Ademi: Macedonia diaspora should identify with the state instead of political parties


The government has decided to elevate the diaspora issue to an institutional level and the state should pay more attention to building confidence with the diaspora, Edmond Ademi, minister without portfolio responsible for the diaspora, said on Friday.

“We want the diaspora to identify with the state rather than with the political parties, which was the case in the past 20 years… We have realized that Macedonia in the past several years lacked a strategy for cooperation and relations with the diaspora, which wasn’t the case with the countries in the region and beyond. Thus, the government in late August 2017 had made a decision to set up a working group to draft a national strategy on cooperation with the diaspora,” Ademi said at the panel discussion on strengthening of the ties with the Macedonian diaspora.

The national strategy, he noted, is nearly finished and is expected to be reviewed by the government in June. The national strategy is based on four key pillars: political and administrative aspects; the diaspora and economic development; education, science and youth and cultural ties, cultural identity and cultural heritage.

Ademi mentioned that the government in late 2017 had passed an economic growth program envisaging both foreign investors and domestic investors, as well as those from the diaspora, to be able to exercise the same rights once they decided to invest in Macedonia.

Under a law on support of investments adopted recently, he said, investments from the diaspora are entitled to receive state support. They will get additional 10% support so as to motivate them to invest in their country.

The debate is organized in Skopje by the Center for Informative and Logistic Support of the Citizens ‘New Contact-Macedonia’. Its president Zlatko Nikolovski said they were aware that Macedonian expats would not return to their homeland. From their experience, he said the expats had a lot of complaints about administrative facilitation.

According to him, Macedonia has made a serious progress. In 2011, the diaspora for the first time got the chance to have its elected representatives in Parliament. They, however, could have done a lot more, Nikolovski noted.

Furthermore, the website www.diaspora.gov.mk has been launched, which posts activities and measures in the interest of the diaspora.