MILS NEWS 15/02/96

From: "M.I.L.S." <mils@MILS.SPIC.ORG.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 15 February 1996

[01] PROBLEMS IN MACEDONIA ARE SOLVED IN A DEMOCRATIC WAY

As 'Makfaks' reported the US State Department, at a regular press conference, expressed its view on the current political situation in Macedonia, by saying:

'We were informed that the Premiere has proposed a new Government, which will be discussed on the next session of the Parliament. We are satisfied that they are able to solve their political problems in a peaceful and democratic way. We believe we will productively cooperate with the new Government.' State Department also expressed his satisfaction for the good health condition of President Gligorov and for his returning to presidential duties. 'He is a factor of peace and stability not only in his country, but in the whole Balkan region', reads the statement.

[02] 50 NEW PEOPLE IN UNPREDEP

UN Security Council, on its yesterday's session, unanimously adopted the Resolution 1046, which allows enforcing the military personnel of UNPREDEP in Macedonia with 50 new people, in order to provide a constant engineering support of its operations. The Resolution also approves appointing a new Commanding Officer of UNPREDEP forces as an independent Mission. It is planned that the enforcement will be made with an Indonesian Engineering Platoon, which was in the previous UNPROFOR structure.

With the Resolution, the Security Council requires from the UN Secretary General to submit recommendations on future structure and mandate of UNPREDEP, till 20 May this year.

[03] MACEDONIAN-GREEK RELATIONS DEVELOP SATISFACTORILY

Macedonian Premiere, Branko Crvenkovski, received yesterday in Skopje Alexandros Mallias, Head of the Hellenic Liaison Office in Macedonia. Premiere stressed the readiness of the Macedonian Government for cooperation in all areas of a mutual interest. Future activities should speed up the economy and trade cooperation, as well as the cooperation in transport, culture and sports.

Mallias yesterday also met with the President of the Macedonian Parliament, Stojan Andov, concluding that a cooperation between Parliaments is needed.

For the press Mallias said that Greece will support Macedonia in the process of joining European associations, as the stability of the region depends on the integration processes of the countries in it.

[04] NEW VISA REGULATIONS WITH GREECE

The new Protocol on visa regulations and taxes between Macedonia and Greece, signed on 2 February 1996, will come into effect on Friday, 16 February 1996. As Macedonian Foreign Ministry announced, the tourist visa will cost 160 denars or 1 000 drachmas, and double less for children. Transit one-entry visa will cost 110 denars or 700 drachmas, for two - 160 denars or 1 000 drachmas, and multy-entry crossings for buses and trucks - 3 130 denars or 19 500 drachmas.

[05] EAST-WEST OIL PIPELINE

Bulgarian daily 'Continent' reported that the Albanian- Bulgarian-Macedonian corporation 'Ambo' decided to begin a construction of an oil pipeline, which would connect the Black Sea with the Adriatic Sea. The pipeline will be 907 km long and will transport oil from Russia, Azerbejan and Kazahstan, with capacity of 750 000 barrels daily. The construction, as estimated, should cost 825 million $US, and 'Ambo' company has already obtained exclusive right from the Governments of the three countries to realise this project, which is, in fact, an alternative for the project Burgas-Alexandropolis.

[06] DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH BANGLADESH

Republic of Bangladesh and Republic of Macedonia yesterday in New York established diplomatic relations on ambassadors level. The Protocol was signed by the Macedonian UN representative, Denko Maleski, and UN representative of Bangladesh, Reiz Rahmann. It was said that the establishing of the diplomatic relations will improve the future development of the close and friendly relations between the two countries.

[07] MIRJANA MARKOVIC - INEVITABLE BALKAN ASSOCIATION

On the occasion of the promotion of the book 'Night and Day in Yugoslavia' yesterday in Athens, the author Mirjana Markovic (spouse of the current Serbian President, Miloshevic, and one of the leaders of the Serbian Left Wing YUL), said that Balkan nations can hope for a peaceful and prosperous life only if they decide to forget their past and to believe that they will have to be a part of an association of nations in future. Ms. Markovic said she could not be precise what kind of an association would that be, a confederation or a union, but that she was certain that it is inevitable, if the Balkan nations do not want to have a future equal to their past.

The promotion was also attended by the Vice Premiere of Serbia, Slobodan Unkovic, FRY Foreign Minister, Milan Milutinovic, and amongst many guests from Greece, the previous Premiere Micotakis and the current Minister of Culture, Belos.

[08] KOSOVO ISSUE - CONDITION FOR REINTEGRATION OF FRY

Albanian President, Sali Berisha, and the leader of the Albanians in Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, approved the stand of the US Government and the European Union, for the reintegration of FRY in the international community to be conditioned by solving of the Kosovo issue. As A-1 Television reported the information of the Albanian National Television, Berisha and Rugova said it was necessary to start a constructive dialogue between Belgrade and Pristine, mediated by a third party, as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Albanian media reported that American-Albanian maneuvers will take place at the end of this month in Albania, which are part of the military cooperation between these two countries and the 'Partnership for Peace' Program.

[09] 30 MILLION $US CREDIT FOR MACEDONIAN ECONOMY

Macedonian Finance Minister, Iane Miljoski, yesterday in London signed a 30 million $US credit document from the European Bank. The credit will be used for the Macedonian economy, and was adopted by the Macedonian Parliament last December, while Macedonian banks already signed the first contracts with the entrepreneurs.

Yesterday, possibilities for new credit arrangements between Macedonia and the European Bank were discussed, and it was agreed a mission from the EBRD to visit Macedonian banks soon.

[10] IMPROVING TENURE RELATIONS AND AGR POLICY

In order to help Macedonia inprove tenure relations and agricultural policy the USAID provided an expert team from the US Research Institute, the Land Tenure Center and the University of Wisconsin, who will work together with experts from the University 'St. Cyril and Methodius' and representatives of other Macedonian institutions. The project 'Analysis of Tenure Relations and Agricultural Productivity in Republic of Macedonia' will last till July this year, and will begin with the first seminar to be held in Skopje today and tomorrow.

[11] REDUCING THE DISCOUNT RATE

Following the projection of the monetary-credit policy in the country and the guidelines of IMF, the Council of the National Bank of Macedonia yesterday decided to reduce the discount rate from 15 to 12 percent annually. Due to the enlarged income of deposits in the bank sector, the NB Council increased the limits for the bank investments.

Business banks will, therefore, be able to increase the investments for 520 million denars. The NB Council also made decisions with which the Law on Payment is put into effect, as well as the forming of the bank market, by which the business banks will be able to buy and sell in short terms, where the National Bank will act as a mediator.

It was concluded that the limits between current active and passive interest rates of the business banks are rather high, and, therefore, the active interest rates of the business banks will not be higher from the discount rate of the National Bank, enlarged for 10%. In accordance with this, the banks that will not stick to the directions for active interest rates, will be deprived form the limit for increasing the denar payments.

[12] SMALL INCOME FROM THE CURRENT PRIVATIZATION

The last report of the Macedonian Agency for Privatization is that 1 000 of 1 216 enterprises have used their right to be privatized, and that 604 enterprises with about 60 000 employees were privatized by their own programs. The ownership transformation still lasts in 396 enterprises, and 216 enterprises did not respect the dead line (31 December 1995), and will be privatized by the Agency decision. The total estimated value of Macedonian firms that should be privatized is about 930 million DM, and the income from the privatization till now is about 61 million DM.

[13] RESPONSIBILITY FOR PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY

The Democratic Alliance of Albanians - Liberal Party, announced yesterday that it was concerned for the situation and the confrontations inside the Alliance for Macedonia. The Party thinks it is necessary that the responsible subjects eliminate such situations and find solutions that would ensure peaceful development of the country. This Party finds the basis for it in the attitude of President Gligorov, to solve the situation by respecting the electoral platform of the Alliance for Macedonia.

[14] WORRYING POLLUTION OF THE RIVER VARDAR

The main discussion topic on yesterday's Consortium of Vardar Valley meeting, held in Titov Veles, was the pollution prevention of the River Vardar. The current situation was stressed as worrying, as not a single town through which the River flows has a cleansing system for the water. It was stressed that preparing a study for the protection of the river is necessary. The project Vardar Valley anticipates construction of 135 cleansing stations, which would not only protect the water, but also improve the quality of the surrounding environment.

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[15] The Big Wave is Expected

('Vecer', 15 February 1996)

In the Republic of Macedonia, about 240 000 dossiers on the agrarian reform, nationalization, confiscation, expropriation, redistribution of fields and depriving from the private property have been recorded from 1945 till now.

These figures are not definite, as the dossiers in eight more townships have still being under procedure. Regarding the unofficial information that the regulations will refer to the period till 1970-ies, the number of dossiers that will directly concern the denationalization will be significantly lower. One of the reasons is that the expropriated prperties from 1970-ies on were fairly compensated.

Of the total number of dossiers, 200 000 are of first instance, while the other 40 000 are of second instance, i.e. based on complaints of the citizens on unsatisfactory decisions of Municipal or District Courts. About 184 000 dossiers were submitted to the district branch offices of the Finance Ministry and in the Real Estate Registry Administration of Skopje. Almost 60 000 files were submitted to the Ministry directly, and the biggest part of them refers to the nationalization of livestock. All these was left in the Units for Legal Property Relations, so that the first big wave is surmounted successfully, which is expected to take place in two years, when the Law on Denationalization is passed.

After that, the files will be collected in the Archive of Macedonia.

According to the information from the Archive, the files that will refer directly to the denationalization process have not been recorded in the Internal Affairs Ministry, but in courts. The data are not completed as much as the Archive finds it necessary and the additional documents will be difficult to find. Most of the documents are copies, as the originals are in the courts. After the first instance dossiers were checked, many second instance verdicts were discovered, which means these files were sent to the previous competent bodies of the Government.

The Departement for completing and preparing the files in the Archive of Macedonia has been working on these files since 1993. The documentation of the administrative and governmental bodies from the period 1918 - 1941 (during Serbian ruling in Macedonia) and 1944 - 1990 is being revised, and will be used in the forthcoming denationalization process. The dossiers from 1918 - 1941 are considered of second instance, but that documentation was mostly completed: the records referring to deeds on land, houses, sales contracts, etc. have been found. The record books, that have been re-recorded in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1962, are also in the Archive. All these documents will be important for many citizens who will have to prove that they are direct inheritors of their parents or other relatives, because they might have changed their surnames after they have married, or because they will need to prove that their parents were the owners of some property. Interesting data for the science have also been discovered, such as those of the organization of the Government, the establishing and work of schools, the economy development, the establishing of enterprises, etc.

The Archive has prepared special application forms for the citizens, which will be added to the dossiers. They refer to each compelling law, and their basic aim is to help the citizens to find the necessary documents, as well as to have exact records of the Archive dossiers issued. They stress in the Archive that some documents have no signature or seal, which means they are not official. In order to avoid their abusing, the Archive will issue copies, with special notes for the court that the original is not official.

It is obvious that there are much efforts in the Archive to be completely prepared for the situation after the Law on Denationalization is passed. That is probably why there is optimism that the citizens will not have to wait for more than a week for the documents they will need. They are now waiting for the Law, especially its content.

(end)

mils news 15 February 1996