A delegation of United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) members led by UMD Chairman Stojan Nikolov met with His Excellency Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, the President of the Republic of Macedonia yesterday at the United Nations (UN) on the sidelines of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). President Ivanov personally thanked the delegation for the organization’s important role in uniting the Macedonian Diaspora worldwide and helping Macedonia.
Topping the meeting’s agenda was the “name dispute” imposed by Greece, efforts to safeguard Macedonia’s constitutional and rightful name, rule of law, promoting Macedonian values of equality and peaceful co-existence prior to and during the Third World Conference on Dialogue Among Religions and Civilizations, which will take place in Ohrid in May 2013, as well as Macedonia’s EU and NATO membership aspirations.
“We greatly value the leadership President Ivanov has taken to represent our homeland Macedonia during this very important week, and appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with UMD to discuss ways how UMD and all Macedonians worldwide can contribute back to our homeland,” said UMD Chairman Stojan Nikolov.
UMD expressed encouragement to the President that the UN has placed the respect for rule of law as one of their top priorities. Given that this year’s UNGA urged recommitmentof the rule of law, UMD welcomed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s calls for UN member-states to accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which only 67 out of 193 UN member-states accept the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction.
“UMD is encouraged to see this development and hopes that Greece will honor their legal obligations as per the December 5, 2011 ICJ ruling in Macedonia vs. Greece,” said UMD Advisory Council Chair and Vice President Aleksandar Mitreski.
UMD President Metodija A. Koloski and UMD International Policy and Diplomacy Fellow Ana Donevska participated this week at the 12th Annual World Leadership Forum organized by the Foreign Policy Association and a high-level meeting on the importance of principled partnerships between states and faith-based communities co-sponsored by Morocco, Brazil, The Holy See, Kenya, Indonesia, Finland, and the United States. UMD met with numerous foreign dignitaries and strongly believes that its investment in engaging in high-level diplomacy yields valuable insights and productive outcomes in support of Macedonia.
You can watch and read President Ivanov’s speech before the UNGA on September 27th, by clicking HERE.