Dear Secretary General,
Dear colleagues,
We are looking at the end of a decade of wars in Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina and the latest in Kosovo which have shaken
the Balkans and the whole international community. The citizens of
my countries strongly wish for the new millennium to be a millennium
of peace, economic prosperity and democratic development.
The Republic of Macedonia from the very first day of its independence
(1991) has firmly supported its two strategic determinations of its
foreign and security policy: firstly, preparedness for co-operation
with its neighbours and secondly full integration in the Euro-Atlantic
structures. With its participation in the Partnership for Peace and
its clear efforts for a NATO membership we are determined to contribute
towards the reinforcement of the peace in the region of Southeast
Europe. In order to achieve these goals the Republic of Macedonia
constantly makes great efforts for the enhancement of the cooperation
with all the NATO and Partnership for Peace countries contributing
greatly during the Kosovo crisis. Until now we have actively participated
within the Multinational Peace Brigade Southeast Europe as well as
within the Emergencies Engineering Unit. At the same time we have
an extremely friendly relations with our neighbours Bulgaria, Greece,
Albania and Turkey. And we have signed free trade agreements and agreements
on military co-operation with a number of countries.
The International community had been ignoring for far too long the
sources of threats to the security in the Balkans which had been a
result of nationalistic and dictatorship policy of Milosevic. But
with the Kosovo crisis there has been a radical turn over in the assessments
and the actions of the international community, especially with the
involvement of NATO. My country was in the middle of all these developments.
During the Yugoslav War and the Kosovo crisis we made an active contribution
towards the successful resolving of this very dangerous conflict en
the Balkans. We have believed in the determination and the capabilities
of the international community and primarily NATO in finding ways
of putting an end to the Kosovo crisis. For that purpose we have provided
the NATO forces with a significant part of our military infrastructure:
barracks, training areas, airports, roads, etc. Together with the
NATO forces we have given the necessary humanitarian assistance to
380,000 refugees, by building nine big camps with the whole necessary
infrastructure, sanitary equipment, health care, educational and recreational
activities, etc. With the passing of the United Nations Resolution
1244 the process of intensive returning of the refugees from Macedonia
to Kosovo has started. But there are still about ten thousand remaining
refugees out of which about 7,500 are Gypsies and Serbs as new refuges.
This is a good opportunity to express my gratitude to NATO which in
the most difficult moments for the Republic of Macedonia has publicly
guaranteed the security and the territorial integrity of my country.
During the Kosovo crisis and the post-crisis period our security structures
have been faced with many border incidents, criminal and other gangs
activities from Albania and Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia. The reinforced
securing of the state border required engagement of additional forces
from the Military and the Police which have resulted in a intensive
spending of the defence budget.
The war in Yugoslavia imposed major damage on our economy due to
the blocked road, railway and air traffic and the interrupted trade
and economic communications with our partners throughout the world.
Investment and economic development have rapidly decreased due to
the increased risk of war in the whole region.
The Republic of Macedonia has presented its preparation plans for
NATO membership in its Membership Action plan as a reflection of our
aspirations for membership in the Alliance in near future. Comprehensive
preparations in policy, economy and defence area are ongoing in our
country. We have been working intensively on harmonisation of the
domestic legislative and the development of the state institutions
with NATO and European Union standards.
We have decided to restructure the armed forces into a small, mobile,
well-trained and well-equipped army capable of securing and defending
the state borders and ready to respond to the security challenges
in Southeast European region. Starting out from these goals, the army
peacetime formation has been reduced from the current 22.000 down
to 16.000 people and the wartime formation - from 120.000 down to
60.000 people. Armed forces will be restructured into Rapid Reaction
forces, Support Forces and Strategic forces with a new command structure
at all levels. In that context, we equip the army primarily from granted
assistance. In addition, the MPRI program has been successfully implemented
regarding training of our senior officers who are being educated in
military education institutions in western countries. The new model
for restructuring of the army will be completed by the restructuring
of the Ministry of Defence in accordance with NATO member countries.
We are convinced that the Stability Pact is the best vision for creating
conditions for democratisation, economic revitalisation and co-operation
in the region which are essential for providing permanent peace and
security. For that purpose, we have suggested a range of joint projects
with our neighbours and the implementation of these projects will
enable speeding up the economic development of the countries in the
region. In fact, these projects include construction of a road and
railway network, energetic projects, environment projects as well
as reconstruction of the border crossings. For implementation of those
objectives, we have suggested that international investment foundation
should be established from the donations as well as to apply privileged
investment criteria for funding projects within the Stability Pact.
At the beginning of the new millennium, Republic of Macedonia sees
NATO as the most important organisation for European security. Therefore,
we believe that it should remain open for all of the aspirants pursuing
membership and should enable rapid integration of these aspirants
in all of its structures. That process should be in line with the
expansion of the European Union and should not leave any possibility
for new divisions.
Thank you.
Footnote:
- Turkey recognises the Republic
of Macedonia with its constitutional name.
