ADDRESS OF FOREIGN MINISTER SLOBODAN CASULE

AT THE MEETING OF CEI FOREIGN MINISTERS

OHRID, 26 JUNE 2002

Dear Colleagues,

Let me begin by expressing my great pleasure that this year the Republic of Macedonia presides the Central European Initiative (CEI) and that we are organizing our meeting in Ohrid, one of the oldest European cultural centers.

CEI was established to facilitate the European integration of the European countries that, due to different reasons, were not in position to take part in the unification of the continent form the very start. This oldest regional European organization today is also the most numerous one; its success is manifested through the increased number of its members and through the constancy of its objectives. Our first priority was and is coming closer to the EU.

The situation in the Region today gives us the right to be optimists - there are no open clashes, there are no crucial open issues, and all countries from the region are represented at this table.

For the Republic of Macedonia this was a difficult year. Thanks to the democratic forces in our country, the full support of the Macedonian citizens, and certainly the active support of the international community, we succeeded in overcoming the most dangerous crisis we faced since our independence, and we succeeded in getting our country back on the right track of realizing the key tasks on our Agenda - continuing the process od transition, strenthening democracy, the rule of law and full integration into the European and the Euro-Atlantic structures.

As for the political situation in our immediate neighborhood, we welcome the agreement on the re-arrangement of the mutual relations between Serbia and Montenegro. The agreement is all the more significant because it is the expressed will of the two republics, in the interest of stabilizing their mutual relations. This agreement, supported also by the international community, has taken off the Agenda yet another burdensome issue for the Region, and as such is a step forward to fully normalizing the political and security conditions in it. Furthermore, we anticipate that in the re-arranged community, it will also be possible to find functional solutions for issues relating to the full and consistent implementation and follow up of the UN SC Resolution 1244.

With regard to Kosovo, we welcome and support all efforts for building a functional and truly democratic multiethnic society. We fully support UN SC Resolution 1244 and the efforts of the UNMIK and KFOR missions in stabilizing the situation in this province.

In this context, I will reiterate our strong and resolute rejection of all attempts, regardless of their origin, to question the Agreement on Demarcation and Delineation of the Macedonian-Yugoslav border, concluded between two sovereign countries - member of the United Nations organization.

As for the development in the broader CEI Region, I would like to welcome and encourage the integration process of our member countries into the broader European family, to congratulate the representative of Bosnia and Hercegovina on the membership of his country into the Council of Europe. I hope that I will be in position to extend these same congratulations to my Yugoslav colleague very soon as well.

Certainly, congratulations should be also extended to the countries that will become EU members in the near future. This will be a historical event for the European political stability and long-term economic progress. It will also mean a great deal for the future of CEI, which will have even more closely linked with the European center. This, in turn, will facilitate more focused efforts on the preparations for membership of the remaining countries from the CEI region. I would like to assure you that the Macedonian government is making speedy efforts both in term of legal harmonization and prioritizing economic objectives, in order to shorten the period necessary for our membership into the EU. The CEI, especially now when it is focused on making use of its advantages, above all in the field of economy and training, can accomplish a lot by proper coordination and guidance of existing potentials. This year's contacts with the international organizations are encouraging and give us the right to believe that regular and institutional links will be established both with EU, and with other international organizations. Let me take this opportunity to underline that for the Republic of Macedonia, as well as for many CEI member countries, one of the priorities of Euro and Euro-Atlantic integration is also membership in NATO.

One of the fundamental principles of uniting Europe is certainly solidarity. Some countries, above all the Republic of Macedonia, have paid in recent years a high price in order to prevent greater and more complex crisis situations. I am very pleased that CEI is among the organizations that were aware of the need to reorganize a solidarity action and have approved this year relatively extensive projects from the so-called CEI Italian Trust Fund of the EBRD: projects in critical fields - development of small and medium size enterprises and air traffic infrastructure.

I avail myself of this opportunity to convey to you my high appreciation for this decision of your countries and above all to express my thanks to Senator Antonione.

Ladies and Gentleman

The completion of the network of bilateral free trade agreements by the end of 2002, lifting barriers to private investment and improvement of the overall investment climate, are priorities for the Region and a prerequisite for enhanced European cohesion. We expect that cooperation on a regional level, in dealing with economic challenges and opportunities, and stronger commitments to reform and the rule of law will create visible and concrete benefits for the people in our region.

Cooperation in the field of energy based on commitments to build a regional energy market is very important. Involvement of local and private businesses outside the region can significantly help in reconstruction and implementation of regional infrastructural projects.

We fully support the network of businesses and local communities, by using the advantage of established cooperation within the Euro-regions and among local authorities, local chambers of commerce, and business associations.

There is an outstanding need to pay greater attention to the coordination of various regional initiatives (Stability Pact, CEI, SEECP, BSEC, SECI), as the best way for securing coherence of the activities and avoiding parallelism.

In addition to the aforementioned during this year of our Presidency, we also identified as a priority the need for increased activity in the field of media and culture. I am very pleased to tell you that many projects in these two fields have been defined and adopted; a successful high level meeting was organized in Belgrade in the field of media; and already our culture ministers are meeting in Skopje tomorrow. I believe that strengthening culture diversity in Europe is one of the keys for its strong unity.

In closing, before I give the floor to the first speaker on our topics of the day - regional cooperation; EU enlargement and the role of CEI, allow me to welcome our distinguished guests representaives of international organizations and institutions, as well as to give recognition to the successful work of the CEI Secretariat in organizing this meeting, and generally for its work during the course of this year.