Macedonia to Increase Cooperation With China: President Trajkovski

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 24, 2002

Macedonia to Increase Cooperation With China: President Trajkovski

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Macedonia and China will continue building friendly relations between their two countries and increase economic, political and cultural cooperation, said Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski in an interview with Xinhua.

Trajkovski is scheduled to visit China on April 25-29 at the invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

"The purpose of this first visit is to say 'thank you' for all the support China has given Macedonia," said Trajkovski, adding that China has stood by Macedonia and recognized the country as itis known by its constitutional name -- the Republic of Macedonia.

The president described the Sino-Macedonian relationship as "excellent" since the two countries re-established diplomatic relations last year.

"China is one of the most important players on the world scene today. I firmly believe that relations between our two countries will grow and prosper," Trajkovski said.

Regarding the actual situation in Macedonia, Trajkovski admitted that his country faced a grave crisis last year and the situation in some areas "is still difficult" even now, "But we do believe the most difficult times are behind us."

He said the security situation in most crisis areas has been improving, which creates better conditions for refugees to return to their homes.

Emphasizing that Macedonia is maintaining good bilateral relations with all four neighbors including Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia, Trajkovski stated that those relations werenot disrupted during the country's conflict last year.

He said Macedonia has signed free-trade agreements with all four countries and "it is time to think about developing closer economic relations among the countries in the Balkan region for the benefit of our people."

For the Balkan situation now and tomorrow, Trajkovski said the Balkan peninsula was a synonym of wars throughout history, and "unfortunately in the last decade, history has repeated itself."

Trajkovski hoped that China could keep on supporting Macedonia in its path towards a "brighter future."

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