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MILS NEWS 96-10-22Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopjie, 22 October, 1996[01] BILL CLINTON - US CONTINUE TO SEEK A SOLUTION FOR GREEK-MACEDONIAN CONFLICTThe US will continue to work towards obtaining a permanent solution to the unresolved issues between Athens and Skopje... this - according to 'Makfax' - were the words of US president Bill Clinton during one of his election campaign speeches, this one being addressed to the Greek lobby. On this occasion he also mentioned the existing negotiations under UN patronage. President Clinton furthermore dwelled on the Cyprus issue and the relations between Athens and Ankara.[02] RENEWAL OF CONTACTS WITH WESTERN AUSTRALIAThe Aide to the Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jordan Veselinov, has been received by Paul O' Mauden - head of the Western Australian Committee on Multicult. and Ethnical Affairs - in Perth. According to official sources both discussed the collaboration between their governments, and assessed that relations should be fortified - particularly on an economic level. The host also gladly accepted an invitation forwarded by Veselinov to visit Macedonia, whereas the latter afterwards met several executive board members of Macedonian immigrants' associations.[03] LEADING IMF DELEGATION IN SKOPJEA leading IMF delegation is staying in Skopje since yesterday in order to discuss possibilities of granting the ESAF loan (designed for fundamental restructuring procedures). The precise amount of the credit has not been discussed yet, although 'Veccer' claims that it will vary between 30 and 35 million $. The ESAF credit would represent the third arrangement between the IMF and Macedonia, besides the STF and the Stand-by arrangement.[04] LOGISTIC COMPONENT OF 'SAVIOUR '96' MANOUVRE STARTED IN OHRIDThe Past day was marked by the commencement of the logistic component of 'Saviour '96', which is part of the 'Partnership for Peace' programme. Participants come from: the USA, Italy, Turkey and Greece as NATO member-states; Macedonia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania as countries incl. in the above mentioned programme and Hungary, the Czech Republ. and Poland with observer status.These exercises are of humanitarian character and in particular concerned with the action of multinational forces throughout the aftermath of natural disaters - esp. such during which damage has been inflicted to chemical plants. Assistance rendered by multinational forces in such cases is based on the doctrine of civil planning in states of emergency implemented by the US and NATO. Manouvres will last till Friday this week and will be closed by Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski. The follow-up to this event , 'Savior '97' , will again be hosted by Macedonia throughout the 1st half of 1997, and it will also consist of field work. As A-1 TV reported up to now this has been the first international event of this kind in Macedonia who has been an observer 9 times prior to this, and has actively participated in an exercise of this sort once. [05] SKOPJE TO HOST COEXISTENCE CONFERENCEThe project on stability and coexistence in SE Europe - initiated by France after the Raymond (Paris) convention last year - has gained the support of the 30 nations from Europe and the US attending yesterday's session in Athens. Referring to Greek-Macedonian relations the Greek delegate Kypreos said (as 'Makpress' reports) that Greece has been one of the first countries to make a series of major investments in Macedonia, as well as that 'Athens is ready to support the European aspirations and orientation of its northern neighbour ... the resolving of the name issue will only strengthen economic cooperation and create a permanent partnership between both countries'.Underlining that it is of interest to Macedonia to further all kinds of closer collaboration, stability and coexistence the Mac. representative Jordan Panov stressed that there remained several unattended issues concerning national minorities - which are a burning issue in nearly every Balkan state. For that purpose the Central European Minority Initiative would hold its next session in Macedonia during this December. The Mac. delegation also also proposed that the following Conference on Stability and Coexistence in SE Europe be hosted by our country - which was accepted by all participants - acc. to 'Makpress'. The final decision though, will have to be made by the Secretariat in France. [06] PROVISIONAL AGREEMENTS ON LIBERALIZATION OF TRADE WITH ALBANIA AND BULGARIADuring yesterday's session the Macedonian government has brought on decisions regarding the following matters:an expert team is to be formed in order to analyse and subsequently compile new drafts of agreements which would liberalize trade with AL and BG. This would be part of Macedonia's economic strategy to emerge on an international market with as few barriers as possible, according to official sources. This more liberal concept of cooperation is to be offered to all neighbouring states, and countries in the wider region. the government also accepted the motion to pass a Bill on Closing, Ratifying and Implementing Internat. Agreements; this act of law would also codify: procedures and negotiation modes, implementation and the closing, ratification and execution of such agreements by the President, the government or the parliament the feasibility study on the electricity plant 'Chebren' compiled by the Austrian 'AST' was presented to the government the government also sanctioned the establishing of an inter-ministerial expert committee which is to study the obtained data and to provide necessary legal and material criteria in order to initiate an internat. bidding of possible contractors for this project [07] MACEDONIAN STOCK EXCHANGE MEMBER OF EURO-ASIAN FEDERATIONThe Mac. Exchange of long-term stocks and bonds has been admitted as a fully-fledged member to the Euro-Asian Stock Exchange Federation according to 'Dnevnik'. The main tasks of this federation - seated in Istanbul - consists of representing the interests of its member-states (a total of total 20 exchanges of which 8 are European and 12 in Asia) within the World Stock Exchange Federation, the increasing of market homogeneity and the standardization of quotation and trading regulations.[08] MASS INOCULATION AGAINST POLIO HAS BEGUNThe Mac. Ministry of Health - in cooperation with the WHO and UNICEF started the extra-ordinal inoculation against polio yesterday. This vaccination programme will be compulsory for children between the age of 3 months and 18 yrs., as well as for persons who intend to visit Albania - and last approximately 20 days. It will be free of charge, and to that purpose the WHO and UNICEF have procured around 70 000 vaccinations. Based on data provided by the National Health Care Institute there have not been any cases of polio in Macedonia so far, so that this programme represents a preventive measure in order to contain the disease which has emerged in Albania. The first time this disease has ever been registered in Macedonia was 1960.[09] HOOF AND MOUTH DISEASE FINALLY OFF THE AGENDAAccording to a statement issued by the National Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Skopje and its surroundings are no longer contaminated, i.e. the quarantine introd. after the emergence of hoof and mouth disease towards the end of June this year has been suspended. The latter happened in the Veles region as early as August. The last case of a contaminated animal was registered on 17th July in Macedonia, and provided no new cases emerge in the future it will become possible - according to EU regulations - to lift the ban on meat exports one year after this proclamation.The balance sheet of this disease shows that 4 038 pieces of cattle have been slaughtered, as well as an insignificant amount of sheep and goats. 200 000 animals have been vaccinated. The financial dimensions of damages incurred by hoof and mouth disease are estimated to be around 5 million DM, whereas collateral damage will probably never adequately assessed - according to the Mac. Ministry of Health. [10] SEMINAR ON THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN MAINTAINING PEACE'We should not wait until a conflict erupts, until a catastrophic war is begun in order to fight for peace. There is not one religion which teaches its disciples to wage war. There is no greater force than love.' ... these are only some segments of the opening address made by the head of the Mac. Orthodox Church - the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia - the Reverend Mihail during the opening ceremony of the International Conference on the Role of Religion in Maintaining World Peace last Saturday in Kalishta (Struga).Those present were also welcomed by: Dr. Joakim Derbut (Bishop of the Skopje-Prizren Episcopality), Shakir Effendi Fathan (Islamic Relig. Community), Paul Anderson (US Consul) and Slave Nikolovski Katin (Vice-Chair of Government Commission on Relations to Relig. Associations). The conference was organised by the above mentioned organisations, as well as by the Evangelist-Methodist Church, and under the patronage of the head of the Mac. Orthodox Church. Throughout its duration of three days - according to 'Nova Makedonija' several lectures of representatives of all denominations had been delivered, and the conference also decided to set up a Committee of Permanent Interdenominational Interaction in Macedonia. The event was also attended by representatives of several European and American relig. associations. [11] DEBATE ON PRE-ELECTORAL MORATORIUM'Ethics and Law in Media Coverage' was the thematic focus of a three-day seminar organised by the Institute for International Relations in Stuttgart and the German Embassy in Skopje in Struga. According to domestic media main points of discussion were the rights and obligations of the media during elections, especially throughout the pre-electoral moratorium and the most recent legal regulations on local elections prohibiting the publication of opinion polls within a period of 15 days prior to elections. Several participants considered this an infringing upon the freedom of the press. Experiences from Germany revealed that this prohibition lasts 6 weeks in the FRG but only applies to radio and TV.MILS SUPPLEMENT[12] 'Some Return, Others Get Married'('Veccer', 21st October 1996)A characteristic trend has emerged throughout Macedonia at least during the last year: an increase in immigrations as opposed to emigrations - dominantly returns from the former Yugoslav republics, or marriages to citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. The percentage of immigrations is the highest since the 50s and the 70s - and its first organised registering after the census '71. There has been no organised monitoring of migration trends in this country, of a phenomenon rather emphatically present throughout the 50s when a large number of emigrations occurred. During the past five years (i.e. since our country obtained its independence), however, there has been a more systematic approach to this issue implemented by the National Institute of Statistics. The question, though, to be asked concerning this change affects the authenticity and reliability of this data gathered by the Statistical Institute via the Ministry of the Interior as a positive trend - since such figures mainly apply to immigrations from other ex-Yugoslav republics and adjoining states, whereas there are no information with respect to overseas emigration. The data available to the National Institute of Statistics implies an upward trend, i.e. the figure of immigrations almost triples that of emigrations (incl. those to remaining former Yugoslav republics). This 'return trend' of Macedonians into their state has been typical of the period following 1991 when very often entire families would seek shelter in their fatherland - fleeing the turmoils of war in Bosnia-Hercegowina and Croatia. The best proof for this - according to the Assistant-Director of the National Institute of Statistics, Mr. Doncho Gerasimovski - are the following figures: last year 1 128 citizens, mainly Macedonian citizens who lived in the remaining ex-Yugoslav republics (now new independent states), moved into the Republic of Macedonia from other countries. Of these 531 originate from rest-Yugoslavia, 269 from Croatia, 234 from Bosnia- Hercegowina and 68 from Slovenia. The remaining 26 originate from other countries than the above mentioned. The same time span is marked by the emigration of 359 people as follows: 334 moved to Yugoslavia, 14 to Croatia, 4 to Slovenia, 3 to Bosnia-Hercegowina and 4 to other countries. There are no official records regarding overseas emigrations - or those to EU member-states. In practice this means that nobody is monitoring emigrations into remote 'promised lands' such as New Zealand, Australia, etc. Another interesting twist is added to this story by foreign citizens moving to Macedonia due to professional obligations. According to data obtained by the Ministry of the Interior, the National Institute of Statistics claims that 960 persons fall within this category - of which 511 are citizens of Yugoslavia, 93 of Bosnia-Hercegowina and 30 of Russia. Another interesting fact is that 150 among them are citizens of the Republic of Albania - predominantly women up to the age of 30 who obtained their citizenship due to marriages to Macedonians. Migrations, as Mr. Gerasimovski, indicates are mainly marked by their periodical intensity - beginning with the mass emigrations of the 50s and 70s until the most recent instances. The first records practically date back to the 1971 census, when 56 500 'Gastarbeiter' had been registered. During the '81 census an increase of this figure to 160 000. This periodical culmination of intensity -whether one is willing to admit it or not - is present even nowadays... even in spite of the fact that the Ministry of the Interior is keeping some sort of records, which has become necessary because of the fact that some leave the country permanently by (ab)using a tourist visa in order to make a living abroad. The necessity of conducting a more organised type of migration policy also imposes itself because of the 'brain-drainage' phenomenon (the emigration of highly-qualified experts). After all, it may be conducive to a decrease of permanent emigrations - as it would certainly soften the blow doled out to the population policy of this country. (end)mils news 22 October, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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