Distinguished Attendees, Esteemed Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a distinct pleasure for me to be here today in Baku, at the prestigious Crans Montana Forum. A Forum which for more than twenty–five years gathers together people with outstanding achievements, people with a vision for the future and a mission for a better world. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the organizers for the invitation and to the hosts for their hospitality.

Distinguished Attendees,
Almost 380 years ago, faced with the inquisition pressure to abandon the claim that the Earth revolves around the sun, Galileo Galilei said quietly: “And, yet it moves...”. Today, we utter loud: The world does change. The question is whether we are changing with it? And if we change, whether we do it fast enough or we still preserve old habits? Whether we still let the habits of the past steal our present and even delay the future?

Global challenges we face enable us to recognize the contours of the future. And, indeed, the future is filled with contrasts and numerous risks and opportunities. Recently someone compared contemporary crises with wagons of one and the same train that brings troubles to the world. Today, we are here talking about two key challenges: combating poverty and improving public policy management. Challenges closely related and arising from the paradox of the 21st century – intertwining and connecting of the world goes along with its division and stratification in economic, political and cultural sense.

Esteemed Excellencies,
We live in a time when the gap between the global north and global south is widening, when globalization and information revolution change the world through the Internet. We live in a century just as urban as multicultural. Everyday, more than 200,000 people join the global urban population, which means that population of cities around the world is increased by more than 2 people every second. A good portion of these urban migrants are driven by poverty which affects individuals, families, communities and states. Poverty that is an inherent part of the equation of local and global problems the result of which leads to instability, social exclusion, isolation and conflict. Gandhi said that there is enough on our planet for everybody’s need but not enough for everybody’s greed.

Is there a universal, generally acceptable cure for poverty? Perhaps the answer is negative, but there are numerous solutions that can dramatically reduce poverty and give a decent life to the most affected ones. In the essence of these policies to combat poverty is the existence of generational responsibility, understanding that the present is actually a borrowed future.

One of the possibilities is education, which, if founded on solid grassroots, can get people out of poverty, develop their creativity and innovativeness. Investing in education, we actually invest in the future of youth. Today, the key that opens the door to good governance, that ensures that decision makers act consistently and responsibly, is in the information and communication technologies. Conditions have been established for “e-education”, “e-government” and even for “e-society”. By involving individuals, groups and institutions their potential, their imagination and capacity, is activated, which inevitably leads to new solutions, innovations and discoveries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Is this relevant for and how it affects the Republic of Macedonia? The three pillars upon which we build the future of the Republic of Macedonia are the three “E” - Europe, Economy and Energy. I believe that these three interdependent and closely related “E” are key to our development.

We remain committed to achieving our strategic goal - membership in the European Union and NATO. I believe that the peace project will not be complete without the membership of the Republic of Macedonia and of the other Western Balkan countries.

Paving the path towards European and Euro-Atlantic Macedonia, we are strongly focused on improving the overall economic situation in the country, on fight against poverty and unemployment by creating a favorable business climate, an environment for direct foreign investment.

The third “E” refers to energy. With this, we tackle the other key topic of this forum – Which energy for which world and future? How to fight against energy poverty?

Economic development which we are fully committed to is unimaginable without energy security and reliability. This applies to almost all countries in the world. It is also valid for the Republic of Macedonia. Today we are here in Baku, in one of the regions that abounds with oil and natural gas.

Indeed, Macedonia, as the other Balkan countries, is interested in joining energy corridors. Macedonia, as the other Balkan countries, wants to replace energy dependence with energy interdependence. Yet, we need energy diversification for that.

Our ultimate goal is Macedonia to be included on the international map of energy transport corridors. That will open us the opportunity to obtain cheap energy resources for our companies and households, and reduce the cost of our production. This is a concrete investment in energy and general economic stability and security of the country and of the region.

Thank you.