MAK-NEWS 28/12/95 (M.I.C.)

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

Macedonian Information Centre Directory

CONTENTS

SKOPJE, DECEMBER 28, 1995 (MIC)

[01] STEVO CRVENKOVSKI: "NEW RELATIONS IN THE BALKANS"

In today's interview for "Nova Makedonija," Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski assesses that the past year will be remembered as the most successful for the Republic of Macedonia, on a foreign political plan. Crvenkovski explained that "the EU has opened its doors to Macedonia, and whether we pass through them will be an internal political question in the coming years." Crvenkovski added: "The model of Macedonia's future accord with the Union is similar to the one with Slovenia, expanded in some points of special interest in cooperation, because of the particularity of our economy, and expanded in the part on political cooperation, which is very important, and which, in Slovenia's case, is the subject of a separate Declaration. We regard this an important success, because we managed to insert it into the accord itself."

In relation to the OSCE meetings in Budapest, the Conference on former Yugoslavia in London, the Paris Conference at which the peace accord on Bosnia was signed, and the Conference on disarmament in Bonn, in which Macedonia took part, Crvenkovski stated: "Our primary goal was to have the documents of the conferences clearly separate our position as a country that did not take part in the war, and can therefore not take part as a direct participant in the peace process as well, however, a country that has a great interest in taking part in all of that, as a neighboring country. We succeeded in changing the terminology in the key documents of the conferences, in order to differentiate our stand. In places where former Yugoslavia used to be mentioned earlier, now, depending on the context, the terms Bosnia-Herzegovina and its immediate neighbors or South- Eastern Europe, are used. We accomplished that in all the documents. We managed to clearly separate ourselves from the crisis and to mark the future processes as processes of the entire South-Eastern European region. That was important in order to score some points from the actions which we didn't start earlier. Such as the Resolution on good neighborly relations and cooperation the Balkans, which we proposed and which was adopted recently by the UN General Assembly. Then there's also the about starting a process of control of the armament in the Balkans, which we also brought forth this fall at the UN General Assembly. Those initiatives as well as the fact that the all the others have also recognized, that it is time to formulate new Balkan policies, new approaches to the relations in the Balkans, was our main topic, which we insisted on imposing in all these documents. And, in this whole post-Dayton period, more and more countries in the Balkans are accepting the ideas that Macedonia has been advocating the past couple of years.

We used these meetings and the presence of a large number of foreign ministers to hold informal talks and, in parallel with the conferences, to provide additional support for our process of rapprochement with the European Union and the mandate for negotiations over the Accord. Thus, we held meetings on this topic with will virtually all the ministers of the member-states of the Union.

Another field we worked on were the bilateral issues. In Budapest, for instance, we exchanged notes with the Israeli Foreign Minister, for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In France, which is very important, we signed the documents on the continuity of the agreements between France and the former SFRY, which provided a solid legal foundation for the relations with this European country. And secondly, France thereby practically recognized the political and legal continuity of the Republic of Macedonia, a success that was insufficiently noticed in the public. We did the same with a number of other European countries."

Furthermore, Crvenkovski explained the relations with FRY and the prospects of restoring normal relations between Macedonia and this neighboring country. In this context, among the rest, he said: "The fact remains that our side does not and has never imposed any obstacles to the normalization of relations. And, I don't see why there should be any obstacles, since Macedonia achieved its independence in a peaceful way, without any incidents. The Army withdrew from Macedonia as agreed, and Macedonia's continuity from ASNOM and onwards has never been disputed, and there are no controversial questions in the Macedonian-Serbian relations. Therefore, our side is prepared to regulate the relations with this country at any given moment, and I hope the other side will show such readiness soon."

Foreign Minister Crvenkovski also discussed the implementation of the Macedonian-Greek Accord, signed this fall in New York. He explained that "only in the first two weeks from the implementation of the Accord, 7,200 citizens entered Greece, of which 190 were sent back, approximately 100 because of problems with the green cards, which was settled in the meantime. Around 50 were returned for not carrying enough money with them and 49 citizens were sent back for having origins from there. We don't have any precise statistics as to how many of those who crossed the border were born there, however, the information we have says that their number if quite large. There were some incidents with certain customs officials, with the stickers, and requests to remove the sign for Macedonia. We reported all those incidents to the other side and there were reactions to them. And, the number of incidents dropped from day to day. That gives us a reason to believe that it was a question of absence of coordination at different administrative levels, because, in general, their attitude was positive, and remains positive."

In response to the question whether the activities surrounding the East-West corridor were really "frozen" after the opening of the North-South corridor, Crvenkovski said: "I wouldn't exactly agree that everything stopped, it must not stop. During this whole time, I insisted, in practically all my public appearances, that it is imperative for Macedonia to develop and maintain both routes. Macedonia can get the maximum out of its geographic position only if it is the cross-section in the Balkans, which means if the East-West and North-South corridor intersect on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. The North-South route cannot be of any great use to Macedonia without the East-West corridor."

[02] U.S. VISAS TO BE ISSUED IN SKOPJE SOON

U.S. visas will soon start being issued in Skopje, after the new building of the U.S. embassy in Skopje is opened.

As Mr. Victor Comras, head of the U.S. mission said in the interview for "Vecer" (which will come out on Saturday), soon after the handing of the keys and the installment of the new equipment, the Embassy is expected to start issuing visas. The procedure will be the same as in the other embassies, but with more modern equipment. Namely, the visas will be issued according to latest technology in this field, and the equipment is expected to arrive in a couple of months.

[03] GLIGOROV PARDONS 35 CONVICTS

The President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov has granted amnesty to 35 convicts, on the occasion of New Year. 16 of them granted full amnesty, while 19 were partially pardoned, the President's Cabinet announced.

[04] ALITI: "NO REASON TO STAY IN GOVERNMENT"

The President of PDP (Party for Democratic Prosperity) Abdurahman Aliti stated in today's interview for "Nova Makedonija," in reference to this party's possible withdrawal from the government coalition that "we still don't have an official stand on this. However, the predominant stand in the talks and assessments is that the party has no justification for continuing its cooperation with the executive power." Aliti explains that the Government stand on high education in Albanian language can simply not be the expression of some kind of "good will" for resolving this problem. Therefore, PDP's top man says "it is below human dignity to insist on cooperation, when the second side is not really ready for that."

[05] JAT WILL FLY TO SKOPJE

The general director of Yugoslav Airlines (JAT) Zhika Petrovich has announced that his company will introduce a new air route to Skopje.

Back in July, this year, JAT announced it would be introducing a new air route to Skopje, however, due to misunderstandings with the Macedonian authorities and the Skopje air transporters, this was postponed. According to the flight schedule at the time, the JAT planes were supposed to fly to Skopje five times per week.

[06] NEGOTIATIONS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

The Belgrade independent daily newspaper "Nasa Borba" writes that there are some indications that Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia have started negotiations, at a state level, for reducing or eventually abolishing customs.

Although officials in the FRY Chamber of Commerce say that the issue of customs with Macedonia is "closed," Serbian businessmen disagree. The secretary-general of the carpet factory from Ivanjica, Andrija Marishich believes that the present customs system will be difficult to sustain. He expects a regime of customs union to be established, since his factory realized its overall exports through Macedonia the last three years, which is an important buyer itself.

Officials in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce say that the reason for the introduction of customs towards Macedonia lies in the so-called Montenegrin lobby. The Federal Prime Minister Radoe Kontich had allegedly made such a decision in order to direct the Yugoslav exports toward the port in Bar, which was practically closed during the sanctions against FRY.

[07] CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DENYING NEGOTIATIONS WITH YU- CHAMBER

In relation to the information that appeared in the Belgrade daily "Nasa Borba," that Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia have started negotiations on reducing or eventually abolishing the customs between the two countries, the president of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce Dushan Petreski told Radio Skopje that no one from his Chamber, or he himself was in Belgrade, let alone in negotiations with the management of the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce. Such and similar news, according to Petreski, are pure speculation and desires of certain individuals. (END)