Macedonia government and Sahara India organize 'Peace Festival' in Skopje

LUCKNOW: The Republic of Macedonia government and Sahara India Pariwar, organised the first ever ‘ Sahara Balkan Peace Festival’ in Skopje, Macedonia. The two day festival was organised as part of celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The event is aimed at bringing Balkan countries on one platform to pledge for World peace and will be organized every year in one of the Balkan countries on rotation basis, said a Sahara India spokesperson.

Former Prime Minister, UK, Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski, diplomatic representatives of the World Bank, IFC as well as 8 countries including USA, UK, European Union, France, Qatar and Balkan countries like Croatia, Turkey Serbia, attended the first ‘Sahara Balkan Peace Festival’.

Speaking on the occasion, Former British Premier Tony Blair said “I am not a pessimist for the world that we live in. I am always an optimist and I believe that we can always find the strength in ourselves and overcome the challenges”.

Chairman of Sahara India group, Subrata Roy said “here in this peace festival if we only talk about peace between two countries, that is if we discuss about avoiding war between the countries, I fear we shall reach nowhere. This is not about only stopping war, its about choosing peace. We choose peace over war. Balkan region countries can become front runners for world peace. It will be greatest contribution to the world”.

Prime Minister of Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski said “let us recall the words of our greatest humanitarian Mother Teresa who said “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls””. Founder of the Missionaries of Charity, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, Macedonia.

Under the auspices of the Festival, the Champions of Peace Award was conferred on Hollywood actor and founder of Peace One Day Foundation, Jeremy Gilley for his efforst for global peace.