VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSQ #0887 2630137
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 200137Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5176
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUESEN/SKOPJE BETA
RUEHSQ/USDAO SKOPJE MK
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2061
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

UNCLAS SKOPJE 000887 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR UNGA MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA NOMINATES FORMER FM SRDJAN KERIM FOR 
2007 UNGA PRESIDENCY 
 
 
¶1. (U) MFA State Counselor for Multilateral Affairs Svetlana 
Geleva confirmed on September 16 press reports that the GOM 
has nominated former Foreign Minister and former Macedonian 
PermRep to the UN Srdjan Kerim for the 2007 UNGA Presidency. 
Kerim currently is the general director of the local media 
consortium "Media Print Macedonia," a member of the German 
WAZ media group.  He also serves as WAZ's general director 
for Southeast Europe.  He is affiliated with the Liberal 
Party, a junior ruling coalition member, but has never been 
an active member of the party. 
 
¶2. (U) Kerim was born in Skopje in December 1948.  He 
received a PhD in economics in Belgrade in 1982, where he was 
an active member of the Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia.  Kerim 
worked as a professor of economics in Belgrade, Hamburg, and 
in New York from 1972-1991, teaching international economic 
relations.  From 1986-1989, he was Minister of Foreign 
Economic Relations in the government of the Republic of 
Macedonia, then still a part of Yugoslavia.  In 1989 he 
became Vice Minister and Spokesman at the Yugoslav Federal 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
¶3. (U) From 1992-1994 Kerim worked for a private company in 
France.  He resumed his diplomatic career in 1994, when he 
was appointed as the newly-independent Republic of 
Macedonia's Ambassador to Germany, representing his country 
in Switzerland and Liechtenstein concurrently. Kerim served 
in Berlin until 2000, and also served from 1999-2000 as the 
Special Envoy for the Stability Pact Coordinator for 
Southeastern Europe.  Returning to Macedonia in 2000, he was 
appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he held 
until 2001, when he moved to New York as Macedonia's UN 
PermRep.  Upon his return from New York in 2003, he began 
working at "Media Print Macedonia." 
 
¶4. (SBU) Urbane and sophisticated, the polyglot Kerim speaks 
English, German, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, 
Bulgarian, and Serbo-Croatian (but not, surprisingly, 
Turkish, despite his Turkish family origins).  A pro-Western, 
pro-U.S., active reformist since his youth in Yugoslavia, 
Kerim is viewed as hard-working, confident, and talented. 
Local Macedonian contacts consider him the best foreign 
minister Macedonia has had in its 15-year history.  Kerim is 
married and has three sons.  His father, Asan Kerim, was a 
successful businessman and politician in Yugoslavia, and was 
close to former Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov.  Kerim 
plays tennis and enjoys fine whiskey. 
MILOVANOVIC