The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, today in Ohrid, on the beach in front of the hotel "Inex Gorica", attended the "White Flag" awarding ceremony, as a symbol of clean and treated environment along the coast of the Lake Ohrid.

President Ivanov, addressing the attendees at the ceremony when he was presented with the "White Flag", said that this is yet another recognition of Ohrid, which is already included in the world map for its purity, for everything that nature gave us, our ancestors left to us to preserve it for the future generations.

"This ceremony held today in Ohrid is an appeal to all of us to take care of water, not only in Macedonia but around the world, acknowledging the meaning of clean water for humanity ... Let this be a motive to keep the entire coast of the lake clean and thus to preserve it for the future," President Ivanov said.

The project is implemented and organized by the Global Under Water Awareness Association (GUWAA), environmental non-profit association based in Norway, which aims at cleaning sea, river and lake beds, as well as raising awareness of the consequences of water pollution, greater environmental responsibility and action.

The President of GUWAA, Kristijan Curavic, speaking about the importance of the first white flag in Macedonia, said that it is a unique symbol in the world that indicates water purity.

"The White Flag goes today in four states, the Republic of Macedonia being one of the first countries involved in this campaign. We almost always follow the latest trends in ecology, thus, we have made our region a symbol that should be followed worldwide. The White Flag can not be procured, it must be earned," Curavic said.

"I remember when I was a kid there was no bottled water, there was just tap water which was very clean. During my lifetime, we started drinking water from plastic bottles, but who knows what will come next during our children's lives," said the guitarist Vlatko Stefanoski, who is also Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to this organization.

The "White Flag" as a symbol was first time awarded to Monaco, France, and in our region, similar events were organized in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Global GUWAA Ambassador is the actor Armand Assante.