Skopje, 24 October 2023 (MIA) – Career diplomats are being appointed as ambassadors to the country’s diplomatic missions, while a smaller number of the newly appointed ambassadors are distinguished people from the sociopolitical sphere, said Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani in a media statement Tuesday.

Following his address at the annual Conference on Cyber/ICT Security held in Skopje within the frameworks of North Macedonia’s OSCE Chairpersonship, the Minister of Foreign Affairs responded to a journalist’s question over the newly appointed ambassadors and how many of them are partisan and political choices as opposed to career diplomats. He said that the percentage of career diplomats appointed as ambassadors is high.

“The entire set of directors of directorates within the MFA are being appointed as ambassadors to countries which we believed would be the most appropriate. A smaller number of the appointments are people from social life who are coming from outside the diplomatic network,” said Osmani.

He added that the rest are current directors of directorates at the MFA. “For example, Katerina Stavrevska who is a director of the NATO Directorate is being sent to London, Dzenk Sejfula who is a director of the EU Directorate is being sent to Stockholm, Jasmin Kjahil who is a director for non-European countries is being sent to Warsaw etc. So we have an appropriate list of people who are either experienced in diplomacy or in the socio-political sphere and will provide a serious contribution to the country’s foreign policy,” said Osmani.

At a session Tuesday, Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee is set to review the diplomatic activity platforms of seven new ambassadors. The session is set to be addressed by former Justice Minister Nikola Tupancheski, who was appointed as the country’s new ambassador to Serbia; former Deputy Foreign Minister Andrej Zhernovski, appointed as ambassador to Romania; Shpend Sadiki, appointed as ambassador to Israel; Jasmin Kjahil to Poland; Sashko Nasev to the People’s Republic of China; Igor Popov to Brazil; and Ilber Sela to Germany. The committee stage represents the last stage they have to pass before they assume their ambassadorial duties.

Photo: MIA