Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi attended and addressed the celebration for the Day of the Republic – Ilinden (2 August) at the memorial centre in Pelince. “We all have one mutual state that we need to nourish and develop properly. That way we shall pay our debt towards those that fought in the first half of the last century to see this country free and independent. If we act responsibly towards the state and all its citizens, with mutual respect and cooperation, and accepts our differences like those before us did, then we can easily achieve all development goals. Today, we are members of NATO and started membership negotiations with the EU, but like no other country before us, we faced serious obstacles in the realisation of these strategic goals,” Xhaferi said. US Ambassador Kate Marie Byrnes was also present among the other guests at the ceremony at Pelince, and laid flowers at the monument commemorating the ASNOM Assembly from 2 August 1944.