UMDiaspora met with the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Republic of Macedonia, Her Honorable Gillian Milovanovic to discuss the economic, education and health situation in the Republic.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – United Macedonian Diaspora representatives Hristina Bojadzieva, Metodija Koloski and Marina Veljanovska met with the newly appointed United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Macedonia, Ambassador Gillian Arlette Milovanovic, upon invitation of Mr. Paul Pfeuffer, the Macedonia Desk Officer at the State Department. The representatives congratulated Ms. Milovanovic on her first appointment as Ambassador.
During the meeting, the UMDiaspora representatives briefed the Ambassador on various points of concern, particularly in the fields of religious freedom, educational reform, health reform, and socio-economic development and investments in Macedonia. UMDiaspora representatives expressed their alignment with State Department policy supporting religious freedom; however, on the subject of the defrocked Macedonian Orthodox Bishop, Zoran Vranishkovski, the representatives articulated great concern regarding foreign interference in the Macedonian internal judicial affairs.
With respect to the discussion points, the representatives asked the Ambassador to look into the educational, health and economic problems facing Macedonian families. More specifically, the issues discussed were those of unavailability of free books to students in public schools, which prevents many children from being educated to their full potential; the scarcity of adequate medication for the exponentially growing population suffering from cancer; the U.S. assistance with expanding Macedonian trade and investments in Macedonia; the potential utilization of a cheap skilled labor force in the country; and the long-standing concern as to Anti-trust matters relating to Macedonian telecom services and pricing, which pose a significant threat to the free flow of information to low to middle income families.
UMDiaspora is confident that Her Honorable will continue developing the strong political and socio-economic relationship between the U.S.A. and Macedonia. In addition, UMDiaspora expressed its commitment to assisting her in this noble task, and its enthusiasm for a rich and fruitful collaboration. The United Macedonian Diaspora wishes Ambassador Milovanovic great success in her endeavors.
For more information about United Macedonian Diaspora the public is invited to contact the D.C. office at (202) 294-3400, or e-mail at info@umdiaspora.org