Skopje, 25 February 2025 (MIA) — President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova met Tuesday with Emigration Agency head Goran Angelov to discuss improving cooperation with emigrants, simplifying passport formalities, developing a Macedonian language textbook for members of the Macedonian diaspora as well as ways of acknowledging the successes of Macedonians abroad.

At the meeting, Angelov told President Siljanovska Davkova about the Emigration Agency staff and activities for promoting cooperation with emigrants and their organizations.

He said the agency was cooperating with some 700 church, sports and cultural emigrant organizations, which had expressed a strong interest in meeting the President and other top officials.

Angelov said the emigrants' most pressing problems were the long and complicated bureaucratic procedures for obtaining Macedonian passports and other documents they needed to exercise their civil rights in the homeland.

Citing Emigration Agency data, he said there were currently 76 Macedonian language teachers worldwide. Given that they all were teaching Macedonian using workbooks they had created and printed themselves, the state needed to publish an official Macedonian language textbook for the diaspora, he noted.

Siljanovska Davkova said the 80th anniversary of codifying the Macedonian language was the right time to promote learning Macedonian among the young people in the diaspora.

She also accepted the invitation to support the Summer School of Macedonian for diaspora children aged 12-16, set to be held in Ohrid in August. 

Meeting participants also discussed the idea for giving the most successful members of the Macedonian diaspora awards their achievements in science, culture, business and sports.

Another idea they discussed was developing a "Most Successful in the Diaspora" digital registry, which was proposed to be made in cooperation with the government, the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, universities, and embassies. mr/