The UN General Assembly confirmed, with a Resolution, the validity of the Agreement for Extension and Description of the state border, which was signed between the Republic of Macedonia and the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 23 February year 2001.
Negation of the existence of minorities can sometimes be an ally to the confirmation of the existence of the same, Macedonian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Shpresa Jusufi said yesterday. This is the Foreign Ministry's response to Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis's claims that there is no Macedonian minority in Greece and Bulgarian Ambassador to Macedonia Miho Mihov's statement that the EU is the only one that can ask Bulgaria whether the Macedonians have the right to run at elections with their own parties in Bulgaria now that the country is on the threshold of the EU.
With 71 votes for, 12 abstentions, and no votes against, the Macedonian Assembly ratified the Law for the Police. The parliamentary group of the BDI-PPD coalition did not attend the voting.
We asked Germany for support: if we make progress - and I am firmly convinced that we will make progress - we want this progress to result in progress in the EU. Such progress in the EU will give us a lot of strength and energy to continue with the progress at home. I think that the president received this message very seriously. This was Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's statement following his meeting with German President Horst Köhler in Berlin on Friday, at which they discussed the economic cooperation between Macedonia and Germany and the reforms that the new Macedonian Government will implement.
•Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski meets with German President Horst Köhler and Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber during his one-day official visit to Germany.
NATO wants to see Macedonia in its ranks, but it believes that we have still not fulfilled the obligations that are expected of us. This is the message that Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki received during his two-day visit to Brussels, where he met with the ambassadors of the biggest member countries of this organization in the NATO Head Office.
The Corridor 8, the AMBO pipeline and the Bunardzik free economic zone were the major projects presented Tuesday to the Croatian businessmen at the business forum in the Economic Chamber of Macedonia. The managements of 44 Croatian companies were informed on the potentials of these regional projects.
•Deputy Prime Minister Gabriela Konevska-Trajkovska presents draft strategy for informing and communicating with public on integration of Macedonia in EU for year 2006-2007.
"EU unification is a millenium project in which the Southeastern European countries must be included if we do not want our citizens to be isolated," Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in his address before the Macedonian Parliament.Mesic is on a two-day official visit to Skopje.
The United States supports Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations and, as friends, we share common values. The United States supported and it will continue to support Macedonia in its efforts to implement the reforms necessary for it to become a member of the Euro-Atlantic community. This is the message with which Rosemary A. DiCarlo, deputy assistant secretary in the US Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, arrived in Skopje yesterday.
The Government assessed at its session on Saturday the National Strategy for harmonization of the domestic legislation with the European legislation and it established the dynamics of the process for integration into the European Union.
The US Administration promised to commit itself to ensuring that year 2008 is a year of enlargement of NATO. Macedonia, Croatia, and Albania's chances for entry in NATO are equal, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Shpresa Jusufi told Radio Free Europe yesterday.
Erhard Busek, Stability Pact special coordinator for Southeastern Europe, will be an advisor to the Macedonian Government for the reforms needed for achieving the European standards and for foreign policy, "Dnevnik" reports.
This was agreed at yesterday's meeting between Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Erhard Busek, which was held in the building of the Macedonian Government.
Macedonia has full support from Germany. If German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany were the ones that made the decisions in the EU, we would have progressed much quicker than we expected, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski assessed at the end of his official visit to Berlin. That which Gruevski heard from Merkel instilled bigger optimism in him as regards achievement of the objectives: membership in NATO in year 2009 and membership in the EU in year 2013.
Germany is prepared to help Macedonia secure a stable and good future. The more results you show, the bigger our support will be. This was German Chancellor Angela Merkel's message yesterday prior to her meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. But she did not say anything as regards Macedonia's expectations for a date for start of the negotiations for membership.
•Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
•President Branko Crvenkovski attends Summit of Southeastern European countries on fight against organized crime and terrorism in Karadjordjevo, Serbia.
Macedonia expects support for integration into NATO and the EU, as well as a realistic assessment of that which it has achieved so far. This is the message that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will convey during his visit to Berlin. Gruevski and Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki will present these expectations to German Chancellor Angela Merkel today.
The revised Budget that the Government adopted and submitted for consideration to the Assembly lays stress on agriculture, education, and social affairs. Revenues in the revised Budget are higher by 5.8 billion denars, while expenditures are higher by 6.5 billion denars. Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski said that this increase is a result of the inadequate planning of the funds and the inadequate distribution of revenues and expenditures in the Budget.
The European Union Mission in Skopje announced today that it welcomes the Government's efforts to investigate the recent appointment of a new acting rector of the Tetovo State University.
The Government gave its go-ahead to the supplemental budget 2006 in which revenues are projected at 75.244 billion denars and expenditures at 76.253 billion denars with a deficit of 0.6 percent of GDP as agreed upon with the IMF.
