In his address, he underlined that "this year is a tenth anniversary of the marathon renewal. This is the way we pay our respect to the previous enthusiasts and marathon-swimming funs. They brought the glory to the Ohrid Marathon, to ancient Ohrid and its natural beauty that made us recognizable world wide."
"The sport and culture brings together people from different environment, social structure, religious or political believes, especially the young people, " Trajkovski said.
He estimated the Ohrid Marathon as "a perfect connection of the impossible and the accomplishable, thus being a special challenge for sportsmen."
Trajkovski expressed his wish for the Ohrid Marathon to continue its tradition in the future, because the individual world swimmers success is an affirmation for the host-country - the Republic of Macedonia.
VMRO-DPMNE - LP COALITION RALLY IN STRUGA.
MIA
Under the motto "With Head High - Macedonia for You", the coalition VMRO-DPMNE -the Liberal Party (LP) presented its candidates for the fifth election district at the rally in Strumica Saturday evening.
Slavica Sekulovska, popular businesswoman in this town and candidate for parliament member, referred to the numerous achievements of this coalition for the last four years in almost all spheres, particularly in regard with telecommunication and electric power-supply systems.
She also mentioned the realization of numerous infrastructure projects and the water supply system in Belica.
Sekulovska said she was particularly proud of the good interethnic relations in the Struga region, which were not disturbed during the last year crisis.
Minister of Culture Ganka Samoilovska - Cvetanova, candidate list carrier for the sixth election district, also addressed to citizens of Struga last night.
She said a journalist with an "independent" medium asked her whether VMRO-DPMNE was in lack of men -patriots, as the party elected a woman for list carrier in this district, which includes Tetovo, Gostivar and Debar.
"I am reminding, and continue to do so until our victory on September 15, that the VMRO-DPMNE men were those who defended Macedonia. Those men did not refer to the Macedonia's defenders as traitors, wishing to see them before the Hague Tribunal," Samiolovska-Cvetanova said.
Saying that in 1998 the citizens of Struga voted for the team that made numerous changes, Samoilovska-Cvetanova referred to the preservation of cultural and spiritual values in Macedonia. She called for citizens of Struga to cast their vote for the people that would grant them better and brighter future.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Slobodan Casule, candidate list carrier for the fifth election district, said that the traditional manifestation "Struga Poetry Evenings" brought the world to Macedonia, as well as Macedonia to the world.
"Struga is an example that Macedonia has always been the source of peace and culture, while wars have always been imposed to us from abroad. Here in Struga, the peace has shown that Macedonia is against war, but also that the country knows how to defend itself. The imposters were defeated, and it was possible because citizens were behind the fatherland army's front, " Casule said.
He mentioned that at the end of last year, some individuals were making plans for a new crisis in Macedonia, "but the Macedonian Government, along with Prime Minister Georgievski, did not allow a new war this spring. To the world, and all of those who make conspiracy against us, we have shown that we give no foot of our country," Casule said.
"It is a great pleasure to be candidate list carrier for which the region of Struga will vote," said Ljubco Georgievski, candidate list carrier for the fifth election district, adding that there are no better list carriers that the one of the coalition VMRO-DPMNE and LP, supported by the party New Democracy.
He said that the elections of September 15 were neither fateful nor historic, "because they will not determine whether Macedonia will be or not, as some say."
"The elections are very important as they will determine the future road of Macedonia," Georgievski said.
He pointed out that citizens of Macedonia could chose between two clearly defined polices, they have seen in effect - the policy of VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition partners, whish governed the country in the last four years, and the SDSM policy, which governed the country for 6,5 years and lost the power in 1998 in an euphoric manner.
"We cannot claim that, as a government, we have made no mistakes for the last four years. However, we ask you to make a comparison between our four and their 6,5 years. That comparison is the argument we want to present before the Macedonian public. We accept arguments and figures as challenge, but do not understand why out rivals run away from such challenge," Goergievski said.
In that respect, Georgievski underlined that the rivals of the VMRO-DPMNE and LP coalition avoided direct TV duels for open discussion on economy, security, culture or politics, because the results of reforms and changes that took place in the last four years were more than evident.
In the last four years, the Macedonian Government realized several thousand infrastructure projects, worth about Euro 250 million, carried out hundreds reforms, including an introduction of value-added tax, the payment system, the public administration, coordinating the Macedonian with the European legislation, Georgievski said. He also mentioned the budget surplus, denationalization process, restoring of the pension rate of 8% plus an increasing of new 6%, higher salaries to employees in the public administration, health care and education reforms, and subsides in the sphere of agriculture.
Referring to the future plans, Georgievski pointed out the new 160,000 jobs, GDP growth of 6%, poverty reduction form 20 to 10%, and above all reestablishing of the middle class - owners of small and medium companies and employees in the public administration - which present a foundation of the civil society.
"From multiethnic Struga I wish to send a clear message to all voters - Albanians, Turks, Macedonians, Muslims, Romas, Serbs and Vlahhs - to support this coalition, as they may answer to themselves what was the country like before the crisis in Tanusevci, whether the minorities were in lack of something in this country with this government, " Georgievski said. He reminded that in that period compliments arrived from everywhere, saying that Macedonia is a multiethnic country, which grants the largest minority rights.
Paprika Disease in Strumica = No Ajvar This Year.
Dnevnik - Reality Macedonia
A national disaster of epic proportions threatens Macedonia, uniting the less affluent masses belonging to various ethnic communities of this multicultural entity in joint pain and suffering. We accent that this calamity does not discriminate among the ethnic Macedonians, the ethnic Albanians, the ethnic Serbs, the ethnic Roma, the ethnic Turks, the ethnic Vlachs, the ethnic Boshnjaks and others.
Translated by FilipS
The disease of paprika brand named "kurtovska kapija," the main ingredient of ajvar [Macedonian "caviar," according to Zoze Murkovski's dictionary], will lead to its decimation this year. The farmers of Strumica region claim that there won't be any paprika to make Macedonia's favorite winter food.
"We had high hopes for the ajvar paprika after the watermelon catastrophe, but it will fail us too," claim the planters. No ajvar for Macedonians this winter, according to them.
The disease reigns supreme on over 70% of the two thousand hectares planted with paprika in Strumica region. Its symptoms include abnormal leaf growth, and miniscule fruits which fall off soon after sprouting.
Dr. Risto Vuchkov, the owner of the first agricultural counseling service in the country, claims that the complex disease has both virus and bacterial components.
"The heavy rains are the cause for the disease of this type of paprika. We had up to over 140 liters per square meter recently. Besides, the kurtovska kapija did not receive proper chemical treatment, and many farmers used low-quality seeds," says Dr. Vuchkov.
According to Aleksa Mihailov, the superintendent of the Regional Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture in Strumica, the heavy rains and over-irrigation caused the catastrophically low yield.
"Many a grower watered their fields before the rains came. When it actually poured, the disease of kurtovska kapija became inevitable. Besides, the farmers reduced the size of paprika fields in order to plant the ground with melons, which lead to its hyper production," claims Mihajlov.
(P.T.)
