Skopje, 7 September 2021 (MIA) – The case with the detained diplomat, Mile Milenkovski, is an opportunity to restore the system to its rightful place and to preserve the dignity of this important Ministry and service. Clearly, the system has had weaknesses for decades, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said Tuesday. Osmani told reporters that the diplomat was sent to Detroit in 2009, and received authorization to handle crypto protection in two months. In 2009, he was transferred from Detroit to Washington; Antonio Miloshoski then transferred him to Chicago, and the next minister sent him to Vienna, and the next minister transferred him from a mission in an embassy, because everyone is operating on a national certificate principle. “There are speculations here for all diplomats. My predecessor was the only one to get a letter asking if he has a diplomatic passport, but there was no further notification. We were supposed to be notified back in February that there was a warrant for the diplomat, surely someone would’ve done something,” Osmani said. When you have a security certificate, he added, it means you have access to documents, regardless of whether you have the access in the multilateral directorate or the mission in Vienna, you have access. “Everyone with a national certificate has a guarantee that they’re safe to work with documents, and this gives me the right to deploy them,” said Osmani. According to Osmani, the diplomat was sent to the OSCE mission because the country is to take over the OSCE chairmanship, and a decision has been reached that the OSCE mission includes an increased number of diplomats – 15 instead of the current 3, exclusively due to the chairmanship, which is one of the biggest challenges the country would face. “It was the only reason why this diplomat was sent on a mission. I’d never seen him personally, nor did I know him, but he fulfilled all three conditions, he had a national certificate,” Osmani said. He added that additional checks for a degree are not carried out nor legally required, but checks are only done for a national security certificate. “Honorable professionals, people who take work seriously, day and night, are working here to improve the country’s international position. I won’t allow some criminals to ruin the Ministry’s image. Believe me, as bad as it sounds, I’m glad he was sent, because, if he hadn’t, he would’ve kept his diplomatic passport and national certificate, he would’ve stayed in the Ministry and had access to documents,” Osmani said. This has shown weaknesses in other institutions, he added, as well as in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, coordination weaknesses, which is why he has started a process of revising all steps and procedures, in order to save the dignity of this important state institution. The first step, Osmani said, is recertification. Certificates are obtained with a five-year validity period, he noted, checks and procedures in accordance with the law are made, and then they are issued. Therefore, according to Osmani, mandatory NATO certification will be required for people with sensitive positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if they want to keep their jobs, which means a national as well as a NATO check. Ambassadors will also be subject to NATO certification, and all employees will need to be recertified even if they recently got a certificate. They would need to go to the Agency for National Security because there is no other way for these checks to be done, according to the Minister. dk/nn