•Prime Minister Gruevski meets with mayors in headquarters of Union of Local Self-government Units.

•Prime Minister Gruevski participates in Central European Initiative Summit in Tirana.

The issue of demarcation of the border with Macedonia should be part of the package for resolving of the status of Kosovo. This is the official position of both Macedonia and UNMIK. The Kosovo authorities, who until now insisted on the border issue being discussed after Kosovo receives independence, now agree to the demarcation being "within the context of the status".

•Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany arrives on one-day official visit to Macedonia.

•Macedonian Army regiment for special operations promoted.

The EU parliamentarians will not let the dispute over the name become a condition for Macedonia's integration with the European Union, regardless of how much pressure official Athens exerts on this issue.

•Norwegian and Swedish Embassies, UN Office opened in Skopje.

•Prime Minister Gruevski pays official visit to Croatia.

•Foreign Minister Milososki meets with European Commissioner Olli Rehn in Brussels.

Dialogue with monologues. This was the opposition's assessment of the two-day debate in Mavrovo, which was attended by political party leaders and international community representatives. This round table was dedicated to the implementation of the Ohrid agreement, the country's Euro-Atlantic integration, and the differences between the Government and the opposition. The leaders of the two biggest Albanian parties in Macedonia, BDI's Ali Ahmeti and PDSH's Arben Xhaferi, did not attend the meeting.

•President Crvenkovski awards order of 8 September to French expert Robert Badinter on occasion of 15th anniversary of Macedonian Constitution.

•Minister Council of Southeastern European energy community holds conference in Skopje.

•Public Prosecution files charges against former National Bank Governor Ljube Trpeski for embezzlement of $60 million.

•European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potocnik arrives on two-day official visit to Skopje.

Macedonia has strategic importance on the Balkans and it is an esteemed friend of Turkey, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer told Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski yesterday. The Macedonian president, who is on his first official visit to Turkey, also received strong support from Sezer for Macedonia's membership in NATO. This support will be expressed clearly at the NATO Summit in Riga toward the end of this month, "Dnevnik" reports.

•President Branko Crvenkovski on three-day official visit to Turkey at invitation of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

•Skopje marks 62nd anniversary of its liberation.

•Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki meets with Slovak counterpart Jan Kubis in Slovakia.

•Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski talks about reforms in health sector in Skopje.

More than 500 members of five youth organizations protested on the streets of Skopje yesterday, demanding liberalization of the visa regime. They were joined by a few members of the Union of Young Forces of VMRO-DPMNE.

•Students and nongovernmental organizations hold peaceful protest in Skopje against Schengen visa regime.

•Macedonia and Great Britain sign agreement on avoiding double taxation.

•Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski participates in third Economic Forum in Vienna.

 
Radmila Sekerinska is the new leader of SDSM, while Goran Mincev is the new secretary general of the party. This is the result of the elections at the SDSM congress held in Skopje on Saturday.

The media speculate that this represents defeat of the wing of former party Chairman Vlado Buckovski and his candidate for secretary general Ljupco Jordanovski.

•Foreign Minister Milososki on official visit to Bulgaria.

•Southeastern European culture ministers hold conference on regional cooperation in Ohrid.

Interview with Antonio Milososki, Minister of Foreign Affairs with Macedonian Diplomatic Bulletin

"Considering all the parameters, including those that do not depend on us and our results, I believe that being given a date for start of membership negotiations in 2007 will truly be a success," Antonio Milososki, Minister of Foreign Affairs, says in his interview for the first issue of the new Macedonian Diplomatic Bulletin, reported verbatim by micnews.com.mk.

The Macedonian Diplomatic Bulletin is a publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promoting transparency of work.  

MDB: Minister Milososki, you have been holding this office for slightly over a month. What are your first impressions of the Ministry at Dame Gruev St. No. 6?

Milososki: I am getting the complete picture as I go.  Diplomacy implies an established system functional at all times and I am glad to conclude that this is the case with the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a Minister, I will certainly set the major guidelines in keeping with the Government's foreign policy. I also have new thoughts, initiatives and ideas and I would like that they prompt a positive reaction of motivation and creativity. In order to be successful, diplomacy needs stability coupled with new energy. I want to be the mainstay of that new energy and I have the impression that the experienced diplomats will work in the same spirit.

•State Anticorruption Commission holds third conference in Struga.

•Assembly continues debate on wiretapping bill.