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MILS NEWS 96-09-12Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 12 September, 1996[01] EFFORTS TO SOLVE BULGARIAN-MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE DISPUTE'Bulgarian Foreign Ministry can not agree with Macedonian President Gligorov's statement that Bulgaria is blocking the signing of bilateral agreements,' Spokesman of this Ministry Pantelej Karasimeonov had said yesterday in regular briefing the press. A-1 Television reported that Karasimeonov's statement was a reaction to the interview of President Gligorov for Bulgarian national television, made on the occasion of Macedonian Day of Independence.The Spokesman also stated that Bulgarian Vice Foreign Minister Ivan Hristov would come today in Skopje and would discuss possible solutions for the disputes between the two countries. He said Hristov was at the moment the highest official in the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, as Minister Pirinski was on a vacation, and his first deputy Irina Bolkova was nominated for a Vice President by the ruling Socialist Party. According to A-1 Television, the subject of talks in Skopje are expected to be five variants suggested by the Bulgarian party for overcoming the language problem and the preparations for the visit of Bulgarian Foreign Minister Pirinski to Macedonia this autumn. Citing diplomatic sources, A-1 Television reported that possibilities for a meeting between Macedonian and Bulgarian Prime Ministers, Crvenkovski and Videnov, will be talked about at today's meetings. Meanwhile, as today's issue of 'Dnevnik' daily reads, Bulgarian political party VMRO-SMD announced that they would mark the 100th anniversary of Vancho Mihajlov's birth, describing him as 'the last great leader of Bulgarians in Macedonia'. 'Makfax' agency reported that, according to the programme issued by the paper 'Demokracija', the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Arts would also participate in the celebrations. [02] MACEDONIA - ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF WEU ASSEMBLYIn the talks between the West European Union Assembly delegates and Macedonian politicians, the way in which Macedonia would be given a status of an associate member of this institution is expected to be discussed. According to Macedonian Radio, that might happen soon, as both parties are willing for it.At the moment, ten East and Central European countries are associate members of this Assembly, only one of which is a former Yugoslav republic - Slovenia. President of the West European Union Assembly Sir Dadley Smith had a meeting with Macedonian Parliament President Tito Petkovski yesterday, on which they positively estimated the cooperation so far, Macedonian Television reported. It was said that Macedonia had been participating in the annual conferences of this Assembly as an observer, but that its getting closer to the EU had created conditions for it to become an associate member. [03] MACEDONIA - CANDIDATE FOR UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERThe main task of Macedonian delegates at the 51st session of the UN General Assembly will be to promote its candidature for a member of the Assembly in 1998_99. This was concluded at yesterday's session of the Macedonian Government, Secretariat for Information announced, adding that the platform for the work of delegation, which would be led by President Gligorov, had been accepted. The Government concluded that Macedonian participation at the above mentioned session would be of a great importance for Macedonia and a chance for affirmation of its foreign policy.[04] SIMITIS: 'NEGOTIATIONS WITH 'SKOPJE' ARE CONTINUING''The negotiations on the name issue will go on until Cyrus Vance realizes that their continuation makes no sense,' Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis said at a press conference yesterday. As 'Makfax' reported, asked what will be his Government's policy regarding 'Skopje', Simitis replied that they had an established firm stand about it, and that there was 'an interim accord, according to which we are developing our economic and other connections'. He informed the press that New York talks had reached such a point at one moment, that Vance gave up his mediation and called on the two parties to continue them by themselves. However, he later changed his opinion.[05] COOPERATION BETWEEN MACEDONIAN AND GREEK TRADE UNIONSRepresentatives of the Macedonian Independent Trade Union paid a two days-visit to Athens and met with representatives of the Greek Conference of Workers, which includes 80 branch trade unions. Macedonian Television reported that they had agreed to continue the cooperation between the unions of public enterprises in the sphere of energy, telecommunications and transport.[06] SUPREME COMMANDER OF SWEDEN'S ARMED FORCES IN MACEDONIAThe Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces General Owe Wiktorin will visit the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in Macedonia from 15 to 17 September 1996, UNPREDEP Headquarters announced yesterday. During his visit General Wiktorin will have discussions with and be escorted by the Force Commander Brigadier-General Bo Wranker, and be briefed by the Commanders of UNPREDEP's United Sates and Nordic Battalions and by senior Headquarters military and civilian staff. The visit will also include field trips to United Nations observation posts.On 16 September, General Wiktorin will meet with Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski and the Chief of the General Staff Colonel General Trajche Krstevski. [07] BOOKS FOR MACEDONIAN AND GREEK MINORITIES IN ALBANIAEducation Ministry of Albania had approved significant funds for preparation and printing of books for education of children of the Macedonian and Greek minority, 'Makpress' agency reported an information of Radio Tirana. Prior to this decision, the Ministry had decided to open schools for these children.[08] INTRODUCTION OF ISO-STANDARDS IN MACEDONIAIn cooperation with the 'Know How' Fund of the British Government, Macedonian Economic Chamber had started the realization of the project 'Development of ISO 9,000' in Macedonia. The purpose will be accepting and introducing of this standard at Macedonian enterprises. 'Vecer' daily reads that for the time being 20 enterprises will be included (mainly exporting), and it is planned their situation to be recorded for two years and certificates to be issued to them for fulfilled ISO-standards, necessary for trading with the European and World markets.[09] NO WORKING CAPITAL IN THE AGRICULTUREPrimary agriculture production in Macedonia was carried out in extremely difficult conditions in 1995_96. The main limiting factor was the lack of working capital for maintenance of production. Unless effective protective measures are taken and crediting mechanism is activated, this economy branch will come to a dead end.This was said yesterday at the meeting of the Agriculture Association Executive Board of the Economic Chamber, Macedonian Radio reported. It was said that Macedonian agriculture had registered 12.3% bigger expenditure than income in the first six months of the last year, which resulted in late payments of regresses for the wheat, sugar beet, oil seeds, etc. The constant lack of working capital, new debts of agriculture enterprises and bad use of technical measures made this autumn sowing to be as uncertain as the last year one. It was pointed out that despite the fact that domestic wheat had still not been paid for, there have been requests for wheat import. Participants wanted to know what had happened with the request for 20,000 tons of corn to be imported for cattle breeding, why are the customs duties so high for the reproduction materials in agriculture, etc. [10] LAW ON TERRITORIAL DIVIDING DISCUSSED BY PARLIAMENTARIANSAt the 53rd session of the Parliament yesterday, Macedonian Minister for Justice Vlado Popovski described the Law on Territorial Dividing of Macedonia as a complex one, which involves many interests of Macedonian citizens. He underlined that the Government had taken into account ethnic interests while designing the Law, and that the main purpose for its passing was to harmonize the municipalities system with the Constitution and the Law on Local Self Government. Thus, a structure required by the legislation of the country would be established, i.e. the previous definition of a municipality as a political community would be abandoned.The new local self government will be directly connected with the interests of the citizens, with the need of civil engineering, public services, infrastructure, primary education, health care, social care, culture, sport, and everything else that refers to the life of citizens. The opposition remained on their stand that the territorial dividing proposed had been an issue of a political agreement in the governmental coalition. Liberal Party members mostly said that the first variant of the Law had been more acceptable, while the new one had provoked dissatisfaction both among Albanians and Macedonians, that science had been used too little and politics too much, that criteria used had been vague, and that the number of 120 municipalities is untenable. The parliamentary group of Liberals required, in the name branches of seven political parties from the western part of Macedonia (VMRO-DP, MAAK-Conservative Party, VMRO-DPMNE, Democratic Party, Social Democratic Alliance, Socialist Party and Liberal Party), either the Law not to be passed before additional discussions take place with the Government, or the previous version to be passed, as it respected expert criteria more than the new one. This request was, however, not accepted. PDP members stated that a compromise had been made while preparing the Law, and that there had been no bargaining, which why it was not necessary to create an image that 'somebody was selling and another was buying'. Socialist Party members also considered that political agreement had been made for the dividing of Macedonia, in which this party had not participated, and underlined that the basic concept of the Law must not be violated. Minister Popovski replied that non-argument critics had been presented, and that remarks that Macedonia would lose its sovereignty and would be federalized were groundless. He said the aim of such discussions was to create a white-black mood among the citizens. Popovski also stated that claims about 'sealing the dark future of Gostivar and Tetovo municipalities' were exaggerated. Macedonian Television reported that over 300 amendments had been submitted for the Law on Territorial Dividing yesterday. The discussion lasted till late last night, and should continue today. [11] REACTIONS TO THE DISCUSSION ON THE LAW ON TERRITORIAL DIVIDINGMacedonian Radio reported an nnouncement of Macedonian Socialist Party parliamentarian group, a coalition partner in the Government, that Minister Popovski had accepted most of the amendments they had submitted on the Law on Territorial Dividing. At the meeting of party representatives and the Minister, part of the amendments were not agreed on, but they would be presented to the Parliament and required to be accepted.The Civil-Liberal Party announced at a press conference yesterday that they would participate in the forthcoming local elections, about which they had already had talks with some parliamentarian and non-parliamentarian parties. They also stated that in the designing of the Law on Territorial Dividing basic standards had not been respected. Meanwhile, the Faculty of Architecture organized a press conference, informing that they had not been consulted for the creation of the Law on the City of Skopje, which proved that nobody cared for qualitative changes to take place in the capital city of Macedonia. According to A-1 Television, special attention had been paid to the spreading of the Centre municipality, as homogenization of contents within this territorial unit had not been respected. [12] WEAPONS AND MUNITION THIEVES ARRESTEDMacedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs informed the press yesterday that 6 half-automatic and one air rifles, two pistols, 28 shells, 1 kilo of explosive, 1 hand bomb, and 70 bullets had been confiscated by a police action. Other things found were seven radios, two public-address system amplifiers, and other technical goods. All of this had been found with three individuals from Bitola who had been stealing them from public institutions and enterprises. Charges had been already brought against these criminals.It was also reported that only in Skopje during the previous month, 2,700 boxes of cigarettes had been confiscated, 29 people had been arrested because of illegal trading with cigarettes, and against 16 of them charges had been brought. [13] SKOPJE AIRPORT RECONSTRUCTED SINCE 23 SEPTEMBERAccording to A-1 Television, the day before yesterday it was announced that the reconstruction of Skopje Airport would start on 19 September, and than yesterday it was re- scheduled for 23 September. A-1 TV also reported the information presented at a press conference yesterday, according to which the debts of Macedonian air transport companies for airport services had been re-programmed for two years. However, in case they would not submit bank guarantees for the debts, they would be 'landed'.[14] ASSOCIATION OF SERBS AND MONTENEGRINS EXPECTS QUICK REALIZATION OF AGREEMENTSThe Association of Serbs and Montenegrins in Macedonia is expecting quick realization of the basic agreement between Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia regarding the protection of their national rights in the country, as well as of those ofMacedonians in Yugoslavia. The Association also expects, as they said at a press conference yesterday, realization of the decisions for protection and maintenance of cultural monuments and historical heritage, as well as free choice of Church.MILS SUPPLEMENT[15] 'Will The Denar 'Loose Up'?'('Dnevnik', 11 September, 1996)'The stabilization of the Macedonian denar will continue, despite the issuing of the new bank notes' Vice Governor of the Macedonian National Bank Gligor Bishev stated for 'Dnevnik' not so long ago. He said the stability should contribute to the production growth, which would bring to opening of new jobs. And all that would rise the standard of living of Macedonian citizens. 'The stability of the denar will be a strategy for the individual development of the economy and we will firmly stick to it,' Bishev said. However, Finance Minister Taki Fiti made a surprising statement the day before yesterday: 'During the previous period we managed to stabilize the denar and to annul the inflation by standard measures of the restrictive monetary- credit policy. We are now in a situation to loosen it up, since its continuation might lead to negative tendencies in the economy.' 'Not a single denar will be put into circulation without covering. We had a 3.3% deflation in the first eight months, and the productivity had increased for 15%. Based on these facts, I claim that there was not and will be no inflation,' Bishev said. On the other hand, Vice Governor Tome Nenovski has a different opinion: 'I agree that a controlled annual inflation of 4-5% will enliven the economy. We de facto had such inflation in the previous period. For example, there was 4.1% inflation in the period from July 1995 to July 1996,' Nenovski said for 'Dnevnik'. How can these opposite statements be understood, especially that they are coming from institutions which should have an identical stand about this important issue of the national monetary policy? 'The current exchange rate of the denar is too highly estimated and de-stimulates the export,' a foreign banker told us, whose name has to remain a secret due to the nature of his statement. 'You should, first of all, devalue the denar. That will stimulate the export, as the entrepreneurs will gain more denars for foreign money earned abroad. On the other hand, it will de-stimulate the import, as importers will have to spend more denars for buying foreign currencies. That will reduce import transactions with foreign countries and the outflow of foreign money. It will enliven the production here and enable opening of new jobs.' The biggest Macedonian export companies have been requiring the denar to be devaluated for a long time. As they told us in 'Ohis', 'Alkaloid', 'Astibo' and other enterprises, the current exchange rate of the denar is an obstacle for each import agreement in advance. Unofficially, they ask for the ratio between the Macedonian denar and the German mark to be changed from 27:1 to 31_33:1, and to be stabilized at that value. Stands of some economic experts show that there are different opinions. 'A controlled annual inflation of 10% at the moment would be good for the economy. It would encourage the opening of an investment cycle in Macedonia. Only a controlled so-called productive inflation would stimulate the economy and bring back the realistic exchange rate of the denar, which is now over-estimated,' Trajko Slaveski, a Professor at the Faculty of Economy in Skopje, said. A number of statements made by competent experts these days are notifying the possibility for certain changes in the governmental monetary policy to take place. Finance Minister announced that the restrictive monetary policy will be gradually abandoned. Meanwhile, everything is going on as usual in the exchange offices. There is enough foreign money, and the owners do not believe in the possibility for inflation to take place. They are still most afraid of robbers. (end)mils news 12 September, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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