Skopje, 19 February 2026 (MIA) - Commenting on the proposals for ambassadors, President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova told reporters on Thursday that it is best to focus on career diplomats when appointing new ambassadors to vacant posts.

"The Law on Foreign Affairs sets out the procedure, which starts with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, through the Government and then to me. I believe that it is best to start by focusing on career diplomats when appointing new ambassadors to vacant posts. Currently, 67 percent of those proposed are career diplomats," Siljanovska Davkova told reporters after Thursday's event on the International Mother Language Day organized by the "Krste Misirkov" Institute of Macedonian Language.

Siljanovska Davkova noted that according to the law, 50 percent of the diplomats must be career diplomats, and expressed hope that in the future the number of career diplomats will reach 70 percent.

"This does not mean that in other countries, people outside the ambassadorial field are not nominated as ambassadors. There are countries in which journalists are sometimes nominated as ambassadors. These are people who are real experts and they can be professors, they can be business people, importantly, people who have knowledge, who know the language of the country, who speak different languages ​​and can represent the country with dignity and integrity," she said.

The President stressed that it is very important who represents the country abroad and encouraged the Government with such proposals.

"That is why these latest proposals also include people from the non-governmental sector who are real experts on the issues they should represent abroad," Siljanovska Davkova added. 

Earlier on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mucunski said that over 60 percent of the new candidates for ambassadors are professional diplomats from the ranks of the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. He said he has put forward several names at the latest government session, adding that he will confirm them upon receiving approvals.  

According to some media outlets, the Government at its session on Tuesday has approved a list of new ambassadors and consuls general, in Stockholm, Bucharest, Pristina, London, The Hague, Strasbourg, NATO and Sofia, as well as Thessaloniki and Melbourne. 

Muharem Jusufi, a staff member of the Ministry of Foreign Affars and Foreign Trade, has been proposed as ambassador to Sweden, while Orhan Murtezani is leaving his post as Minister of European Affairs to become ambassador to NATO headquarters in Brussels. 

Former ambassador to Ukraine Krum Efremov has been nominated as ambassador to Sofia, Gabriel Atanasov from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has been nominated as ambassador to Romania, and Katerina Todorovska has been nominated as ambassador to Pristina.

Linda Salieska Iljazoska from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has been nominated for the post of ambassador to The Hague, while Ilina Mangova, who comes from the non-governmental sector, has been nominated as ambassador to London. Svetlana Geleva has been nominated for a second term at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The list also mentions two names for consuls general – Tomislav Dimitrovski in Thessaloniki and Aleksandar Krstevski in Melbourne, both staff members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

Photo: MIA