Indo-Macedonia Bilateral Relations

Despite the absence of resident Missions in each other’s capital, India and Macedonia have very cordial and friendly relations. In 2006, an Indian Businessman Mr. Lachman Das Mittal in New Delhi was appointed Honorary Consul General of Macedonia in India. In March 2008, the Macedonian Government announced its intention to open a Liaison Office in New Delhi by the middle of the year. The Government of India has also decided to open an Honorary Consulate in Macedonia to which the Government of Macedonia has given its concurrence. The opening of the Honorary Consulate of India in Macedonia is in the final stages.

India was one of the 40 co-sponsors of the Resolution in the UNGA for the admission of FYROM. Through an exchange of letters at the level of the Permanent Representatives of the two countries to the UN in New York, India established diplomatic and consular relations with FYROM on February 9, 1995.

  Important Bilateral Treaties and Agreements :

Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, signed in March 2008.

Agreement on Economic Cooperation, Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation, Agreement for Cultural Cooperation, Agreement in the field of Culture and Sports and Agreement for Cooperation in Customs matters are in various stages of processing.

  Bilateral Visits:

• A Macedonian delegation led by the Minister without Portfolio (in charge of Religious Affairs) Vlado Naumovski visited India to attend Mother Teresa’s funeral in 1997.
• Macedonian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Faud Hasanovic signed a Protocol on Foreign Office Consultation between Macedonian and Indian Foreign Ministries on February 11, 2004 in New Delhi. It was the first bilateral agreement between Macedonia and India.
• A Macedonian Foreign Ministry delegation comprising State Secretary Emil Kirijas and Ms. Bogatinova Kostovska Dzulija, State Counsellor visited India on April 6, 2005 and discussed bilateral issues with senior officials of the Ministry of External affairs of India.
• On September 22, 2005 along the sidelines of 60th UN General Assembly, Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva met with former Indian Foreign Minister Shri Natwar Singh. At the meeting with Mitreva said, “The Macedonian Government is focused on economic reforms, especially in the function of attracting foreign investments”. She added that that Macedonia is planning to open an Honorary Consulate in India soon. Former EAM Shri Natwar Singh said, “We welcome the country's progress, respect and support its efforts to fulfill the strategic objectives”.
• A three-member delegation comprising of one member each from Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Law led by Shri Dipak Kumar Singh, Deputy Secretary (Investment), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance held negotiations for finalization of Bilateral Investment Promotion & Protection Agreement (BIPPA) in Skopje on June 8. Later both sides initialized the BIPPA text at the expert level on June 9, 2006.
• Prof. Svetomir Skarik and Mrs. Olga Skarik from the Department of law of the University of Skopje, participated in the Conference on Peace, Non-Violence and Empowerment – Gandhian philosophy in the 21st century on January 29-30, 2007 in New Delhi organised on the occasion of the Satyagraha Centenary celebrations.
• A Macedonian sportsman Mr. Emil Ilik met with the Mayor of Kolkata Shri Bikash Bhattacharya on May 31, 2007 to hand him over the Mother Teresa Award for 2007 as well as a plaque by the Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia Ljibisha Georgievski.
• A three member delegation led by Shri K.C. Singh, AS(IO) including Ambassador Lal Dingliana and Shri V.Ashok, JS(CE) visited Macedonia in connection with the Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of India during July 16-17, 2007. The Macedonian side was led by H.E Mr. Igor Ilievski, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia. Bilateral issues of cooperation including strengthening of the cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and attracting investments from India to the Republic of Macedonia; possibilities for finalization of the legal framework and for signing economic agreements between the two countries; exchange of opinions on international and regional issues, including foreign-policy priorities and situation in the immediate neighbourhood of both countries were the subject of discussions. The delegation also called on H.E Mr. Ivo Ivanvoski, Minister of Information Society and discussed the promotion of cooperation in the field of information technologies.
• A well-known Indian poet Mr. K.N. Daruwalla attended the Struga Poetry Evenings that opened on August 23 in Struga, Macedonia. The Struga Poetry Evenings are among the Macedonian manifestations with longest tradition, since they are being organised since 1962. Over 4,000 poets, translators, essayists and literary critics from 95 countries visited Struga over the years.
• A four member Macedonian delegation headed by Mr. Vasko Grkov, Counsellor for Bilateral Relations with Non-European countries paid a visit to India during September 25-28, 2007. Mr. Grkov met with Mr. V.Ashok, Joint Secretary(CE) in the Ministry of External Affairs and discussed various issues concerning bilateral relations between the two countries. Mr. Grkov also met with Dr. Rahul Khullar, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce and with Mrs. Anita Kapur, Joint Secretary in the Department of Revenue, Central Board of Direct Taxes. During the visit, an Indo-Macedonian Friendship Group comprising of eminent persons was also constituted in India.
• A delegation comprising of 25 sports-persons and officials nominated by the Ministry of Defence of Macedonia participated in the 4th edition of the World Military Games held in Hyderabad, India from October 21, 2007.

  Commercial and Economic Relations :

Bilateral trade between the two countries does not speak volumes given the friendly and cordial relations between the two countries. In fact both countries are still trying to discover each other’s potential in respect of trade and economic relations. Macedonia has got the EU candidate status in December 2005. It is entitled to duty-free exports to EU member-countries and that Indian manufacturers/exporters, especially those who have already established presence of their products in EU member-countries, could establish their industrial units in Macedonia for exporting their end-products to EU member-countries.

In 2004, Arcelor-Mitttal took over the Macedonian company “Balkan Steel” and has also bought the state-owned shares, which amount at under 30% of the ownership structure.

   Indo - Macedonian Trade:

According to trade statistics released by the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce during the last five years (as per details below), there has been trade surplus in India’s favour:

  Major Indian Exports to Macedonia

Cotton fabrics, yarns, ready-made garments, oil seeds, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, machinery, chemicals, coffee. etc.

  Major Macedonian Exports to India :

Inorganic chemicals, aluminium waste, zinc waste and scrap, synthetic fibres, ferronickel, etc.

  Cooperation under ITEC and PCFD Programmes :

Macedonia nationals have been availing of ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation) scholarships to undergo training in various institutes of India under the ITEC program of MEA. In 2007-08, all the five allotted slots were utilized by Macedonian nationals.

Macedonian nationals have also been attending the Professional Courses for Foreign Diplomats (PCFD) organised by the Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi under MEA.

  Culture

A festival of Indian feature films was held in Skopje from May 30 to June 3, 2005 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Five classic Bengali films of Satyajit Ray viz. Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Ghare-Baire, Ganashatru and Agantuk were screened. The festival was organized by Museum of Contemporary Art while the cassettes in VHS format were sent by External Publicity Division.

There is a good potential for cultural exchanges between the two countries. The Mayor of Skopje, who had accompanied the Macedonian Minister without Portfolio to India to attend the funeral of Mother Teresa in 1998, after his return wrote to Mayor of Calcutta proposing twinning of Calcutta and Skopje.(Mother Teresa was born in Skopje and she lived there till the age of 18.) The proposal, which was welcomed by authorities in Calcutta, envisaged mutual visits of citizens of the two cities, exchange of sub-junior football teams, drama and music groups on reciprocal basis.

Shankar’s International Painting Competition is very famous in Skopje and Macedonian children participate regularly in this competition. There is scope for Indian poets to take part in the Struga Poetry Evening Festival which is held annually in the last week of August.

  Air-Links with India :

There are no direct air-links between any cities of India and Macedonia. However, the indirect air-connections are through Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest, Sofia etc.

  Contact Details of Honorary Consul of Macedonia in India :

Mr. Lachman Das Mittal
Chairman of International Tractors Ltd.
Sonalika House, 283, AGCR Enclave
Karkardooma
Delhi-1100092
Email : lachman@del12.vsnl
group@sonalika.com
Telephone : 011-22373785 / 22373789
Fax : 011-22379332