# Pavle Sazdov
## Introduction

Pavle Sazdov (Macedonian: Павле Саздов) (born December 27, 1983) is a former Macedonian politician, State Secretary at the Ministry of Information society and administration, and first Member of Parliament in the Macedonian National Assembly elected by the Macedonian diaspora in North and South America.
Mr. Sazdov joined the VMRO-DPMNE Youth Force Union (Macedonian: Унија на млади сили (УМС)) in 1999, having previously supported the election campaign activities of the party in the 1998 parliamentary elections.
From 2009 onwards he was actively involved in the organization of the overseas party committees (Macedonian: задгранични комитети) in North America, starting up and organizing committees in Toronto, Mississauga, Ajax, Markham, Windsor, Cambridge, and Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, and Austin TX, Miami FL, Columbus OH, Cleveland OH, Denver CO, Garfield NJ, New York NY, Phoenix AZ, Kansas City MO, Detroit MI, Crown Point IN, Boston MA, Washington DC, and Chicago IL, USA.
In 2011, as a diaspora member of parliament, he became a member of the party Central Committee (Macedonian: Централен комитет), function which he held until the end of 2016.

## Biography

Pavle Sazdov was born in Skopje on December 27, 1983. He has a master's in science from the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology at FON University. Later he graduated with an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology in Washington, D.C., USA. He is married to Aleksandra Pop-Stefanija Sazdov, a career diplomat, with whom they have two children, Ema and Petar.
He has published many scholarly articles in the field of information sciences, more specifically in the field of machine learning, automation, and automated control of protected cultivation of food.

## Political career
### 2010 - 2011: State secretary

On February 28th 2010, he was appointed state secretary at the Ministry of Information society. As state secretary at the Ministry he was responsible for the overall functioning of the Ministry, steering of capital projects, preparation of legislation in the field of information society and public administration reform, as well as representing the ministry and the government within the country and outside.
Within the scope of his function as a State secretary, he also served as a member of the board of ReSPA, Regional School of Public Administration.

### 2011 - 2016: Member of parliament

In the 2011 early parliamentary elections, as a candidate of the party VMRO-DPMNE, he was elected as the first member of parliament of the diaspora in the eighth electoral district of North and South America. His parliamentary responsibilities were
* Oversight Committee for the Application of Communication Interception Techniques by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense, Member
* Committee for transport, communication and environment, member
* Foreign affairs committee, deputy member
* Committee for constitutional affairs, deputy member
* Parliamentary group of he Assembly of Republic of Macedonia for cooperation with the Parliament of Ireland, member
* Parliamentary group of the Assembly of Republic Macedonia for cooperation with the Parliament of Canada, member
* Parliamentary group of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia for cooperation with the USA Congress, member
* Interparty parliamentary group for the rights of the people with disabilities, chairman
At the next early parliamentary elections in 2014 he was again elected member of parliament of the diaspora in the eighth electoral district of North and South America. In this mandate his responsibilities in the parliament were:
* Special committee for the wiretapping scandal, member
* Committee for Supervising the Work of the Security and Counter-Intelligence Directorate and the Intelligence Agency, member
* Committee for Supervision of the Application of Communication Interception Techniques by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense, member
* Committee on defense and security, deputy member
* Standing Inquiry Committee for Protection of Civil Rights and Freedoms, deputy member
* Parliamentary group of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia for cooperation with the parliaments of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, president
* Parliamentary group of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia for cooperation with the Parliament of Canada, member
* Parliamentary group of the Assembly of Republic of Macedonia for cooperation with USA Congress, member

## Political activities
### State secretary

As State secretary of the Ministry of information society and administration, Mr. Sazdov was working to complete major capital expenditure projects of which the most important ones are listed below:
* Interoperability; project that connected state institutions over one central system of exchange of databases and data which improved and simplified government services for citizens and businesses.
* Computer for every child; project that put computers in almost all public schools in Macedonia which were used in the education process, as well as provided schools with access to the internet.
* Internet kiosks in the rural areas; project which provided free internet to many villages in Macedonia.
* Electronic forms; project which enabled electronic submission of requests towards the government institutions.
Mr. Sazdov represented the Government and the Ministry at various bilateral and multilateral conferences, and negotiated and signed memorandums for cooperation in the field of information society development and public administration reform.

### Member of parliament

As a Member of parliament, Mr. Sazdov conducted many meetings with the Macedonian diaspora in Canada and the USA. He consistently advocated for better cooperation with the diaspora members, improving the rights of the Macedonians abroad, their involvement in the political and the economic development of the country, and improvement of the services that Macedonians abroad are receiving from Macedonia.
He was working on cooperation and improving the political and economic ties with USA and Canada, full membership of Macedonia in NATO and the European Union, as well as for reforms in the field of parliamentary oversight over the security and intelligence services. Mr. Sazdov participated at many bilateral and multilateral events, promoting Macedonia's values and strengthening the international position of the country.
As chairman of Interparty parliamentary group for the rights of the people with disabilities he was working of adjustment and improvement of the legislation to enabled equal rights and opportunities for all citizens of Macedonia.
Mr. Sazdov participated in many debates and political TV programs, as a spokesperson for the VMRO-DPMNE Parliamentary Group, and the party Center for Communications (Macedonian: Центар за комуникации). He spoke about various topics, such as the role of information technology in society and using technology to improve government services, the role of technology in democracy, reforms of the parliamentary oversight of intelligent services, the role of the diaspora in the political and economic development of the country, and other reforms.