President Boris Trajkovski was an individual who committed selflessly to his homeland, the Republic of Macedonia. He was a true man of the people and his work was always in the spirit of developing regional and international cooperation. He believed that all citizens of Macedonia, regardless of their ethnic and religious background, could live in harmony, said Defense Minister Fatmir Besimi at Sunday's observance of the 8. anniversary from the President's death in a plane crash near Mostar.

"The supreme commander played the leading role as a man of family values, a courageous man who patiently built bridges in time of conflict in the Balkan region. Macedonia lost a great, a fervent promoter of peace and human values", stressed Besimi.

He referred to Trajkovski's famous thought, which defined his work - We all share the same destiny named Macedonia.

The Macedonian delegation, led by Defense Minister Fatmir Besimi, also including Minister of Education and Science Pance Kralev, Major-General Zoran Dimov, Macedonian Ambassador to B&H Rami Rexhepi, and representative of the victims' families Mirko Krstevski, laid flowers at the memorial trait in Rotimlje.

Representatives from the Cabinet of President Gjorge Ivanov, delegations from the B&H Defense Ministry, Macedonian Army medical team, the city of Mostar, B&H diplomatic corps also laid flowers.

During the Mostar stay, Minister Besimi met with Mayor Ljubo Beslic.

Parliament delegation led by Vice-Speaker Svetlana Jakimovska, Government delegation comprised of Ministers Vladimir Pesevski, Valon Saraqini, Nikola Todorov and Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska, and a VMRO-DPMNE delegation laid flowers at Trajkovski's grave in Skopje, as well as the graves of the remaining plane crash victims.

President Boris Trajkovski was killed on 26 February 2004, along with Dimka Ilkova-Boskovic, Risto Blazevski and Anita Krisan-Lozanovska from his Cabinet, Mile Krstevski from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bodyguards Boris Velinov and Ace Bozinovski, as well as pilots Marko Markovski and Branko Ivanovski.

The Government-owned "King Air", destined for an international investment conference in Bosnia&Herzegovina, crashed near Mostar. The remains were found 24 hours later due to inaccessible terrain and bad weather.

Following an investigation of competent Macedonian and Bosnian authorities, it was concluded that the reason for the crash were shortcomings of the crew in the airport approach procedure in complex meteorological conditions, thick fog and cloudy weather.

Boris Trajkovski was born in Strumica on 25 June 1956. He was the second President of the Republic of Macedonia, assuming the post on 15 December 1999.

Trajkovski graduated at the Skopje-based Law Faculty in 1980 and specialized in business law and law on labor relations.

He was appointed Deputy-Foreign Minister in 1998. He also was presidency member of NGO "Pan-European Movement for the Republic of Macedonia" and international conference "Conflict Resolution" with head offices in Atlanta, USA. Earlier, Trajkovski was youth president of the United Methodist Church in former Yugoslavia for more than 12 years.