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Monday.

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Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg planted a tree in the park in front of the National Palace of Culture on Monday at the opening of the traditional Week of the Forest. Lyulin Stamenov/Sofia Echo

NEGOTIATIONS ON DRAFT LAW ON CENSUS.
 
MIA
 
Justice Minister Ixhet Memeti and representatives of the political parties VMRO-DPMNE and PDP held a meeting Monday on a draft law on census.
 
Although regularly invited, representatives of the two other parties, signatories of the Framework Agreement-SDSM and DPA, did not attend the meting, Memeti said.
 
The meeting was focused on three issues: scheduling of the census, registration of persons, who have been out of the country over 12 months and usage of languages.
 
Representatives of VMRO-DPMNE and PDP agreed that the census should be carried out in fair and democratic atmosphere, suggesting that it should be scheduled for April 1-15, 2003.
 
Memeti considers that citizens, who are living abroad more than a year should not be included in the census, while representatives of VMRO-DPMNE say they should be registered but not included in the total number of citizens of Macedonia.
 
Various positions were presented at the meeting in regard to usage of languages. The Justice Ministry's suggestion says that the census should be carried out in Macedonian language and Cyrillic Alphabet in the whole country. It also foresees a possibility for usage of language, spoken by at least 20 percent of the population of Macedonia, in this case Albanian.
 
"The first registration form will be in Macedonian, the second in Albanian and the third in Macedonian and the languages of other communities in the country," Memeti said.
 
Trajko Veljanovski, Deputy Justice Minister and VMRO-DPMNE representative, says that the Macedonian language is the official one, so there may be no registration forms in Albanian language. It may only be used simultaneously with the Macedonian language.
 
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

OLYMPIAD 2004-CULTURAL PROGRAMME.
 
BTA
 
Sofia, April 1 (Penka Momchilova of BTA) - "New Balkans" is the motto of the Cultural Olympiad 2001-2004 in Greece, BTA learned from the Culture Ministry. The hosts' idea is to hold an Olympiad of the arts in the spirit of the ancient tradition when physical and spiritual accomplishment were put to the test at the games.
 
The Olympiad will culminate in 2004, when the Summer Olympic Games will be held. Events will be organized in population centres with cultural and historical monuments connected with the common past of the Balkans along the trail of the Olympic torch relay route. The route will be decided later on.
 
The forums of the various arts preceding the Olympic Games have already begun. They are concentrated in Northern Greece, which is more convenient to participants from the Balkan countries.
 
Two prominent Bulgarian poets who have won international acclaim and awards, Kiril Kadiiski and Georgi Konstantinov, participated in an Evening of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry in Thessaloniki on March 20.
 
Ivan Pavlov's "Fate as a Rat", the Bulgarian contender for an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category, is one of three Bulgarian films which have entered for the April 20-22 international environmentalist film festival in Alexandroupolis. The film, which is a Bulgarian-French coproduction, was screened at the international festivals in Palm Springs and Berlin. It is to go to the festivals in Karlovy Vary (the Czech Republic), Pesaro (Italy) and Pusan (South Korea).
 
The other Bulgarian entrants for the festival are documentaries: Lyubomir Halachev's "Black Sea" and Andrei Slabakov's "Perlovets: River of Life". The latter draws an analogy with the Thames. An expedition consisting of members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences led by a Briton studies flora and fauna along the Perlovets River, which runs across Sofia. However, it is people - old Sofia residents, the Roma and young people - that are of pivotal interest.
 
At Greece's invitation, tribute will be paid to the SS Cyril and Methodius, the inventors of the Slav alphabet who were born in Thessaloniki, on May 24, the Day of Bulgarian Education, Culture and Slav Letters.
 
The celebrations will feature Orthodox chants. Bulgaria has suggested to send the choirs of two Sofia cathedrals, the Seven Apostles of Bulgaria and St Nedelya.
 
Table-top sculptures will be exhibited in Thessaloniki on May 24, the Union of Bulgarian Artists said. The venue is one of the most prestigious in town, the restored Theatre of Northern Greece.
 
Georgi Chapkunov is the best known sculptor to participate in the exhibition. His works are part of permanent exhibitions in several famous art galleries and museums of modern art in Japan and other countries. His most recent contribution to Sofia's cityscape is a statue of St Sophia, the symbol of the Bulgarian capital. He has also made the statuette given by the Theatre of the Bulgarian Army to actors from other Bulgarian troupes since 1990.
 
Slavi Minekov, Bogomil Zhivkov and Dimiter Rashkov, among others, will participate in the Thessaloniki exhibition.
 
Sfumato, the theatre workshop known all over Europe, and the Youth Theatre will go to the Balkan Theatre Forum this summer and autumn in Kavala, Seres, Komotini and Xanthi.
 
Music performances, a festival and a congress are to be held in 2003 as part of the WOrld Music Expo (WOMEX). Bulgaria may be represented by the Arabesk modern ballet troupe, the Filip Koutev folk ensemble and the Balkan Horses project for Balkan ethnic music, featuring Teodosii Spassov, the famous wooden flute player. The WOMEX2001 in Rotterdam attracted 1,200 participants from all over the world, the Culture Ministry said.
 
FORESTS-WEEK.
 
BTA
 
President, PM Pledge Commitment to Revival of Bulgarian Forests.
 
Sofia, April 1 (BTA) - A Week of Forests opened Monday under the motto "To Revive the Bulgarian Forest" in the presence of President Georgi Purvanov and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
 
In a speech on the occasion, President Purvanov said that even in the hardest of times Bulgarians have found resources to take good care of forests and that the life of the Bulgarian people has always been closely linked with nature.
 
Reviving the Bulgarian woodlands is now a major priority and it is proven by the fact that all government institutions are represented at this event, said also the President.
 
In his address the Prime Minister pledged the full support of the executive for the efforts to revive forests, and his personal commitment to the cause.
 
Sustained management of forests is an important priority in the Policy of the Agriculture Ministry and the Government, said Agriculture Minister Ahmed Dikme. A total of 130,000 ha of forests, or 3.24% of the woodlands, were destroyed in wildfires in the recent years and the damage amounts to scores of millions of leva, said he. Also, hundreds of hectares are levelled in illegal logging. The Government has mapped out a package of measures to reverse this situation and among the most important measures is a ban on the export of burnt timber and the increased fines for burning stubble.
 
In an alarming trend, the size of newly aforested land has recently been shrinking, said Deputy Agriculture Minister Meglena Plougchieva. In 2000 and 2001 only 5,000 ha were put under new forests. This year the topmost task of the forestry administration will be fighting wildfires and illegal logging and opening new jobs in the forestry industry.
 
Plougchieva further spoke about the game population and said that except for the wild boar all other game species have dwindled at alarming rates. Striking a balance among ecology, economy and social functions is instrumental for preserving the huge national resource of forests, she said in conclusion.
 
In the garden outside Sofia's National Palace of Culture, the President, Prime Minister and MPs joined a company that planted 30 trees.
 
U.S. Eyes Romania, Bulgaria for Help.

AP

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - As disputes grow with its allies about the war on terrorism, Washington has cast its eye on ports and airfields on Europe's southeastern periphery that could be used as bases for U.S. military forces.

Western diplomats say the interest in Romania and Bulgaria reflects growing American frustration with NATO allies perceived as getting cold feet in the campaign against terrorist groups and those who harbor them.

Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana says U.S. military engineers are expected in both Romania and Bulgaria within months to assess ports and air bases. Romania's Defense Ministry already has ordered its own engineers to upgrade military airfields at Fetesti and Timisoara and the Black Sea port of Constanta, other officials say.

Officially, much of the activity is tied to the two countries' bids with eight other nations to join NATO at its next round of planned expansion in November.

President Bush already was pushing for the southeastward expansion of the alliance. Even before Sept. 11, Caspian Sea oil and gas and planned pipelines for deliveries of those energy sources had dictated a re-evaluation of Western strategic interests.

But privately, Western and Romanian officials at a meeting of the 10 NATO hopefuls last week in Bucharest agreed that U.S. interest has grown as a result of disputes over the anti-terrorism campaign.

In many European capitals, leaders consider U.S. complaints about Iraq as dangerous saber-rattling and they dismiss as naive Bush's linking of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil."

The tone is different in Romania and Bulgaria.

During a visit to the two countries, U.S. Gen. Joseph Ralston, supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, cited "overwhelming political reasons" for their early entry into NATO even before being fully ready for membership. Ralston then inspected Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu military base at Constanta port, base commander Victor Luchian told The Associated Press.

Western concerns about corruption, inefficiency and sputtering economies that led to the nations' rejection in the first round of NATO expansion more than two years ago are still not completely extinguished. But even NATO allies publicly opposed to any attack on Iraq appear ready to support strengthening the alliance's southern flank.

Divulging the planned visits of U.S. engineers to his country and Bulgaria, Romania's Geoana told The Associated Press in an interview that the United States considered Romanian military intelligence "a major asset" in the fight against terror.

"After Sept. 11, the Black Sea has become relevant as a natural springboard" toward regions of possible future terrorist threats, he said.

He and others said that in preparation for NATO membership, both Romania and Bulgaria already had signed agreements permitting the basing of alliance troops on their territory and allowing unrestricted overflights of their warplanes.

Geoana said Washington had become the driving force behind Romanian and Bulgarian membership. "Now that the Americans are moving in this direction, we will also see far more enthusiastic support from the rest of NATO," he said.

The two former Soviet-bloc nations hope to overcome concerns about their economies and democratic performance by showing their military competence and ability to help the anti-terror campaign.

Romanian officials say the United States will start using Constanta's port in June to move NATO-led peacekeepers in and out of the Balkans. Bulgarian and Romanian troops already serve in the peacekeeping force in Kabul, and Romania is offering to send mountain troops elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Both countries also have increased their contingents in peacekeeping missions to the Balkans, allowing the United States and its allies to refocus on Afghanistan.

Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said his country is eager to welcome U.S. and other NATO troops and equipment to its ports and airfields if the war on terrorism needs them.

"When we decided to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the alliance, we wanted to make very clear that all our assets will be the assets of the alliance," he told AP. "We consider ourselves a de-facto (NATO) member after Sept. 11."

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