The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, today, in his birth town Valandovo attended the sporting and cultural event, as part of the project "Social and Ethnic Integration through Sports (Sportsmanship)". The event was attended by students from the following municipalities involved in the project: Valandovo, Kavadarci, Rosoman, Aerodrom, Debar, Centar Zupa and Tearce.

According to President Ivanov, this project teaches children to make friends and behave in a sports manner. "To learn to be tolerant, to respect and congratulate the winner. Both the defeated and the winner to be in the same place and feel that they participate in something that contributes to the strengthening of the winning spirit because sport improves both body and spirit. People need to feel that they should behave that way in everyday life, to help each other, to show solidarity and respect all the diversity we have as a country. Young people come here from different parts of the country. They should understand that there are Muslims, Christians and Jews in Macedonia, that there are Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Serbs, Roma, Bosniaks and Vlachs. Everyone should feel the spirit of youthful life, because we were young too and we remember the need we had to find a partner to team with. As a team, we can win and feel that life is a battle that we must fight for. If we do not fight, we cannot win", President Ivanov said. The project aims to promote sport as a social activity which, through to play, fun and socializing among children and young people from different ethnic backgrounds, the inter-ethnic relations in the Republic of Macedonia are strengthened.

"Namely, for the first time, in agreement with the President, we tried to promote here sports games which are forgotten, that new generations do not have much knowledge of, just to show the children and thus to show that through sports we can socialize and take them away from the computers, because children today spend all day long in front of their computers, to take them on the street, to make them be together, to socialize and make friends. Simply, that is the message of the Sportsmanship, together with all authorities, certainly with the highest authority in the country, President Ivanov, Ivan Anastasovski said, representing the Geostrategic Institute "Global", as initiator of the project.

"Is there anything better than to see children make friends here? The aim is that children should be separated from the computers, somehow forgotten games to fulfill their childhood again. We, the parents, should help in this, while the authorities should participate and make these cities closer", Nikolce Curlinovski, the Mayor of Valandovo, said.

Today's event is the one before the last in a series of sporting and cultural events within the project implementation, which will be finalized with an event in the municipality of Aerodrom.