Magazine' (`Ekonomski Magazin') recently. `It is not true that Petrevski does not receive a financial report on the Agency's performance. How could this be the case, when prior to its publication the report has to be signed by the Secretary of the Economic Chamber who is also a member of our Executive Board.'

[12] `Small Businesses in Seven Municipalities'

(`Vecher' - 26th August 1997)

The Coordination Council for the implementation of the project concerned with sustaining reforms and rendering technical assistance - which has been set up within the Privatization Agency and the credit support of the WB over the past two years - has approved seven projects furthering local economy. This has been done kickstart the business sector in some municipalities throughout the country by providing financial assistance in the beginning. Thus programmes which are to show relatively short-term outcomes are to be financed over the next three years, the objective being the structural resuscitation of local economy via small businesses - rather than sustaining long-term programmes which end up being `dust-catchers' in somebody's drawer.

In the opinion of the Privatization Agency's re-employment coordinator Vladimir Sarach the first development programme whose implementation has already begun arrived from Makedonska Kamenica. The programme for the development of the local economy in this municipality has been compiled by the Skopje Faculty of Economics. It concentrates on the speedy and efficient transcending of the mining-region image attached to this area via the introducing of new small businesses. At present this is being achieved by sustaining production in the private sector (e.g. custom-made carpets, bakery products or ancillary facilities to the `Sasa' mining complex).

Interest in this project has been exhibited by 35 municipalities so far, but as it can only cover 10 such development ventures in general, the Agency has decided to sustain programmes involving several municipalities. Thus the project involving Prilep and four minor municipalities is currently in its preparatory stage (a consulting service is being sought). A similar concept and approach is to be observed in case of the Shtip project (also covering several municipalities in the region).

The Agency's standpoint towards the Ohrid project is a bit more specific as the project places emphasis on components compatible to the natural resources of this area, i.e. the development of tourism and organic food production in this area. The Agency further expects project-proposals from Kriva Palanka and the surrounding recently-formed municipal units, from Kratovo and Makedonski Brod since their preliminary versions have been approved during a previous presentation. By the end of this year three more projects will be given the `thumbs-up' while project funding is being conditioned by the extent to which the main objective is being achieved: the high-standard and efficient boosting of local economy. This is where the World Bank enters the stage: throughout the monitoring and assessment component of each project.

(end.)

mils news 27 August, 1997

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