Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski spoke at the opening of the international conference on ASNOM – the declaration of the Macedonian state during World War Two. The conference, on ASNOM’s 80th anniversary, took place at the National Archives, and included a number of distinguished historians and an exhibition.

ASNOM is an indellible mark on the Macedonian struggle and shining proof that the Macedonian nation was created with much work and enormous sacrifices. Now we must make wise decisions to get where we want to go. With strong demographics, an economically developed country and by defending what we lost at the negotiating table in the past seven years, we can go where we want to be, Mickoski said.

Mitko Panov, director of the Institute for National History, spoke about the importance of the previous generations of fighters for Macedonia, primarily from the Ilinden period, in inspiring ASNOM. Panov was recently named head of the Macedonian delegation in the negotiations with Bulgaria, which is trying to claim the key Macedonian liberation figures as ethnic Bulgarians.