Skopje, 8 September 2022 (MIA) - Unity is the key prerequisite for success, and so as to be more successful in the competition between nations, we must restore unity and restore awareness not of personal interest, but of the common good, President Stevo Pendarovski said Thursday during the “September 8” state award ceremony. President Pendarovski reminded that on September 8, 1991, using the sovereign right of self-determination, the country proclaimed its independence and joined the cultural competition between nations. “The end of the cold war marked the beginning of that great competition in which many countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe worked hard to build stable and functional democratic institutions and integrate into the world. But even though we started from the same starting position and played according to the rules, in certain periods as a country we faced double standards and biased judges that did not always allow us to evaluate the achievements fairly,” Pendarovski said. According to him, on this difficult road we achieved successes, but we also caused disappointment for Macedonian citizens. As he said, we often spent our energy in mutual accusations and obstructions, and internally, the biggest challenge we are still facing today is the deep divisions in the Macedonian society within our team. “Unity is the key prerequisite for success, and so as to be more successful in the competition between nations, we must restore unity and restore awareness not of personal interest, but of the common good. However important a driver of social processes, self-interest alone is not sufficient to build a society with a developed sense of national interest for the common good. Therefore, we should look for the real drivers of the community among those who are not motivated by narrow interests, but by higher goals,” Pendarovski noted. President Pendarovski underlined that among the rare heroes of Macedonian independence are the sportsmen who connect us with their successes even when we are deeply divided. To mark Independence Day, President Stevo Pendarovski presented the “September 8” state award to four Macedonian sportsmen including Olivera Nakovska-Bikova for her outstanding, rich and successful sports career in Paralympic and archery, to Branimir Jovanovski, Shaban Trstena and Dejan Georgievski.