Debar, 17 April 2024 (MIA) — The 'Our President' campaign slogan was not chosen randomly: I am yours, you are mine, President Stevo Pendarovski told a Debar reelection rally where he talked about the region's centuries-old friendly coexistence between various communities, MIA's Debar correspondent reports.

"I'd like to talk about what you know best. You have lived beautifully for centuries in coexistence. It is a coexistence of different nations, ethnicities, religions, different social statuses.

"Debar is one of the cities that can say, even in the hardest of times and world wars, that its people have helped each other in times of adversity, be they Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Roma, Vlachs, Serbs, Bosniaks, or any others living in this wider area," Pendarovski said.

He said this was also evident when the country gained its independence and it was evident now. "You are people, both in good times and in bad times. And people like you are becoming increasingly rare in our country," he continued. 

"Debar has always been one of the intellectual centers of the wider region. Many prominent families, prominent individuals, intellectuals, writers, artists, teachers, reformers, educators, have come from these parts. You have much to be proud of," he said.

Pendarovski pointed out that state officials were elected to serve the people and "not committees and tenders and various crimes."

"I think that in the past five years I have shown how a President can be everyone's President, not only on paper, but in practice," he added.

Pendarovski also spoke about the country's NATO membership and the start of negotiations with the EU. mr/