Profile: Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski

    BELGRADE, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski was killed Thursday when his plane crashed in mountainous terrain in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following is the profile of the late president.

    Boris Trajkovski, 47, was inaugurated as the second president of the Republic of Macedonia on 15 December 1999.

    Prior to that he served for one year as deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Macedonia and had previously served as the chief of the cabinet of the mayor of the Kisela Vodamunicipality in Skopje from 1997-98.

    Trajkovski was the holder of a law degree from St. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia.

    Since taking office in 1999, he was active on the internationalstage speaking at international forums including the World Economic Summit in Davos, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), and addressed the parliaments of several countries.

    Trajkovski participated in numerous international conferences on conflict resolution, religious tolerance, religious freedom, and served as president of youth work in the United Methodist Church in the former Yugoslavia for over 12 years.

    The late president also served as chairman of the Foreign Relations' Commission of the VMRO-DPMNE party. He was chief political adviser on foreign policy to Ljubco Georgievski, prime minister of the Republic of Macedonia and founder of the VMRO-DPMNE party and was a member of the Pan-European Movement for the Republic of Macedonia.

    He was a member of the Macedonian-Croatian Society of Friendship and president of the Church Council of the United Methodist Church.

    Trajkovski was married with a son and a daughter. Enditem