Minutes: Organising board proposed the 35th independence anniversary tender

More than six months after the government approved plans for the 35th anniversary of independence and almost a month after the events concluded, the minutes from the cabinet meeting that set out how the celebration would be organised were published. The record shows the detailed content of the public call for an event organiser was prepared by a government-appointed organising board.

Organising board drafted the tender

The minutes, from the cabinet session held on 28 April 2026, state that the organising board — formed by nine representatives of several state institutions — proposed the exact wording of the public call. Two days later, the State Lottery issued the public invitation to select an organiser.

The government also disclosed who served on the organising board. "From the Office of the Prime Minister was nominated Sasho Pavloski, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism nominated Biljana Kjulavkovska, Tijana Tesalonika Shishkoska, Magdalena Manaskova and Vesna Mitevska, SOZR nominated Hristijan Stojanovski, the Ministry of Interior nominated Vlatko Gjosevski and Biljana Saraginova Panchevska, and BJB and the General Secretariat nominated Goce Bobolinski," the government said.

The minutes further reveal that, at the same 28 April 2026 session, the government instructed AD State Lottery to provide funds from the undistributed dividend earmarked for 2024 in the amount of 300,000,000 denars — almost €5 million — to sponsor the anniversary events.

The publication of the minutes comes months after the cabinet decisions on the celebration were taken and follows completion of the events themselves; the record provides the first official, detailed account of how the call for an organiser and the financing were prepared.

Photo: press material from the event