Tribune Excerpts

The following article appeared in the October 2006 Edition of the Macedonian Tribune

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Ambassador Milovanovic: US – Macedonian relations: we continue to build an ever-stronger partnership....continued from Page 1
The following remarks were delivered by The Honorable Gillian Milovanovic, US Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia, during the Delegates Meeting of the 85th annual MPO Convention, held over Labor Day weekend in Cleveland.

We will work with the government to help create economic conditions conducive to attracting the foreign and domestic investment necessary for creating and maintaining steady economic growth, growth that will produce jobs for Macedonia’s citizens and make Macedonia a more attractive candidate for NATO membership.

Largely complementary to Macedonia’s efforts to prepare for NATO membership have been its efforts to meet EU membership criteria. Having become an EU candidate country in 2005, Macedonia is moving steadily to meet the EU “acquis communautaire,” a comprehensive body of EU laws dealing with justice issues, telecommunications, external relations, customs regulations, and environmental matters, to name a few, that guide a candidate country’s progress toward membership.

We will work with the government to support its efforts to meet the EU conditions required for it to begin actual membership negotiations, hopefully in the foreseeable future.

An encouraging signal from the new government is its focus on economic growth and development, a top-priority goal for my embassy as well. With a stable macro-economic climate characterized by low inflation, a stable exchange rate and positive government debt ratings from international credit rating agencies, Macedonia should be poised for growth.

We will continue our activities aimed at making Macedonian businesses more competitive, providing some of the tools for Macedonia to compete globally in the information age, and helping to provide much needed liquidity in the financial system to give small and medium enterprises the capital they need to invest in streamlining and improving the efficiency of their operations.

We will continue to work on helping the government promote Macedonia as an attractive tourist destination. And we will press the government to effectively combat at all levels the corruption that chokes off economic growth by strangling business competitiveness.

As you may know, President Bush’s recognition of Macedonia’s constitutional name in November 2004 bolstered regional stability and resulted in a significant upswing in positive public sentiment toward the US among Macedonians. My overall impression is that most Macedonians, regardless of their ethnic origin, continue to view America favorably.

We will work hard to maintain the positive image of America in the minds of our Macedonian hosts, and we will encourage the government to continue efforts under the auspices of the UN to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute with Greece. In the meantime, we expect that Macedonia and Greece will continue to build mutually beneficial trade, cultural and tourism ties, and hope that Greek businesses will continue to be enthusiastic investors in the Macedonian economy.

This March, we broke ground for our new embassy compound on the Gradiste, across the Vardar River from our present location. Scheduled for completion in 2008, the new American Embassy will stand as a strong and visible symbol of the partnership between the US and the Republic of Macedonia. It will stand as a symbol of our friendship, and of the democratic values, we share. It will represent a major US investment in Macedonia and an expression of US confidence in thee long-term prospects for Macedonia as a stable, multi-ethnic and unitary state.

I can tell you as I conclude my first year in Skopie, that I am upbeat about Macedonia’s prospects. It is not too ambitious to hope that in the near future Macedonia will be not only an increasingly prosperous, democratic and secure country, but also a valued member of NATO, and a country well on its way toward becoming a member of the EU.

The US government, through my embassy and the various agencies that constitute my country team, stands ready to help Macedonia achieve those aspirations. And I hope that you will join us in that endeavor as members of the Macedonian diaspora community, and as Americans committed to helping bring stability and development to a very special country in the Western Balkans.