Macedonia presented as gateway for running Japanese businesses in Europe

Macedonia's investment opportunities have been presented for the first time before the Japanese business community in Osaka. Agriculture, food and wine production, manufacturing of car components and low income tax of 10% compared to high taxes in Japan are the most distinguished sectors, which Macedonia is known for, according to the director of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) for Osaka, Suzuki Yatsushi.

Investment opportunities offered by the Republic of Macedonia as a gateway for running businesses in Europe were presented at the second business forum organised by a government delegation led by PM Nikola Gruevski in cooperation with JETRO before representatives of several Japanese companies from the Osaka Prefecture.

Macedonia, the JETRO director said, in recent years has improved its business procedures and now it is ranked 22nd on the Doing Business list by the World Bank, whereas Japan is 20th on the same list.

PM Gruevski in his address underlined the profound respect of the strong collective working ethics and innovative brilliance of Japan, which has helped the hard-working and intelligent nation of Japan to establish the third biggest economy in the world, the government said in a press release.

"The Republic of Macedonia in the past several years for many has become one of the most pleasant surprises and one of the most positive economic examples in Europe," Gruevski noted.

According to the press release, he said that Macedonia's achievements had been recognised by the World Bank in its Doing Business report in which Macedonia was one of the most improved economies and business destinations, while in the 2012 report it was ranked 22nd, thus being higher on the list compared to 19 out of 27 EU member countries. Macedonia's rating is seen as stable and with positive perspectives in a report recently published by the credit rating agency Fitch in circumstances when the agency has lowered the ratings of over 10 European countries - which indicates that Fitch differentiates Macedonia and its policies compared to other countries. According to Gruevski, it came as a result of the Macedonian government's commitment to improve the business climate and working conditions for both domestic and foreign companies.

"Our goal is to attain economic growth, to develop the private sector and to open new jobs. Consequently, we work very hard to enable favourable conditions for companies to make profits and to achieve double benefit - for companies' management and the living standards of Macedonian citizens," Gruevski noted.

"The government is addressing one of its most important challenges to provide educational opportunities for its citizens that are required by modern societies. Macedonia has significantly increased its funding for education, expanded the access to higher education and boosted the use of computers and Internet in public schools and universities. These measures resulted in attracting many famous foreign companies in Macedonia," the PM added.

By implementing a series of structural and institutional reforms, PM Gruevski said that growth and efficiency were being supported as well as investments leading to dynamic market economy, which on its part provided flexibility for the structural changes needed for Macedonia to succeed on international markets and to adapt towards the challenges on the road to EU accession.

Vice PM and Minister of Finance Zoran Stavreski also delivered an address at the business forum presenting country's macroeconomic policy, reforms realized in the tax system, cadastre and central register as well as the investment opportunities in the sector of infrastructure and energy, reads the press release.

Business presentations were also delivered by Minister for Foreign Investments, Bill Pavleski, director of the Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion, Visar Fida and director of the Directorate for Technological Industrial Development Zones, Viktor Mizo.

The Osaka business forum wraps up the visit of the government's delegation led by Premier Gruevski to Japan, where the PM met with Crown Prince Naruhito and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda and other government officials. Two business forums in Tokyo and Osaka were organised during the visit as well.

British Business Group Opens New Office in Skopje

The British Business Group (BBG), whose main objective is to facilitate trade links between businessmen from the United Kingdom and Macedonia, has opened Wednesday a new office in Skopje. The Prince Michael of Kent was also in attendance at the event.
"Up until now, it was difficult for us to make contacts and to be reached, but as of now we get new premises where Macedonian entrepreneurs can come and collect information on establishing business contacts in the UK as well as British businessmen who are interested to launch a business in Macedonia," the BBG's Chairman, Ray Power stated.
He said he was satisfied with the visit of the top business delegation, led by Prince Michael of Kent, which has been visiting Macedonia upon an invitation by the BBG in the past few days.
"The goal was the British delegation to learn about the investment opportunities in Macedonia and to establish business contacts with Macedonian businessmen. Time is needed a final decision to be reached when it comes to investments. However, it is necessary to underline that significant efforts were made last year in analysing the economic situation for this business visit. I hope that concrete results from this visit will be evident before the summer," Ray Power said.
The British Business Group has been functioning for six years in Macedonia mainly on voluntary basis. As of this year, BBG members will start paying membership fees. The office will cover Macedonia and similar offices will be opened in other countries in the region if it makes successful projects. Several activities will be conducted this year aimed at attracting fresh British investments in Macedonia and organising a visit to London for Macedonian businessmen.

Macedonian investment team presents before Turkish businessmen

Istanbul, Kayseri, Konya, Gaziantep Izmir and Bursa are the cities on the agenda of the Government's team, where Macedonia will be presented January 29-February 3 as an attractive investment destination.
The Turkey road show begins in Istanbul, where the team, led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, is set to hold a working dinner with investors, including the attendance of 60 company CEOs.
According to PM Gruevski, this is the longest presentation before foreign investors, which demonstrates there is great potential, but also interest for Turkish investments in Macedonia.
Turkey has been one of Macedonia's most significant partners, both in the political support with regards to Macedonia's NATO and EU integration process and all international institutions, but also in the economic field.
There has been a trend of cooperation increase and improvement of trading relations, as well as volume of investments.
Turkey has been identified as one of the target states, where investments can be expected in the production of automotive components, ICT, agriculture and food processing, business services and outsourcing, pharmaceutical industry and medical devices, energy and renewable energy sources, tourism, building and infrastructure.
In the course of the visit, the Directorate for Technological-Industrial Developments Zones (DTIDZ) and Turkeys Directorate of Organized Industrial Zones will sign a cooperation protocol.
Gruevski will also meet Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with Macedonian emigrants in Bursa.
PM Gruevski is accompanied by Vice Premiers Zoran Stavreski and Vladimir Pesevski, Economy Minister Valon Saraqini, Minister of Transport and Communications Mile Janakieski, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Ljupco Dimovski, Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Abdilaqim Ademi, Ministers for Foreign Investments Vele Samak and Bill Pavleski, Minister without Portfolio Hadi Nezir, as well as DTIDZ director Viktor Mizo and Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion head Visar Fida.

Macedonian Business Association of Canada formed

Macedonian businessmen in Canada in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Republic of Macedonia to Canada have formed Macedonian Business Association of Canada, one of its kind in Canada integrating small and medium-sized companies from different businesses.
The association although formed by Macedonian businessmen is open for other interested entities in this country.
The main goal of this association will be promotion of common business interests among the members, mutual relations, connection with Canadian companies, exchange of experiences etc. In the future the association is foreseen to be connected with similar Macedonian and Canadian association aimed at creating opportunities for new mutual business relations, reads the press release from the association.
The members of the foundation board of the Macedonian Business Association of Canada are Vasko Pastenarov, Antoni Bozinovski, Vesna Anastasova, Zoran Ivanovski, Vase Georgievska, Vlatko Cokov and Filip Spasov. The association has recently launched its website http://www.m-bac.com/register.asp.

Business centre for cross-border initiatives opens in Stip

Business centre for cross-border initiatives opens in Stip as part of project "Cross-Border Business Networking for Sustainable Growth" financed by IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme between the Republic of Bulgaria and Republic of Macedonia.
The work of the business centre, which operates within Centre for Development of Eastern Planning Region, aims at development and improvement of economy and business cooperation between companies directed to strengthening business climate in cross-border regions between Bulgaria and Macedonia.
Centre offers services in the sphere of informing target groups, mapping economic subjects in cross-border region and informing about local business events, also gives information on changes in legal, financial and customs spheres and connection of legal entities from cross-border region aimed at establishing mutual cooperation.
Head of Centre for Development of Eastern Planning Region, Dragica Zdraveva said that by opening of the business centre and the opportunities it offers will bring development of companies in cross-border region and will attract new investments.
Business centre will operate at the territory of Macedonia’s Eastern Planning Region and Bulgaria’s Blagoevgrad region.

Macedonia Top Business Reformer According To Report

By Svetla Dimitrova

According to its Doing Business 2012 report, issued jointly with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), 21 of the 24 countries in the region, including all Southeast European nations with the exception of Greece, implemented a total of 53 pro-business reforms.
“For the ninth consecutive year, Eastern Europe and Central Asia [are] the world’s most reforming region,” Iva Hamel, private sector development specialist at the World Bank-IFC Indicator Based Reform Advisory, told SETimes after presenting the study’s findings in Sarajevo.
She also noted that four of the countries from this region were among the 12 global economies found to have improved most on the ease of doing business during the survey period.
The majority of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia made strides to improve the business environment for domestic small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) between June 2010 and June 2011, the World Bank said on October 20th.
Morocco led the list, followed by Moldova and Macedonia, which carried out four pro-business reforms, each, last year.
The 212-page report covers 183 world economies, ranking them on the basis of an analysis of regulations in the areas affecting the lifecycle of domestic SMEs.
The ten indicators used in determining a country’s position include the time and cost to start and close a business, trading across borders, investor protections, registering property, construction permits, enforcing contracts, paying taxes and getting credit, as well as a new category measuring the ease of getting electricity.
Macedonia implemented reforms that made it easier to deal with construction permits, registering property, getting credit and resolving insolvency. This helped the Balkan nation improve its ranking in each of those individual categories and increase its overall ranking.
The country, which leaped 12 places to 22nd in the world, is the Southeast European country where it is easiest for domestic SMEs to do business.
According to Business Confederation of Macedonia employee Aleksandar Jovchevski, the changes have led to a significant increase in the number of SMEs in the country.
“The bulk of them operate in the construction sector, where the demand has grown following the launch of the Skopje 2014 project and further works on Pan-European transport corridors 8 and 10,” he told SETimes.
“Macedonia has made the biggest jump and is now among the top 30 in the world,” Hamel said.
“The wider use of modern technology in bureaucratic processes, which has reduced the time needed for obtaining any type of documents from the relevant services, has also contributed to an increase in the number of newly opened businesses,” Jovchevski said.
“It is not a problem to open a business from a technical standpoint; the challenge is to make it work long-term,” Mile Chupetanski, the owner of the ESKALIBUR engine-retooling factory in Bitola, told SETimes.

The other regional nations that improved their rankings were Cyprus (40th), Turkey (71st), Greece (100th) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (125th). The countries that lost ground were Bulgaria (59th), Romania (72nd), Croatia (80th), Albania (82nd) and Serbia (92nd).