President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova addressed the reception on the eve of the two-day, traditional Macedonia 2025 Summit tonight and presented the recognitions for the contribution of members of the diaspora.
The recognition, in cooperation with Macedonia 2025, is awarded to prominent figures from the diaspora for their contribution to the preservation and affirmation of Macedonian historical, cultural and spiritual traditions and values, as well as the strengthening of national and state interests and capacities.
With emotions of pride and sadness, the President emphasized that although they are physically far from here, our people in the diaspora are still tied to the homeland. She recalled the words of Bernard Shaw that you can change everything: ideology, clothes, behavior, but not the homeland!
She is proud of our successful professors, doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and intellectuals who, with discipline and perseverance, have built respectable careers abroad. However, she wishes and expects constant economic and other cooperation with them, including their physical presence among us.
Referring to the Macedonia 2025 Summit, Siljanovska-Davkova pointed out the dependence of the competitiveness of our economy, the development of artificial intelligence and digitalization, on the development and utilization of our own human potential, as the main factor of technological and geopolitical changes.
The President congratulated this year’s winners of the Macedonia 2025 award, Dr. Yitzhak Calderon Adizes, Elizabeth Naumovski and Antonio Trpevski, emphasizing that with their work in science, business, culture, philanthropy and support for youth, they leave a lasting mark here, but also around the world, and at the same time are a motivation for future generations.
According to her, we have a dire need for cooperation with the diaspora, not only in business, but also in education, science, culture and sports.
“The diaspora today is not a homogeneous structure, but a complex space composed of different generations, but with the same love for the homeland. I am encouraged by the fact that more and more young people, although born far from here, express interest in the Macedonian language, culture and tradition”, the President said in her address.
She emphasized the importance of the cooperation so far with Macedonia 2025 through projects such as the Ohrid Camp for High-Tech Excellence, which enables young people to acquire knowledge, develop critical thinking, and thus keep up with new technological challenges.
The event was also addressed by Nikica Mojsoska Blazevski, CEO of Macedonia 2025, Michael Cklamovski, member of the Board of Directors of Macedonia 2025, as well as Elizabeth Naumovski and Antonijo Trpevski, recipients of the Diaspora Contribution Award.
Distinguished members of “Macedonia 2025+”,
Respected members of the Macedonian diaspora,
Dear guests, Ladies and gentlemen,
For me, this sight is a clear and strong confirmation that geographical distance does not necessarily mean spiritual distance from the homeland. I see people before me who, although living far from here, still have an emotion, a feeling, and even a pride of belonging, tattooed in their hearts by their ancestors.
I often recall the words of Bernard Shaw that you can change everything: ideology, clothes, behavior, but not the homeland!
Probably that is why, when I talk to our people around the world, I get the impression that they are with us and among us. It sometimes seems to me that distance strengthens the bond, which I recognize in the emotional way of talking about home, in the selfish preservation of national and family traditions, in the desire and encouragement of children to learn their native language, Macedonian songs and dances. A person can physically leave his country, but it does not leave them. Maybe that is why the Macedonian yards in Canada were recognized by the wild geranium!
I admit, meetings with people from the Macedonian diaspora awaken both pride and sadness in me. On the one hand, I rejoice when I see successful professors, doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and intellectuals who, with discipline and perseverance, have built respectable careers. But, on the other hand, I imagine the Macedonian state in growing economic or other cooperation with them, or their physical presence here.
The event this evening is a prelude to the traditional Macedonia 2025 Summit, an initiative that has been connecting knowledge, leadership, entrepreneurship and international experience for years. In a time of technological and geopolitical changes, it is becoming increasingly clear that the progress of countries will depend on their institutional capacity, on the ability to create a competitive economy, to use artificial intelligence and digitalization, on the way they will develop, retain and use their own human potential.
With special respect, I would like to congratulate the winners of the Macedonia 2025 awards. Your professional achievements, leadership and social engagement are proof of the power of knowledge, perseverance and personal integrity. Through your work in science, business, culture, philanthropy and support of youth, you leave indelible traces, both here and around the world. I truly believe that your example will be an encouragement for the generations to come.
I was personally challenged and had the opportunity to continue my life abroad, but I stayed here. Not because it was easier, but because, after many years of experience in international institutions and university environments, I believed that knowledge and professional experience get the most profound meaning when invested at home. Though, for some, it may have been a typically Balkan, female decision, I have never regretted it.
I know that many of you, led by the maxim Ubi bene, ibi patria, have sought your future outside your homeland, feeling that your mind, effort and quality are not sufficiently recognized and valued here. Unfortunately, our problem is not the lack of talent and knowledge; our problem is that there are wrong people in the right places, or the right places went with the wrong people.
What the world today calls brain drain we have been experiencing for decades as a silent depletion of our most valuable resource — the young, educated and talented. It is as if we are a mine of inestimable value, whose richest potential has been exploited by foreign concessionaires for years.
We live in an era in which technology relativizes borders – the impossible becomes possible. Today, a young person can live in Skopje, Ohrid or Bitola, but, with his knowledge and skills, work and create for Berlin, Toronto or New York.
The Macedonian state has a dire need for cooperation with the diaspora, not only through business investments, but also through the knowledge, experience and contacts that the Macedonians create around the world.
The diaspora today is not a homogeneous structure, but a complex space composed of different generations, yet with the same love for the homeland. I am encouraged by the fact that more and more young people, although born far from here, express interest in the Macedonian language, culture and tradition.
That is why I particularly appreciate the cooperation with Macedonia 2025 through projects such as the Ohrid High-Tech Excellence Camp, which allows young people to acquire knowledge, develop critical thinking and keep up with new technological developments.
The relationship with the diaspora must not remain just a matter of goodwill and occasional initiatives, but must develop into a serious and long-term national policy. The Government has already adopted the National Strategy for Cooperation with the Diaspora, and within my Cabinet, the establishment of the Diaspora Council is in its final stage, as a body that should enable active involvement and influence of the diaspora in the home country.
Before I conclude, let me share something personal with you: every time the plane starts to descend towards Skopje, my eyes become watery, because exactly then I feel most strongly that I am home.
Believe me, it is not by chance that we were born here, our energy springs from this soil!
May we live in synergy with Macedonia!
Indeed, God has blessed Macedonia since it is omnipresent in the Bible!
