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MILS NEWS 96-10-02Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 02 October, 1996[01] FRY-MACEDONIAN AGREEMENTS APPLIED FROM 4 OCTOBER'The package of Agreements regarding the transport and customs regulations between FR Yugoslavia and Macedonia will come in force on 4 October,' Macedonian Minister for Transport and Connections Dimitar Buzlevski reported after the talks he had had with FR Yugoslav Vice prime Minister Nikola Shainovic in Belgrade. Buzlevski said that he and Shainovic had concluded that it was necessary to intensify and coordinate the cooperation, in order to overcome difficulties which bring to holdups at border crossings.According to Macedonian Television, another subject of discussion was reducing of payments for roads usage in both countries, as well as introducing of a mutual approach to the North-South corridor development, which Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece would present at the Pan- European Conference in Helsinki next year. [02] FRCHKOVSKI ON COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF MACEDONIA IN THE REGION'The relations between Macedonia and USA are excellent and there are no limitations for their future development,' American Deputy Secretary of State Talbot had said yesterday to Macedonian Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski during their meeting in Washington yesterday. A-1 Television reported that Talbot had positively evaluated the democratic processes development in Macedonia in all fields, saying that Macedonia had deserved to be fully supported by the US.Relations of Macedonia with the neighbouring countries were paid the greatest attention to, and Frchkovski informed the American official that Macedonia might be only country in the region which would be able to make free-trade agreements with all former Yugoslav republics, Bulgaria and Albania. He added that it was a comparative advantage of Macedonia at the moment which should be used. He pointed out the crossing of the East-West and North-South corridors on Macedonian territory as another advantage. [03] GREEK MEDIA ON RECENT GLIGOROV'S STATEMENTS'Makfax' agency reported that almost all Greek media had quoted the statements Macedonian President Gligorov made the day before yesterday about the future Greek-Macedonian relations. They had paid greatest attention to his suggestion for the Constitutional name of Macedonia to be used internationally and Greece to be given the right to address the country as it pleased, as well as to his statement that it would take a long time to calm down the national passions in Greece after the elections.Only the opposition paper 'Elefteros Tipos' had evaluated these statements as a new provocation. Left wing paper 'Elefterotipia' had read that it was characteristic for Gligorov to say that Macedonia should initiate meetings of ministers, other officials and entrepreneurs in order to improve the bilateral cooperation. Conservative 'Katimerini' paper, quoting Gligorov's saying that he was not expecting the open issues to be resolved soon, had informed its readers that 'FYROM had agreed recently to solve the problem with passports of its citizens born in Greece by replacing the name of their place of birth with the name of the country'. Meanwhile, according to 'Makfax', national Greek agency ANA reported yesterday that Macedonian and Greek delegations would meet at the UN Headquarters in New York at the end of this month to renew the talks on normalization of bilateral relations. 'Makfax' reported that this was the first time for this agency to avoid mentioning of the 'problem with the name of Macedonia'. [04] OFFICIAL AGREEMENT ON VISAS FOR MACEDONIANS BORN IN GREECE SOONMacedonian Television unofficially reported that Macedonia and Greece would announce in a few days the recently agreed on formula for allowing Macedonian citizens born in Greece to enter this country. As informed already, those Macedonian citizens who would agree with this would be issued passports in which the names of their birth places would be replaced by 'The Republic of Greece'. As alleged, this was the result of the efforts made by competent Ministries of both countries, and is considered a move forward in the establishing of mutual trust and good neighbourly relations.Today's issue of 'Vecer' daily reads that at yesterday's meeting of Macedonian Minister Gjorgji Naumovski with the Head of the Greek Liaison Office in Skopje Alexandros Mallias the idea for border cooperation was supported, and it was underlined that it was necessary for Greek bankers to pay a visit to Macedonia to be informed about the possibilities for opening affiliates in the country. [05] OSCE INTERESTED IN MONITORING THE LOCAL ELECTIONSMacedonian Parliament President Tito Petkovski yesterday had received the Head of the OSCE Mission to Macedonia Christian Faber-Rod and informed him of the results in the democratization of relations in the country and of the preparations for the local elections. Faber-Rod, according to the official announcement, had notified the interest of this international organization in monitoring the local elections in Macedonia on 17 November this year, following the established practice in European countries.[06] VISAS FOR ENTERING BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINAMacedonian Foreign Ministry was informed these days, via Macedonian Embassies in Ljubljana and Zagreb, that Foreign Affairs Ministry of Bosnia-Herzegovina had sent a 'vague' official announcement that Macedonian citizens will need visas to enter this country. According to 'Vecer', the announcement contained a list of countries whose citizens would not need visas to enter Bosnia-Herzegovina, which probably meant that all the others would need them. They consider in Macedonian Foreign Ministry that visas for Macedonian citizens were introduced due the fact that the two countries have still not signed a document by which Macedonian citizens would be exempted from this obligation.[07] BRITISH BUSINESS MISSION IN MACEDONIA NEXT MONTHRepresentatives of the British Trade Department, in cooperation with the London Economic Chamber, will pay a business visit to Macedonia next month, local media reported. Representatives of about 15 British firms will have talks with their Macedonian counterparts in Skopje about extending of the current cooperation and making contracts on new ones. The companies included would be those producing airport equipment, companies in the field of tobacco industry, and potential buyers of food products and alcohol beverages.[08] PROBLEMS DUE TO THE TIME CHANGESThe clocks in Macedonia were returned for one hour on 29 September at three o'clock in the morning, due to he winter season. However, local media reported that it had brought to a chaos in the air and rail transport in the country. The reason for that was said to be the time clash between Macedonia and the EU and other European countries, as the latter would make this change a month later, i.e. on 27 October, according to a decision of the Euro-Parliament.Time calculation in Macedonia is regulated by a Law and a Governmental decision, which read that the time is changed on the last Sunday in March or the first one in April for the summer season, and on the last Sunday in September, i.e. first Sunday in October for the winter season. This has been applied from 1982. [09] INFANTILE PARALYSES IN ALBANIA, GREECE AND KOSOVOMacedonian Television reported that, in the following days, Albania will start to carry out the immunization programme against the infantile paralyses virus, supported by the World Health Organization. This disease, which had spread among adults in Albania also, had already caused 12 deaths of the total number of 90 infected people. WHO announced recently that five new cases of infantile paralyses had appeared in Kosovo recently and three in Greece.Macedonian Government yesterday discussed the situation in Macedonia, regarding the vaccination that has been carried out, and suggested preventive measures to be taken for those people who are traveling to Albania. The Government was informed that there were no cases of infected people with infantile paralyses virus in Macedonia for the time being. [10] 140 PUPILS WITH SYMPTOMS OF BEING POISONEDOver 140 pupils of the primary school 'Abdilj Frasheri' in the village of Bogovinje near Tetovo were hospitalized at the Medical Centre in Tetovo, due to symptoms of poisoning with an unknown substance. The doctors said, according to the media, that all the children were out of a life danger, and that four of them had been transferred to Skopje, following the requests of their parents. Three pupils have been given an infusion, while the rest have been either under a treatment with 'Bedoxine' or relased to their homes.The same thing had happened last Thursday in the village of Pirok, when 50 children had been hospitalized and released three days later without any consequences on their health. Rumours spreading in Bogovinje say that the reasons for the poisoning might be food, aerosol, intended poisoning, etc. As for the case in Pirok, there were speculations that the reason had been a Slovenian air-freshener spray with an expired date of use. [11] SALARIES IN NON-PRODUCTION STILL HIGHER THAN IN PRODUCTIONMacedonian Statistics Institute announced that average Macedonian salary for July had been 8,631 denars. The average salary in production enterprises had been 8,865, while in non-production ones it had been 9,493 denars. The highest average salaries of 12,423 denars were received by those employed at companies dealing with financial-technical and other services. 21.4% of the employed had not received their salaries for July at all, 26.9% of them being employed in production firms, and 4.4% in non-production ones.[12] NEW GENERAL MANAGER OF 'KOMERCIJALNA' BANK APPOINTEDExecutive Board of the 'Komercijalna' Bank from Skopje yesterday appointed Hari Kostov (who was one of the four candidates) for a General manager of the Bank. He was a Vice Foreign Minister of Macedonia and a representative at the World Bank in Washington. Local media reported that the former General Manager Aleksandar Manevski had been released from duty at the same meeting.On the other hand, Macedonian Supreme Court yesterday annulled the decision of the Macedonian National Bank Council from 22 May, 1996, by which Manevski was banned to perform his duties as a General manager of 'Komercijalna' Bank. Thus, the case was returned to be re-examined by the National Bank. [13] STOJAN ANDOV DENIES THE CLAIMS OF 'DNEVNI TELEGRAF''I have not given any statement for the Belgrade paper 'Dnevni Telegraf',' Liberal Party leader Stojan Andov stated for A-1 Television, regarding the article published by this paper the day before yesterday, in which Andov's alleged statements were cited. 'Dnevni Telegraf' claimed that Andov had said that SDSM were keeping Frchkovski at his current position of a Foreign Minister because they were afraid that he might reveal certain unfavourable information of the assassination attempt on President Gligorov.In his statement for A-1 TV, Andov also said that he was never required to make a statement for this paper, and that he did not even know that the paper had its reporter in Skopje. He presented his opinion that the article was a part of the scenario for protecting Minister Frchkovski from his eventual releasing from duty. Saying that Frchkovski's releasing was a matter of SDSM in which did not want to be involved in, Andov said that his party's stand about Frchkovski's work was that 'he was incapable of it, and that he was degrading the international positions of Macedonia'. [14] POLITICAL PARTIES ABOUT PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL ELECTIONSMacedonian National Front announced yesterday, according to Macedonian Television, that they would not nominate their own candidates for mayors at forthcoming local elections, but would support those of SDSM. The Front is still negotiating about the candidates for municipal council members.Communist Party of Macedonia also announced yesterday that it would participate in the local elections, as the party had concluded that they fulfilled all conditions for that. VMRO-Fatherland Party Central Committee announced that they would not directly participate in the elections, but would support the opposition coalition. [15] 'SKOMESA '96' FAIR OPENED YESTERDAY'Skomesa '96' Fair, including the 37th international Fair of Tobacco and Machines, the 24th Agro-Industrial Fair and the 3rd International Exhibition of Wine and Spirits, was opened yesterday in Skopje. It will last four days, during which about 80 exhibitors from 10 countries will present their products.MILS SUPPLEMENT[16] 'The Great Return of Savers Has Began'('Vecer', 01 October, 1996)Some of the crucial characteristics of the modern and stable banking systems are the built up and worked out mechanisms and models for attracting free money which are at the disposal of citizens and other subjects. Our citizens, however, due to their unpleasant experiences, are still carefully considering the deposting of their money in commercial and savings banks and are still taking the risks of keeping them at home. Therefore, both banks and the state in general have been and will be faced with the problem of winning back the savers by creating the feeling that their deposits are secure. However, the first more significant results regarding this matter have taken place recently. 'Komercijalna' bank points out the total capital of the bank as a guarantee for the security of foreign currency savings. It supports that also with the fact that all foreign currency reserves are deposited on the bank accounts abroad. 'Komercijalna' bank has established corespondent relations with about 40 banks abroad and, in order to avoid a system risk, foreign currencies are deposited in different banks and in different currencies. At the moment, there are enough funds for the total savings of citizens to be paid at once. They say in this bank that it has contributed to an increasing daily income of cash in foreign currencies. The amount of $3,800,000 at the end of the last year has meanwhile increased to almost $6,6 million till August this year. The total funds of 'Stopanska' bank have also been increasing. Namely, the total amount of foreign and domestic currency savings, including the checking accounts, was $1,865 billion in December, 1995, but has raised to almost $2 billion till August, 1996. They say in the bank that they support the security of the deposits by the guarantee of the National Bank, by the total capital of the bank, and that they are planning to establish a Security Deposits Fund, which would be another kind of protection. The fact that savers have began to show interest in long term deposits proves that banks are regaining their confidence. About two thirds of foreign currency deposits are long term ones, as well as almost 80% of the denar accounts. Danica Bojchevska, the Director of Public Relations Department of 'Stopanska' bank, considers that one must take into account that citizens would have been much more interested in saving if they were not faced with the low standard of living, due to the low salaries and unemployment. 'Invest' bank authorities are also presenting some optimistic data. 'The confidence of savers is gradually regained as a result of the stability and security offered by this bank,' Liljana Doneva, the Head of the Public Relations Department of 'Invest' bank says. Foreign currency deposits in the period 1994-1996 have increased for 92%. This bank's branch offices have about 100 foreign and domestic currency savings registered, most of them being short term ones. Marija Marevska, the Head of Public Relations Department in 'Makedonska' bank, told us that at the moment the bank guarantees security of deposits with its total capital, and it is planned for it to be taken over by the Security Deposits Fund after it is established. This bank's total foreign currency savings have raised to about DM 4,5 million in August this year from the amount of DM 3,200,000 at the end of last year. Although most of these deposits are short term ones, the number of long term ones has increased lately. Regarding the denar deposits, 52% are with 12 months time of withdrawal, while 12% are short term ones. Data from 30 June, 1996 showed that total savings of citizens in domestic banks were 5,3 billion denars, 1 billion being foreign currency ones. It seems that, although slowly, the confidence of citizens in the banking system in Macedonia is being regained. (end)mils news 02 October, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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