MAK-NEWS 12/12/95 (M.I.C.)

From: "M.I.C." <mic@ITL.MK>

Macedonian Information Centre Directory

CONTENTS

SKOPJE, DECEMBER 12, 1995 (MIC)

[01] U.S. INTERESTED IN INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS IN RM

Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski and Speaker of Parliament Stojan Andov received the delegation of the U.S. Council for international relations in Skopje, yesterday.

At the meeting with Branko Crvenkovski, the guests expressed a special interest in the inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia, especially the question of the functioning of the educational system in the country.

After informing Andov about their mission, which, as they said, is of preventive character for the relations with the countries from the south of the Balkans, the Speaker of Parliament emphasized the need for the countries and the international associations to make extra efforts in order to restore peace in the war-torn regions. For this purpose, he said, it is necessary to build trust between the nations and countries, which explains the Resolution submitted by Macedonia in the UN, for cooperation between the Balkan states.

In regard to the inter-ethnic relations, he emphasized Macedonia's orientation to build relations based on trust and co- existence between the citizens living in it.

The delegation also had a meeting with the Minister of Development Bekjir Zhuta, Defence Minister Blagoy Handziski, as well as in the Interior Ministry, where it met with Dobri Velichkovski, director of the Security and Counter-Intelligence Agency.

[02] GOVERNMENT FIXES CUSTOMS TARIFF

At yesterday's session, the Macedonian Government reviewed and determined the draft-law on customs tariffs, which makes a complete revision of the existing TARIFF, in terms of the nomenclature analysis, and the level of customs rates. In addition, the newest changes to the convention on harmonized system, and the combined TARIFF of the EU are also coordinated. The text of the law abolishes all TARIFF rates that were used to protect the economy of the former YU republics, as well as the all the positions that did not have an entrance or exit to the customs region of the Republic of Macedonia, in the last couple of years, the Information Secretariat announced.

The text of the law, as the Government concluded, is based on the European orientation with the use of world experiences, and it also includes a number of valid requests of the Macedonian producers. The Government also determined the proposal for the adoption of a law on energetics, since the activities in this field were not defined very well in the existing one, a number of organizational forms for energy system existed in practice, and the unequal treatment of certain types of energy was present as well.

Furthermore, the Government accepted the draft-law on tax for temporary residence, according to which the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia and foreign citizens, provided they use the services for spending the night in accommodating objects, registered for putting up guests over night, outside their permanent residence, will have to pay 20 denars per day, with the exception of children, teenagers, students and other persons who are exempt from paying this tax, according to certain articles of this law. By accepting this text of the law, which was regulated with the existing law on public utilities taxes until now, the funds gathered on this basis will be entirely in the function of the economic activities, whose basic line of work is tourism.

[03] ELECTRICITY ABOVE EXPECTATIONS

The 14 million KW/H of electricity produced by the three Bitola thermoelectric power plants yesterday fulfilled the annual plan for the production of electric energy, which amounted to 3.693.000.000 KW/H, and now, they are practically working for next year, when approximately the same limit is set. The power plant "Bitola" owes its success to the good preparedness of all its installations in the thermoelectric power plants, the cooling towers and the mine. The successful overhaul of the three blocks and the re-hiring of almost all 3,000 workers has also contributed greatly to the success of this plant.

[04] SLOVENIA AND RM TO JOIN FORCES IN REBUILDING B&H

The Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia are interesting in appearing together in the realization of a number of projects for the reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This deal comes as a result of the visit to Slovenia by a Macedonian delegation led by the Minister of Urbanization, Construction and Ecology Yorgo Sundovski. The Macedonian delegation met with a number of representatives of the Slovenian authorities and the Slovenian minister Pavle Ganar, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy Vlado Dimovski, as well as representatives of the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce.

As minister Yorgo Sundovski emphasized, these deals are practically a preparation for the joint appearances of Macedonian construction firms with Slovenian partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Another outcome is also the agreement for a Protocol for cooperation between the Macedonian and Slovenian Ministry of Economy and Environment.

[05] TALKS WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM B&H

In Ljubljana, the Macedonian delegation had a meeting with the ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Slovenia Ugljesha Uzelac, in which it was given first-hand information about all the activities of the Bosnian Government for obtaining investments for the reconstruction of Bosnia. The Bosnian side stressed the need to renew the old contacts between the businessmen from both countries, as well as the appropriate state institutions, as well as the quicker establishment of bilateral relations. At the same time, the Bosnian ambassador to Slovenia emphasized that not one cent has arrived in Bosnia, neither as credit or help to carry out this task, which, on the other hand, gives the Macedonian side more time to get better prepared for the time when that does happen.

It has been agreed for the Macedonian delegation to visit Sarajevo soon, and to discuss this issue with the Bosnian Ministry of Construction Munever Imamovich.

[06] MINISTERIAL MEETING IN ZAGREB CANCELLED

Immediately after its visit to Slovenia, the Macedonian delegation was supposed to visit Zagreb, for meetings in the Croatian Ministry of Environment and Construction. However, it did not come to this meeting, though it was agreed and long- announced, since it was cancelled by the Croatian side. Otherwise, these talks were supposed to focus not only on arrangements for joint appearance with Macedonian construction companies in building up Bosnia, but destroyed regions and objects in Croatia, as well.

MACEDONIAN PRESS REVIEW:

[07] "VECER": "THE BRAINS ARE FLYING AWAY, NEVER TO COME BACK AGAIN"

The massive outflow of brains and work potential is an alarming situation for any country, which can bring into question the overall social development as well. In Macedonia, this outflow varied in intensity at times, but it seems it is becoming quite alarming these last couple of years. The line of work- capable and highly educated young people who travel literally every day, regretfully, only in one direction, is only becoming longer every day. Our personnel, mainly from the technical sciences, and not only these, triggered by the slow progress of technology and everything that goes with it, but mainly the standard and impossibility to find jobs, are leaving the country as a final product, to countries that have not spent a cent for their education and training. And, the price for such education and the creation of personnel, for any country, including ours, is very high. According to some calculations, the social costs for education, for instance, of an engineer, add up to US$ 10,000, for a Doctor of Sciences, even twice as much.

In Macedonia's case, several more massive waves of emigration and brain outflow have been noticed. Usually, they were linked with crisis situations and greater economic difficulty. The sociologists and demographers pint out that one of the heaviest effects is overseas emigration. It's permanent. According to some realizations, some 600,000 Macedonians, if not more, have left to overseas countries, permanently, and some 60,000 have been swallowed, temporarily, by the European "pool." There are even 34 church communities in the overseas countries, organized in two eparchies, which are dedicated to helping the Macedonian emigrants adapt to their new environment and living conditions.

The last and most massive emigration was manifested in the period prior to the break up of the former federation. With certain oscillations, that can be felt even today. A river of young people are moving out of our country, ranging from an age of 18 to 27 year. At the moment, according to all data, the most attractive and "promised land" for the young brains, especially those from the technical sciences, is New Zealand. Estimates say that up to 3,000 families move to this country every year, with one child, in average, which forms a final figure of some 9,000 people.

Some indicators say that up to 30 agencies in our country and abroad are arranging such emigrations, charging a provision of up to 2-3,000 German marks. The signals, practically, point to the conclusion that the embassies of New Zealand in Vienna and Sofia are invaded by Macedonian citizens, interested in finding jobs in these far-away places. Forms for New Zealand are circulating in the student dormitories and restaurants literally every day. Triggered by the alarm which has been at red alert for quite some time already, academic Dr. Jordan Pop Jordanov recently formed a special team to examine the reasons for this massive outflow of young experts. Concluding quite bitterly that we are giving the world nuclear engineers, while the world is giving us nuclear waste, Dr. Pop Jordanov surveyed some students from the technical faculties about their future plans.

In effect, Pop Jordanov asked the students to answer the following questions: Do you intend to move to some foreign country after completing your studies, what are the reasons for that, and what does the state have to do to keep you here? The results, stated quite simply, were quite disastrous. Namely, some 48% of the students polled are thinking about leaving the country, and 20% have already made such a decision. 37% of the students explained their decision with economic, social and cultural reasons. Even 43% of the students polled asked the state, if it wants to keep them, to improve their living standard and to financially and morally valorize the price of their profession. As an illustration, an engineer is paid an average of 4,500 German marks in New Zealand.

All these realizations point out that Macedonia is faced with a very serious problem, and that the intensive outflow of personnel could have devastating effects on its overall development. Therefore, it is becoming necessary to face and deal with this situation as soon as possible. It is also worth considering the idea of taking into account the experiences of other countries, which have already given certain effects. The example of Great Britain probably already says a lot about the way to go about stopping this outflow of personnel. Here, namely, up to million pounds are put aside every year, to stimulate the young people to put their knowledge exclusively at the disposal of their country. Similar programs are applied in many other countries, all with the purpose to keep the wealth of the scientific potential. Such measures are necessary, as it seems, in our country, as well.

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