First Donors' Conference for Kosovo
Brussels, July 28, 1999

Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Republic of Macedonia welcomes this First Donor's Conference for Kosovo, as a major concrete step of the broader international community to provide assistance for Kosovo. In parallel we see this as a part of wider process which, according to the commitments of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe, notably those for economic development and cooperation, should provide, apart of the urgent humanitarian and reconstruction needs of Kosovo, a long-term economic development of the whole Region, thus contributing for integration of the countries of South East Europe into Euro-Atlantic structures.

At this conference, the Republic of Macedonia is in a specific situation. On one side, our interest is to see rapid launching of the reconstruction of Kosovo and the Region and achieving concrete results. On the other side, as one of the most affected countries by the Kosovo crises we are particularly interested to find our place and to play active role in this process.

From the very beginning of the crises, the Republic of Macedonia continuously supported all activities of the international community, showing full solidarity with its efforts to bring the crises towards its end. We provided shelter and humanitarian assistance for around 360.000 refugees or 18% of our total population which has been huge burden for our economy. The international community has provided significant assistance, but the largest burden fell on our limited budget resources.

We also suffered direct and indirect damage to the economy exceeding 600 mil. USD.

It is evident that neither Kosovo, neither the other affected countries cannot overcome this situation alone. The Region needs assistance and, apart of this Donors' Conference, the Stability Pact for South-East Europe should be an adequate framework where the international community can engage itself in this direction. We warmly embraced it and we are looking forward to see its first results, particularly in the implementation of its economic commitments.

We are aware that a great part of responsibility lies on ourselves, countries from the Region. The momentum is created and we together should take advantage of it, as it was the case with the two recent trilateral ministerial meetings, one between Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Greece, and the other between Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria, where concrete joint proposals for regional projects which will have positive impact on Kosovo itself, were born. Some of them are already presented to the European Commission and we expect that they will be adequately supported.

Concerning the present, urgent reconstruction and humanitarian needs, the Republic of Macedonia expects, with the support of the main donors, to be actively involved, especially its construction sector and the agro-industry, in fulfilling some of the tasks. Assisting Kosovo, the international community has a chance in a very concrete manner to assist the other countries in the Region.

As it was the case during the crises, the Republic of Macedonia will be again very closely connected to Kosovo - this time in its reconstruction. Given the need for facilitation of circulation of people, equipment and goods between the Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo, one of the first priorities should be the modernisation and extension of the Blace border crossing, on both sides, which at the present is bottleneck, and later the construction of the Skopje-Pristina highway as project of high regional importance. The urgent realisation of those priorities may determine the dynamic of the realisation of the other reconstruction tasks.

Mr. Chairman,

Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia and the other countries from the Region are expecting understanding and positive response from the international community. We are convinced that the fixture of the region lies in its full integration in Europe, as the best way in eliminating all likely reasons for new conflicts and generating economic prosperity and self-sustainable growth.

Thank you.