On Saturday, September 4, 2010, during the press conference organized by Nikola Todorov, Minister of Education in the Government of Macedonia, Michael O’Sullivan and Mihael Petreski signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Cambridge Overseas Trust and PEXIM Foundation which outlines terms and conditions of joint support to students from Macedonia.  At that time, PEXIM Foundation signed Scholarship Agreements with the recipients of its scholarships from Macedonia, Damjan Denkovski, Ivana Mateska and Aleksandra Mitov.

Minister Todorov has been supporting the efforts of PEXIM Foundation from its very establishment in December 2009, when he organized a press conference to welcome the Cambridge “Blues”, basketball team headed by Mr. Nebojsa Radic, member of the PEXIM Foundation Supervisory Board.  During the press conference, Minister Todorov congratulated Ivana Mateska, Damjan Denkovski, and Aleksandar Mitov, the first generation of PEXIM Cambridge scholars from Macedonia, and handed them the Scholarship Agreements by which they oblige themselves to return to Macedonia and work two years for each year for which they received support from the PEXIM Foundation.  “The level of education is closely related to the GDP level of one country.  Therefore, by investing in scholarships you are effectively investing in this country’s economy.  Thank you Mr. Petreski and Mr. O’Sullivan for investing in Macedonia”, said Minister Todorov during the press conference.

From left to right: Michael O’Sullivan, Director of Cambridge Overseas Trust, Nikola Todorov, Minister of Education, and Mihail Petreski, President of PEXIM Foundation

The President of PEXIM Foundation, Mihail Petreski, invited Minister Todorov to visit Cambridge during the graduation ceremony of the PEXIM Cambridge scholars from Macedonia in June 2011.

Since this was the first visit of Mr. O’Sullivan to Macedonia, the PEXIM Foundation organized a series of meetings for him with senior Government officials as well as the President of Macedonia with the goal to raise the visibility of PEXIM Cambridge Scholarship programme and secure Government’s support for our future work.  Mr. O’Sullivan was thus acquainted with Vasko Naumovski, Government of Macedonia Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, and Vlado Pesevski, Government of Macedonia Deputy Prime Minister for Economy.