[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 22 (Thursday, February 26, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       MOURNING THE LOSS OF MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT BORIS TRAJKOVSKI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with sadness in my heart as we 
mourn the loss of Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski. He was a 
moderate leader who helped unite his ethnically divided country. He was 
killed on Thursday when his plane crashed in bad weather conditions in 
mountainous southern Bosnia.
  President Trajkovski was a great friend of the United States. He led 
the efforts to establish relations with the United States and attended 
the National Prayer Breakfast here in Washington a number of times 
where he became friends with many Members of Congress and many 
individuals in the administration. He was a man of great faith. His 
great faith drove him to be a man who led reconciliation throughout his 
region of the world.
  President Trajkovski was inaugurated as the second President of the 
Republic of Macedonia on December 15, 1999. Prior to that, Mr. Speaker, 
he served as deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of 
Macedonia and as chief of the cabinet of the mayor of the Kisela Voda 
municipality in Skopje from 1997 to 1998.
  Since taking office in 1999, President Trajkovski was active on the 
international level, giving numerous speeches at international forums, 
such as the World Economic Summit in Davos, the Council of Europe, the 
United Nations and the South East European Cooperation Process, and 
addressed the parliaments of several countries. He was dedicated to 
greater cooperation between states on behalf of the Republic of 
Macedonia.
  President Trajkovski participated in numerous international 
conferences on conflict resolution, religious tolerance, religious 
freedom, and served as president of youth work in the United Methodist 
Church in the former Yugoslavia for over 12 years.
  President Trajkovski was widely respected in Macedonia for his 
neutral stance in the former Yugoslav Republic, where tensions persist 
between Macedonians and the country's ethnic Albanian minorities after 
a 2001 war. He had called for greater inclusion of ethnic Albanians in 
state bodies and institutions.
  He has many friends, Mr. Speaker, throughout Europe and the entire 
world. Macedonia is a good friend and partner to the United States and 
plays an important role in its support of U.S. and NATO operations in 
Kosovo.
  This loss will certainly be felt throughout the international 
community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Trajkovski family and 
the Macedonian people. The United States has lost a great friend.

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