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MILS NEWS 96-08-22
From: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>
CONTENTS
[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT PASSED EIGHT AGREEMENTS ON COOPERATION WITH MACEDONIA
[02] GOOD DEVELOPMENT OF MACEDONIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS
[03] SPECIFICS OF MACEDONIA IN TRANSITION PERIOD
[04] MACEDONIAN-ROMANIAN COOPERATION DISCUSSED
[05] TRADE UNIONS - GOVERNMENT MEETING
[06] CANONICAL VISIT TO AMERICAN-CANADIAN-MACEDONIAN ORTHODOX EPARCHY
[07] MACEDONIA WILL FACE AN EXPLOSION OF AIDS
[08] $46 MILLION NEEDED TO SAVE THE OHRID LAKE
[09] ALBANIAN PARTIES ARE CONSIDERING PARTICIPATION ON LOCAL ELECTIONS
[10] STRUGA POETRY EVENINGS ARE BEGINNING TODAY
[11] MACEDONIAN BASKETBALL CADETS WILL PROBABLY FIGHT FOR A MEDAL
[12] 'Government Strikes Back To Smugglers' ('Dnevnik', 22 August, 1996)
MILS NEWS
Skopje, 22 August, 1996
[01] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT PASSED EIGHT AGREEMENTS ON COOPERATION WITH MACEDONIA
According to A-1 Television, FR Yugoslav Government yesterday adopted eight
Draft Agreements on normalization and improvement of the economic
cooperation with the Republic of Macedonia. The documents refer to trade,
customs, investment protection, road and air transport, and veterinary and
plant protection. The official announcement of FRY Government said that
negotiations on mutual cooperation with Macedonia had been developing
positively, emphasizing that mutual cooperation was of a great importance
for further development of relations. Most of the Agreements are expected
to be accomplished at the beginning of September, when FRY Prime Minister
Radoje Kontic will pay an official visit to Macedonia, said the
announcement.
[02] GOOD DEVELOPMENT OF MACEDONIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS
At yesterday's meeting with US Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia
Christopher Hill, Macedonian Parliament President Tito Petkovski expressed
his satisfaction with the development of the bilateral relations, as well
as with the mutual understanding, which offers possibilities for a more
intensive cooperation especially in the field of economy and investments.
He informed the Ambassador about the political and economic situation in
Macedonia and about the work of the Parliament. Ambassador Hill yesterday
also met with Macedonian Minister of Justice Vlado Popovski.
[03] SPECIFICS OF MACEDONIA IN TRANSITION PERIOD
French Ambassador to Macedonia Jacques Huntzinger and Macedonia Vice Prime
Minister Jane Miljoski yesterday discussed the specifics of Macedonia in
the transition period, Macedonian Television reported. Miljoski underlined
that Macedonia was developing a political system and legislation that would
'make each European citizen feel like home'. He also stressed that by
conforming the Macedonian legislation with the European ones, Macedonia was
hoping to build a European Union 'within us, without waiting for somebody
else to bring it to us'.
[04] MACEDONIAN-ROMANIAN COOPERATION DISCUSSED
Preparations regarding 14 Agreements on direct cooperation between
Macedonia and Romania were the subject of yesterday's talks between
Macedonian Minister Vladimir Naumovski and Romanian Ambassador to Macedonia
Nikolae Nitzu. It was agreed the Agreements on economic cooperation
improvement to be given the priority.
[05] TRADE UNIONS - GOVERNMENT MEETING
Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski and President of Macedonian
Association of Trade Unions Zivko Tolevski yesterday talked on several
issues raised by the unions and on attempts for their solving, announced
Information Administration of the Trade Unions. Special attention was paid
to the economic problems, especially to the situation with the factories
'FAS 11 Oktomvri' in Skopje, 'Porcelanka' in Titov Veles, 'Silika' in
Gostivar, etc. Payment of pension and health care fees was one of the most
important issues, and was agreed to organize a meeting of all competent
subjects to look for a solution. The Initiative of Trade Unions Alliance to
establish an Economic-Welfare Council was adopted by the Government and the
Economic Chamber, and it is expected to be signed.
[06] CANONICAL VISIT TO AMERICAN-CANADIAN-MACEDONIAN ORTHODOX EPARCHY
Holy Synod of Macedonian Orthodox Church announced that Head of Macedonian
Church, Archbishop Mihail, would pay a visit to the
American-Canadian-Macedonian Eparchy. Archbishop Mihail will attend the
people's gathering, which will take place in Rochester from August 30 to
September 2, will dedicate the Macedonian orthodox church 'St. Clement of
Ohrid' in Avon, Ohio, USA, as well as the churches 'St.George of Kratovo'
in Detroit and 'St. Sunday' in Pickering, Canada. According to Macedonian
Radio, Archbishop Mihail will bless the foundations of new churches in the
eparchy, and will organize religious services. He is expected to have
meetings with Macedonian emigrants on the American continent.
[07] MACEDONIA WILL FACE AN EXPLOSION OF AIDS
In Macedonia, till the end of last year, 21 cases of people infected with
AIDS were recorded, of which 19 have already died. Another 19 HIV-positive
people were registered, of whom two have died, although it is not known
whether the reason for their death was AIDS. During this year, there have
been no new cases reported, but the information of WHO say that there are
about 500 HIV-positive cases in the country, while Macedonian Commission on
AIDS considers this number to be about 1,000.
According to 'Nova Makedonija', Commission President and National
Coordinator on AIDS, d-r Sotir Sotirovski said that Macedonia will be faced
with an outburst of this disease. He said Macedonia had been included in
the European chart with 0.6% diseased on 100,000 inhabitants at the
beginning, but that number had meanwhile increased to 1.2%. Analyses had
shown that there is a great reason to be worried, as the most numerous
infected people are heterosexuals. The alarmingly raising number of drug
addicts in Macedonia, 90% of which consume heroine, also must be taken into
account. Meanwhile, Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs informed the
press yesterday that three citizens, who were producing and dealing
marijuana, had been arrested.
[08] $46 MILLION NEEDED TO SAVE THE OHRID LAKE
'Nova Makedonija' daily reported that a team of experts from Biological
Institute in Ohrid was working on a project for protection and
revitalization of Ohrid Lake, together with experts from Albania and
Switzerland. The study involves a financial construction, which had been
required by the World Bank, and according to which $46 million will be
necessary to save the lake. The money should be divided between Macedonia
and Albania, but the approval of World Bank Board is still waited for. The
money would be used for finishing the construction of the main sewer, for
modernization of the filter station near Struga, and for establishing a
monitoring system, by which all changes would be permanently observed, as
well as for construction of a filter station in Podgradec, Albania. Of the
total 44 km of main sewer system in Macedonia, 22 km have been finished,
and the study includes the construction of a smaller part of the remaining
22 km. It is expected, according to 'Nova Makedonija', Macedonian
Government to participate in the construction of that system.
[09] ALBANIAN PARTIES ARE CONSIDERING PARTICIPATION ON LOCAL ELECTIONS
'The Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) has very serious objections to
the proposed Law on Territorial Dividing of Macedonia, which joined with
other problems might question the participation of the party on the
forthcoming local elections,' PDP Secretary and Minister of Labour and
Welfare Naser Ziberi stated for 'Dnevnik'. PDP might, however, accept to
participate in the elections, as there are information that 'some doubts
regarding the Law will be solved'. According to Ziberi, their doubts were a
result of still not defined regulations regarding the elections and
territorial dividing. He also said that his party will most probably appear
individually on the elections. Daily 'Dnevnik' read that, although there
were some doubts whether to appear on the elections in PDPA and NDP
parties, their participation is more certain. PDPA leader Menduh Tachi, as
'Nova Makedonija' reported, had said for BBC news in Albanian the
following: 'We will run the elections convinced in our victory, and if we
win, we will start institutional and political actions against the
political system of FYROM.'
[10] STRUGA POETRY EVENINGS ARE BEGINNING TODAY
Struga Poetry Evenings, on which over a hundred poets from about 40
countries and 70 from Macedonia are going to participate, will be opened
today. The opening will be traditionally marked with the poem 'T'ga za jug'
by Konstantin Miladinov. All poets will have a joint appearance at the
'Poet meridians'. This year's evening of modern poetry will be dedicated to
the Albanian poetry. The work of Macedonian poets Radovan Pavlovski and
Svetlana Hristova - Jocic will also be presented. This year's winner of the
'Golden Wreath' prize, Japanese poet Makoto Ooka, is going to present his
work on Saturday evening. Macedonian Radio reported that the subject of
this year's festival would be the subject 'The Eternal in Poetry and The
Poetical in Eternity'. Traditionally, the patron of Struga Poetry Evenings
is Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov.
[11] MACEDONIAN BASKETBALL CADETS WILL PROBABLY FIGHT FOR A MEDAL
In the qualifications for the European Cadet Championship in basketball,
Macedonian national team had won two games. They won Hungary with 92:58 and
Israel with 55:47. Thus, they have great chances to win one of the first
three places, which would lead them to the final matches. The tournament
of the A group, which is taking place in Skopje, was greeted yesterday by
the President of Basketball Union of Macedonia Zore Temelkovski and by
President of FIBA-European Zone, Ernesto Segura de Lunia.
[12] 'Government Strikes Back To Smugglers'
('Dnevnik', 22 August, 1996)
The recent order for a strict control of goods brought in the country,
which was issued by Macedonian Customs Administration, is only a beginning
of a much wider action for stamping out of smuggling. It will include the
Ministries of Internal Affairs and of Finances, as well as the market
inspections. Customs Administration General Manager Ilija Iljoski stated
for 'Dnevnik' that the action was planned to start at the beginning of
September. The Government passed a Decree on Sale of Luxury Tax Goods on
13 August. 'This is our strike back to the smugglers who reduce the
national budget for several million DM. We have realized that the figure is
close to DM 200 million a year,' stated Macedonian Vice Prime Minister
Ljube Trpevski for 'Nova Makedonija'. He denied the speculations that the
order was given only to frighten the customs officers and make them do
their work more properly. Only two days after the order was issued, the
number of people who are crossing the border had reduced significantly.
Duty free shops are selling almost nothing, while smugglers are adjusting
to the new situation. 'We have enough cigarettes to work another month or
two. Then, we will manage somehow. We have to feed our families,' told us
the smugglers on Bit Pazar. We were convinced that one should not doubt
their abilities to adjust after the very first round at Skopje bazaars.
There is no more 'free sale' of cigarettes there. The procedure is
different: a person approaches you and asks whether you want to buy
cigarettes; if you are interested, you pay for it, and he goes to the first
counter, under which the cigarettes are hidden, and brings them to you. It
looks like there are no cigarettes, and both re-sellers and buyers are
happy. The above mentioned Decree of the Government and order of the
Customs Administration should reduce the quantity of cigarettes illegally
brought in the country. But, are the re-sellers on the streets the only
generator of the chaos in the sale of cigarettes? 'It is most important
that things started to roll. Certainly, the customs can not put under
control the smuggling of cigarettes and other luxury goods. That is why the
Government is going to start a coordinate action in the fight against this.
As you already know, each person is entitled to bring in ten cigarette
packs, one liter of alcohol and a kilo of coffee. The term 'traveler' is
understood by the Law as a person who had crossed the border, which is
proved by a seal of the country which he_she had entered. Children are also
travelers, which is why they have the same rights as the adults,' said
Iljoski. This means that nobody should be surprised if, in case they have
managed to smuggle a greater quantity than allowed, they are stopped by a
team of Customs Administration and police officers to make another control
of the luggage. 'In case more goods than allowed are found in the vehicle,
they will be confiscated, and a customs officer will be reprimanded. In
case quite big quantity is discovered, the customs officer will be
considered responsible, too,' said Iljoski. The new point of the order was
the regime for refrigerator trucks. 'Our controls had showed that the
greatest part of cigarettes have been smuggled by these trucks. According
to current regulations, they are given a special status, as they transport
goods that can easily go bad. That is why they were passing the border
quickly and without a detail control. Therefore, the order emphasized these
trucks to be better controlled,' stressed Iljoski. 'The Government might
reduce the VAT on these goods in order to prevent raise of prices of
products submitted to luxury tax. That would be a preventive influence on
reducing the interest in illegal actions.
There have been discussions on introducing the so-called 'banderolas'
(wrapping strips, o.r.). Each consignee would be given as much strips as he
had paid for. The strips would be obligatory, which would make evidencing
much easier,' said Iljoski. Those who have been involved in smuggling
activities say that, however, the real smuggling was not made through
official border crossings. In context of that, Iljoski stated that what
was brought in illegally, but not through official border crossings was a
competence of border police units. That was the reason to plan a coordinate
action of more institutions. The order will be in force for at least three
months, when the first results should be known.
(end)
mils news 21 August, 1996
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