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Italian DF Labs International, a company specialized in protection systems against cyber attacks and forensic analysis, opened a representative office in Skopje. The

company offers software for protection and quick response to cyber attack with less financial loss to the client’s IT system. Potential customers for the service are hospitals, construction companies, banks. However, the software, to be offered for digital forensics of the systems is mostly used by government agencies, secret services, police authorities.

According to the CEO of DF Labs Interna-tional Dario Forte, Macedonia is a very interesting country, with developed profes-sionalism and an interesting IT in-frastructure.

“We plan to provide employees with the best employee training as to make DF Labs International leader in this area and capable to serve the European, Middle Eastern and African markets, in-cluding Macedonia”, pointed out Forte.

According to the Minister for Foreign Investments Jerry Naumoff, the entrance of DF Labs International into the Macedonian market is evidence that investment opportunities in Macedonia are attractive to small and medium-sized companies with high quality services.

This investment is considered as a confirmation that the small and medium sized companies can make quick decisions to invest in Macedonia.

“I am very proud of the investment of DF Labs International because of the unique technical know-how that will be passed on to our young and ambitious people”, said Naumoff.

MonthlyMacedonian BusinessMacedonian Business

ITALIAN COMPANY FOR IT SECURITY SYSTEMS ENTERS THE MACEDONIAN MARKET

With support of the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Published monthly by MIC

INVEST IN MACEDONIA – NEW BUSINESS HEAVEN IN EUROPEThE SOFTwARE INdUSTRY hAS EMERgEd AS ONE OF ThE MOST dYNAMIC SECTORS

In recent years, the software industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic sectors of the Macedonian economy. With a growth rate of 7.7 percent in 2009, the Macedonian software industry outran the development pace of the overall economy and became an engine for growth, innovation and competi-tiveness. Like several other transformation countries in South East Europe, Macedonia has discovered the strategic importance of the software industry and its enormous po-tential for exports.The interest in software exports has been mainly spurred by four major factors.• First, on the demand side, there is a grow-

ing trend among Western European and American companies to outsource software related tasks and activities to lower-cost destinations thereby creating substantial market opportunities for Macedonian soft ware and IT services companies.

• Second, on the supply side, Macedonia has significant comparative advantages, such as lower labor costs and highly skilled hu-man capital.

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Broadband and mobile connection to the Internet in enterprises by number of employees, 2013

97.9 98.3

63.2

90.291.5

52.7

43.841.5

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

(10+) (10-49) (50-249) (250+)

(%)

Broadband connection (fixed or mobile)

Mobile connection (broadband or other mobile conn.)

Source: State Statistical Office

No. 145 - Vol. XIV, 2014EstablIshEd 2001

BroadB

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s By numB

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ees, 20132 Macedonian Business MontHly

No. 145, Vol. XIV, September 2014

Macedonian Information Centre

Director Dragan Antonov

2001-2014 © MIC, All rights reserved

No parts of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission form the Macedonian Information Centre. The content published in the Macedonian Business Monthly do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. The publisher is not liable for errors.

Macedonian Business Monthly Founded in 2001

Editor

Sonja Kiridzievska

Chief translator Marina Efremovska

Contributor Sonja Efremova

Published monthly in the Republic of Macedonia

Address Naum Naumovski Borce 731000 SkopjeRepublic of Macedonia

Phone/Fax+389 2 311-78-76+389 2 311-78-34

www.micnews.com.mk

[email protected] [email protected]

page 3 ISTEM MEDIKAL TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION OF FACTORY IN BUNARDZIK

page 6 EBRD ADvISORY ASSISTANCE TO BETTER pROFIT AND NEw EMpLOYMENTS

page 8 TOBACCO FACTORY “TUTUNSKI KOMBINAT pRILEp” TO pRODUCE FOR pHILIp MORRIS

page 12 TURKISH INvESTMENT IN TOURISM

page 16 HEAvY RAINFALLS wILL AFFECT THE QUALITY AND EXpORT OF AGRICULTURAL pRODUCTS

INside

In recent years, the software industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic sec-tors of the Macedonian economy. With a growth rate of 7.7 percent in 2009, the

Macedonian software industry outran the development pace of the overall economy and became an engine for growth, innovation and competitiveness. Like several other transformation countries in South East Europe, Macedonia has discovered the strategic importance of the software industry and its enormous potential for exports.

The interest in software exports has been mainly spurred by four major factors.• First,onthedemandside,thereisagrowingtrendamongWesternEuropeanand

American companies to outsource software related tasks and activities to lower-cost destinations thereby creating substantial market opportunities for Macedonian soft ware and IT services companies.

• Second,onthesupplyside,Macedoniahassignificantcomparativeadvantages,such as lower labor costs and highly skilled human capital.

• Third,likeinmanyothertransformationcountries,theMacedoniangovernmentrecognized the strategic importance of the software industry for the development and competitiveness of its national economy. Being a cross-cutting technology, promoting the software industry is a well-proven measure to increase productivity, efficiency and innovation as well as to facilitate industrial transformation towards a knowledge based economy.

• Thefourthfactorcontributingtotheimportanceofsoftwareexportsforthede-velopment of the Macedonian economy is the country’s limited domestic market. Thus, export becomes an issue of paramount importance for the development and growth of the software industry. For small national economies like Macedonia inward-oriented import substitution policies are no option, instead they have to refer to outward-oriented export-led growth.

INVEST IN MACEdONIA – NEW BUSINESS HEAVEN IN EUROPEThE SOFTwARE INdUSTRY hAS EMERgEd AS ONE OF ThE MOST dYNAMIC SECTORS

Continued from page 1

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Macedonian Business MontHly 3

Istem Medikal from Turkey, the com-pany that announced its investment

in Macedonia a while ago, is getting ready to carry it out. Musa Yagmurlu, Istem Medikal CEO, said this at his meeting with the Macedonian economic delegation led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in Ankara, Turkey.

“In early October, we intend to begin the construction of our factory. The in-vestment is worth 10 million euros. In the beginning we are going to have 150 employees and after a few years we plan to drive the figure up to 250. We are very grateful to the Government for offering very good conditions for investment, for always being friendly and for accepting us well. The economic promoters helped us a lot in implementing this investment and we trust that we are going to con-tinue at the same rate and carry out other investments in the future,” Mr. Yagmurlu said.

Istem Medikal produces medical sup-plies and plans to put out the same products in the factory to be built in the technological and industrial development zone in Skopje, too.

In his presentation of Macedonia’s con-ditions for doing business before Turkish businessmen at the business forums in Turkey, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski

ISTEM MEdIKAL TO BEgIN CONSTRUCTION OF FACTORY IN BUNARDZIK Istem Medikal produces medical supplies and plans to put out the same products in the factory to be built in the technological and industrial development zone in Skopje, too

REASONS TO INVEST IN MACEDONIAmodern digital telecommunications network – The Macedonian Information Technology market has marked another significant growth in 2009 of 7.7 percent, reaching $164.5 million. Over the five-year forecast period, the country’s IT market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2 percent, and reach $212 million in 2014. Hardware is the largest and most dynamic segment of the Macedonian IT market. Free market access – Duty-free access to a market of over 650 million customers through three multilateral (SAA, EFTA and CEFTA) and two bilateral (Turkey and Ukraine) Free Trade Agreements

eur 500,000 in state aid For inVestors in industrial Zones – Up to €500.000 can be granted as incentive towards building costs depending on the value of the investment and the number of employees. Land in a TIDZ in Macedonia is available under long-term lease for a period of up to 99 years

400,000 euro inVestment - tHe road to oBtaining macedonian citiZensHiP – Foreign nationals who are residents of the EU and OECD countries and have purchased real-estate (house or flat) in Macedonia in an amount of over 40,000 euro will get the chance to be immediately granted one-year stay in the Republic of Macedonia

low taXes – Flat corporate and personal income tax rates at 10%; 0% tax on retained earnings

low oPerational costs – One of the most cost-competitive locations in Europe

eXcellent geo-strategic Position – Goods delivered within a day to Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey, and maximum two days to Western Europe

Fast comPanY registration – One-stop-shop system for company regis-tration within 4 hours

eXcellent inFrastructure – Wireless national backbone infrastructure, digital telecommunications system, extensive highway network, two inter-national airports with regular connections to main European transportation centers

resPonsiVe educational sYstem – Universities willing to collaborate with incoming investors in meeting the required skills

eXcellent Foreign language skills – English widely spoken, French and German embedded in the education system, regional languages in wide use

aVailaBle skilled workForce – A young (42% under the age of 30) and educated workforce with a strong work ethic and excellent industrial rela-tions record

HigH QualitY oF liFe – Highly attractive living and working conditionsPolitical, monetarY and macroeconomic staBilitYeu and nato candidate countrY

1. Political and regulatory environment

6. Individual usage

5. Skills7. Business usage

4. Affordability8. Governmentusage

3. Infrastructure anddigital content

9. Economicimpacts

2. Business and innovation environment

10. Socialimpacts

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Rank Value (out of 148) (1–7)

Networked Readiness Index 2014 ..............57 ..4.2Networked Readiness Index 2013 (out of 144) .................... 67 .....3.9

A. Environment subindex .................................................. 53 .....4.2

1st pillar: Political and regulatory environment ................. 67 .....3.72nd pillar: Business and innovation environment ............. 46 .....4.7

B. Readiness subindex ..................................................... 71 .....4.9

3rd pillar: Infrastructure and digital content ...................... 61 .....4.44th pillar: Affordability ...................................................... 88 .....5.05th pillar: Skills ................................................................ 68 .....5.1

C. Usage subindex ............................................................ 56 .....4.0

6th pillar: Individual usage ............................................... 53 .....4.47th pillar: Business usage ............................................. 101 .....3.38th pillar: Government usage .......................................... 47 .....4.4

D. Impact subindex ........................................................... 55 .....3.7

9th pillar: Economic impacts ........................................... 65 .....3.310th pillar: Social impacts ............................................... 52 .....4.1

Macedonia Upper-middle-income group average

Source: World Economic Forum, 2014

also praised the Macedonia Government’s openness to the business sector.

“We are a Government that is in close communication with the business sector, the economic chambers and the compa-nies. We listen to their requests on a daily basis, analyze them and accept and carry out most of them. That is how we intend to continue in the future,” Prime Minis-ter Gruevski said.

He also spoke about the reforms car-ried out in the economy and other sectors so conditions can improve for both home companies and foreign investors.

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According to the State Statistical Of-fice data, the total value of Gross

Fixed Capital Formation in the Republic of Macedonia for 2013 was 11 billion denars. The nominal increase in the value of gross fixed capital formation for 2013, in comparison with 2012, was 7.6 percent. In the technical structure of GFCF construction participated with 62.4 percent, machinery and equipment with 31.5 percent, and the rest of GFCF with 6.1 percent.

The highest amount of GFCF was realized in: F - Construction (32.4 percent); B, C, D and E - Mining and quarrying, Manufacturing, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply;

Water supply, sewerage, waste manage-ment and remediation activities (25.8 percent) and G, H and I - Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor-cycles, Transporta-tion and storage and Accommodation and food service activities (13.9 percent).

Gross fixed capi-tal formation data have been prepared according to the

European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010).

Canadian company “Reservoir Min-erals” has been working with gold

exploration in Macedonia for more than one year on Mountain Kozuf at the locality Konjsko. The concession was given in 2013 and thus far it has invested 750,000 euros in exploration. The con-cession was issues for a period of four years.

“We are interested in a long-term stay in Macedonia. We have been working for one year on this concession. For now, the results are encouraging and therefore we will continue to work on this con-

cession and the increase of investments for which we have submitted initiatives for several concessions,” said company representatives at a presentation of their activities.

They said that they develop a busi-ness of mutual work in the exploration with world renowned mining companies while in the region, they are successful with their activities in Serbia.

“For the time being, we only have one concession and we have invested around 750,000 euros in the past one and half year of working in Macedonia. This in-

vestment only refers to one project and we hope that we will also have other projects,” the company said.

They have been present in the region for 10 years and they say that Macedonia has a positive business climate and this is the reason why they want to continue to invest, and not only with new conces-sions, but with mining too.

The representatives of “Reservoir Min-erals” positively assess the legislation of mining and the highly-qualified Macedo-nian professionals for the exploration and mining industry.

Turkish agricultural company “Mach group” announced it will

invest three million euros for construc-tion of a plant in Skopje’s settlement of Ilinden. The company has already bought the land and plans to invest in food processing.

The decision for the investment in Macedonia was presented by Director of the company, Atay Mach, at a busi-ness forum in Ankara where a delega-tion led by Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski presented the invest-ment opportunities in Macedonia.

The Turkish investor said that his company was scouting places for in-vestment for two years and in the end drew the conclusion that Macedonia is the best place for investment in the region.

CANAdIAN “RESERVOIR MINERALS” INTERESTED IN INVESTINg IN MACEDONIARepresentatives of “Reservoir Minerals” positively assess the highly-qualified Macedonian professionals for the exploration and mining industry. They have been present in the region for 10 years and they say that Macedonia has a positive business climate and this is the reason why they want to continue to invest, and not only with new concessions, but with mining too

TURKISh “MACh gROUP” TO BUILD PLANT IN SKOPJE

ThE hIghEST AMOUNT OF gROSS FIXEd CAPITAL FORMATION WAS REALIZED IN CONSTRUCTION

gross fixed capital formation

0

10 000

20 000

30 000

40 000

50 000

60 000

70 000

80 000

2012 2013

EquipmentConstructionOther

million denars


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Upon conducting an inspection at Alkaloid’s production facilities for

semisynthetic cephalosporins in June 2014, the National Center for Medi-cines, Medical Devices and Medical Equipment Expertise at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan issued Alkaloid the Good Manufactur-ing Practices (GMP) certificate.

This was the first inspection of Al-kaloid’s pharmaceutical facilities per-formed by an authority of a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which is yet another proof that Alkaloid AD Skopje applies the highest European and international standards and which authorizes Alkaloid to export its products not just to the Republic of

Kazakhstan, but also to Russia, Belarus and the other countries of the region.

This certificate is one more confirma-tion that the application of most so-phisticated production technologies and business standards and the production of safe, efficient and quality medications make this company worthy competition in international markets.

The Economic Chamber of Macedonia and the Kosovo Chamber of Com-

merce are going to put their efforts into enhancing their bilateral trade on the basis of the signed agreement on cooperation and in the best interest of their member companies. On the basis of the agreement on cooperation and on-field monitoring of developments, the chambers will exchange staff, whereby one employee of the Eco-nomic Chamber of Macedonia will stay in Kosovo for a month and vice versa - an employee of the Kosovo Chamber of Com-merce will stay in Skopje. Vasko Ristovski of ECM and Senad Murati of KCC will be the first chamber employees to be spending a month in Pristina and Skopje respec-tively. They work in the agricultural and food sector, which saw the sharpest decline in trade. They will be followed by experts in the field of metal and electrical industry. In order to turn this vision of ‘economic diplomacy’ into a tangible, concrete plan, the Economic Chamber of Macedonia and the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and Staff Exchange. Chamber representatives should detect issues companies’ face when doing business and urge competent bodies to present a timely solution.

Jelisaveta Georgieva, M.E., Executive Director of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia and Safet Gërxhaliu, President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, addressed the event.

“The visit-ing chamber employees will focus on several things. First of all, they will put efforts into simplifying or reducing cross-border proce-dures and urge competent bodies to see to the construction of a Skopje- Pristina motorway, an initiative the Government of Kosovo has already put on the table. The Macedonian Government is ex-pected to respond to this initiative soon. The chambers’ representatives will work on protecting businesses from political impact and improving the partnership between the two business communities,” pointed out the President of KCC, Mr. Safet Gërxhaliu.

ECM Executive Director Jelisaveta Georgieva presented data on trade be-tween Macedonia and Kosovo, which was the main reason for the two business asso-ciations’ swift action. The total trade of the Republic of Macedonia with the Kosovo in the first seven months of 2014 reached US$ 153 million, marking a 13.5% de-cline relative to the same period last year. Exports reached US$ 131million, marking a 17.6% decline, whereas imports stood at US$ 21, marking a 24.9% increase relative to the same period last year.

The Kosovo was the Republic of Mace-donia tenth trading partner January to July 2014, whereas in the same period in 2013 Kosovo was Macedonia’s ninth for-eign trade partner.

“Governments should stay consistent in their implementation of CEFTA and should refrain from introducing protective tariff and non-tariff measures that are be-yond CEFTA procedures and impede the free flow of goods, lead to losses and create an unstable trading environment. More often than not, due to insufficient knowl-edge about customs and other trading procedures, the cross-border flow of goods is interrupted and stopped, an occurrence that most of the time is interpreted as a protectionist measure or willful behavior on the part of authorities. In the light of this, chambers of commerce, together with customs, inspection and other bodies in-volved in cross-border services, should take joint actions to raise the level of knowl-edge among economic operators,” under-scored Executive Director Georgieva.

ECONOMIC dIPLOMACY TO REMOVE PROTECTIONIST TARIFF AND NON-TARIFF BARRIERSThe total trade between Macedonia and Kosovo in the first seven months of 2014 reached US$ 153 million, marking a 13.5 percent decline relative to the same period last year. The Kosovo was the Republic of Macedonia tenth trading partner January to July 2014, whereas in the same period in 2013 Kosovo was Macedonia’s ninth foreign trade partner

ALKALOId RECEIVES gMP CERTIFICATE FROM KAZAKHSTAN

External trade volume, January - August 2014 (preliminary data)000 US $ Indices

VII 2014 VIII 2014 I-VIII 2014 VIII 2014 ------------- Ø 2013

VIII 2014 ----------- VII 2014

VIII 2014 ------------ VIII 2013

I-VIII 2014 ------------- I-VIII 2013

1 113 785 926 305 8 015 072 102.3 83.2 114.5 114.6Trade volume 199 931 163 591 1 368 002 107.3 81.8 143.7 114.3Further processing volume 434 998 371 865 3 208 293 104.6 85.5 114.4 117.4Export 115 894 99 925 815 919 108.4 86.2 127.5 111.4Export - further processing 678 787 554 440 4 806 779 100.8 81.7 114.6 112.8Import

84 038 63 666 552 083 105.5 75.8 179.6 119.0Import - further processing64.1 67.1 66.7 - - - -Import coverage by export


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6 Macedonian Business MontHly

The National Bank of Macedonia re-vealed the latest statistics about the

financial performance of the Macedo-nian banking sector. According to them, in the first half of this year, Macedonian banks made nearly 19 million euros, which is more than three times the profit of the same half of last year.

As usual, most of this profit was made by Macedonia’s three largest banks. In the first six months of 2014, all three they made profit of 16.85 million euros but while Stopanska banka Skopje and NLB Tutunska banka posted profit, Ko-mercijalna banka posted loss.

The middle-sized banks also registered a pronounced increase in their profits. Their total profit in the first six months

of 2014 was over five million euros. The small banks, on the other hand, posted loss of 3.24 million euros.

The financial results reveal that banks in Mace-donia continue to make excellent profits from in-terests, commis-sions and other fees. The income they made in the first half of the year from interest totaled 160 mil-lion euros, while the income from

commissions and fees totaled 33 million euros.

BANKS MAKE EUR 19 MN IN FIRST HALF OF 2014As usual, most of this profit was made by Macedonia’s three largest banks. In the first six months of 2014, all three they made profit of 16.85 million euros but while Stopanska banka Skopje and NLB Tutunska banka posted profit, Komercijalna banka posted loss

The European Bank for Reconstruc-tion and Development (EBRD) is

implementing an info-campaign over the value of advisory assistance and know-how transfer for small and medium-sized enterprises. Campaign events are set to be held in Tetovo, Bitola and Skopje. The campaign is focused on the value of

knowledge in the business growth and achievement of commercial success as well as the steps to the EBRD-subsidized practical knowledge.

The business councils of EBRD helped 70 percent of companies to double their sale and open new jobs. According to information, many of the businesses are

unaware that the advisory services or the popular know how are sometimes more important for the improvement of the work than the access to finances.

The domestic company from the sphere of information science, through EBRD, engaged a business consultant from Ireland who assisted the firm in in-creasing its sale.

EBRD said that for the development of companies, people with the right knowl-edge are needed. It advises domestic firms that have difficulties in their work to use the advice of foreigners to improve the competitiveness and introduce innova-tions in the work. Thus far, 600 firms have used EBRD’s business advice.

EBRd AdVISORY ASSISTANCE TO BETTER PROFIT AND NEW EMPLOYMENTS The business councils of EBRD helped 70 percent of companies to double their sale and open new jobs. According to information, many of the businesses are unaware that the advisory services or the popular know how are sometimes more important for the improvement of the work than the access to finances

VOLUNTARY PENSION FUNdS gENERATE 5 MILLION EUROS

The finances of the mandatory pen-sion funds in 2013 reached 440

million euros, or 6.56% of GDP and the finances of the voluntary pension funds were nearly 318 million denars, or 5 million euros, which is approximately 0.07% of GDP, said Bulent Dervishi from the Agency for Supervision of Fully Funded Pension Insurance. He informed about the eighth annual report on the

condition of the mandatory fully funded pension insurance (second pillar) and the fourth year since the voluntary pension insurance (third pillar) began, consisting of domestic investments, including gov-ernment securities, deposits and shares, and investments abroad.

“New members joined the manda-tory fully funded pension insurance in 2013, too, driving the total number up

to 350,040, which is an increase of about 8% from 2012. The contributors to the 2-pillar pension system are some 66% of the total number of contributors to the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, or some 17% of the total population,” Dervishi said.

Liquidity of the banking system* (quarterly change , in Denar million)

Q1. 2

011 Q2 Q3 Q4

Q1. 2

012 Q2 Q3 Q4

Q1. 2

013 Q2 Q3 Q4

Q1. 2

014 Q2 Q3

**

Currency in circulation

Monetary instruments

NBRM interventions on the F/X market with banks

Transactions of the government

Banks' liquidity

* Positive change - liquidity creation, negative change - liquidity withdrawal; ** Including July

-12,000-10,000

-8,000-6,000-4,000-2,000

02,0004,0006,0008,000

10,00012,00014,000

Source: NBRM.

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According to preliminary data, obtained by annual reports of business entities and other sources, the gross domestic

product (GDP) in 2013 is 4.9 billion denars and in comparison with 2012 it increased by 7.0% in nominal terms. The real GDP growth rate in comparison with 2012 is 2.7%.

The following sectors had the biggest share of value added in the structure of GDP in 2013: (G, H and I) Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor ve-hicles and motorcycles; Transportation and storage; Accommodation and food service activities (18.2%).

The Final consumption in 2013, in comparison with 2012, increased by 3.7% in nominal terms, while its share in the structure of GDP was 89.6%.

In 2013, the share of Export of goods and services in GDP was 43.8%.

Gross domestic product (GDP) data for 2012 and 2013 have been prepared according to the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) 1) as part of the revision of the annual series of data due to meth-odological improvements and implementation of the principles of this methodology.

Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council adopted in 2013, which introduces a new system for compiling national accounts – European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) will come into force in September 2014 and will replace the previous one, ESA 1995.

Higher salaries in the public sector as of this year, and higher pensions

and social welfare as of next year is envis-aged under the 2015 Budget, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski, said presenting the 2015 Draft Budget. According to him, public administration salaries will be increased by 4% as of November this year with the payment of the salary for October. As of July, the payment of the social assistance will increase by 5%, while pensions as of October with the payment of September’s salary will also be higher by 5%.

2015 Budget, as Deputy Prime Minis-ter Stavreski said, is aimed at meeting the Government’s priorities, that being sup-port to the business sector and the private

sector through capital investments, as well as the living standard of citizens. As Stavreski stressed, the Draft Budget resulted from the comprehensive analysis, taking into accounts two trends – devel-opments in the European economy and achievements of Macedonian economy this year.

“European economy showed nega-tive signs; there was drop of industrial production in eight countries, as well as negative trends in German economy. Macedonia however has registered high 4.3% growth in the second quarter of the year. We analyzed both trends and concluded that Macedonian economy, as a result of the economic growth, can afford increase of salaries, pensions and

social welfare, thus improving the living standard of citizens,” Stavreski said.

The 2015 Budget includes GDP growth projected at 4%, low inflation of 2% and budget deficit lower than this year’s one, accounting for 3.5%. Total revenues for next year are projected to be higher by 5% than the ones from this year, and they will amount to 163 billion and 280 million denars, while the expen-ditures are higher by 4%, and they will amount to 181 billion and 777 million denars.

In addition to salaries and pensions, most of the expenditures are intended for subsidies for farmers, for which EUR 140 million is projected, as well as Denar 21 billion and 209 million for capital invest-ments. Deputy Prime Minister Stavreski pointed out that investments cycle in the road and the railway infrastructure would resume next year, pointing out several more significant projects such as Corridor 10 for which Denar 3.4 billion will be invested, and one billion and 311 million denars for the railway infrastructure.

IN 2013, ThE ShARE OF EXPORT OF gOOdS AND SERVICES IN gDP WAS 43.8 PERCENTRegulation of the European Parliament and of the Council adopted in 2013, which introduces a new system for compiling national accounts – European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) will come into force in September 2014 and will replace the previous one, ESA 1995

hIghER SALARIES, PENSIONS ANd SOCIAL WELFARE UNDER THE 2015 BUDgETThe 2015 Budget includes GDP growth projected at 4 percent, low inflation of 2 percent and budget deficit lower than this year’s one, accounting for 3.5 percent

gross domestic product real growth rates

-4.0

-2.0

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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s8 Macedonian Business MontHly

Investments and export, professional training and structural reforms in the

education system and legal safety are key areas that need to be improved in order to increase economic competitiveness.

In order to increase competitiveness on both domestic and local level, quality traffic, communal and energy infrastruc-ture is crucial, as well as more intensified cooperation in terms of trade infrastruc-ture networking. That is why the regional cooperation in infrastructure projects needs to be enhanced, including energy projects and projects involving youth ex-change activities.

These were the main conclusions reached at the regional conference titled “Economy – Basis for Linkage in the Western Balkans – Directions on Raising Competitiveness of the Companies in the Region”, which was held in Montenegro that was also attended by representatives of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia.

It was pointed at the meeting that the frequent changes to the regulations

disable the legal safety, and thus the attraction of foreign investments, noted today at a press conference, the Chamber’s operative director, Elena Milevska-Strbevska.

“It is necessary to present the region as an attractive place for investments and through joint cross-border projects to start a close cooperation to promote the regional economic growth. In order to have more investments it is necessary to increase the legal safety, and that means a considerable level of cohesion among all the region countries in terms of the domestic regulations and the EU law,” Milevska-Strbevska stressed.

Also at the conference, a work group was agreed to be formed, which will determine a list of 10 pilot projects of mutual interest for all the countries from the region, taking into consideration the comparative advantages in each country, she added.

Soon in Berlin, with the help of Germany, the first meeting of the

work group will be held. The German assistance in the region will continue in the next three to four years, and the first results are expected in a short period of time.

Milevska-Strbevska explained that the presidents of the economic chambers from the region will work on establishing firmer economic ties in the area and that thet recognize the necessity and the importance of regional economic cooperation.

In the first six months of this year, up to 78 percent of Macedonian exports were realized in the EU member countries, followed by the countries in the Western Balkans, with 13.6 percent. The situation does not differ much in all the region countries, who also realize over 50 percent of their foreign trade exchange with the EU member states. At the same time, Germany is one of the main trade partners of all the countries in the Western Balkans.

Prilep’s tobacco factory “Tutunski Kombinat-Prilep” (TKP) launched

the cigarette production for the new firm “Philip Morris – Tutunski Kombinat Pri-lep” which officially started the realization of the strategic partnership agreement.

“The new company that is part of our strategic partnership has been formed, registered, obtained all the necessary permits to begin production, import, export and customs approvals which

was needed for it to begin operating and produce the brands part of the contract,” said TKP General Manager, Aleksandar Dermendziev.

The first tonnes of cigarettes are distrib-uted on the Macedonian market under the label – Produced by Philip Morris – Tutunski Kombinat Prilep under the license from the Tutunski Kombinat.

“This is a big deal for us. This means that the TKP is now ready to meet

standards and needs set by a world giant like “Philip Morris” and the Macedonian company has adapted both its production process and work standards to the policies introduced by Philip Morris, said Dermendziev.

“We used the period between the sign-ing of the agreement and today to prepare an action plan for all the necessary repairs, additional training, introduction of qual-ity control standards and new machinery. This was all necessary to be done before the new line of production begins,” ex-plained Dermendziev.

Soon the Prilep plant will begin to pro-duce “Phillip Morris” brands of cigarettes including the world famous “Marlboro.” The benefits from the strategic partner-ship with the world renowned cigarette producer are great both for the factory and Macedonia.

“TUTUNSKI KOMBINAT PRILEP” TO PRODUCE FOR PHILIP MORRISThe brands of “Philip Morris” and the well-known cigarette brand “Marlboro” will be produced in Prilep’s cigarette factory. The benefits from the strategic partnership with the world renowned cigarette producer are great both for the factory and Macedonia

wESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES TO wORK CLOSELY ON IMPROVINg COMPETITIVENESSIn the first six months of this year, up to 78 percent of Macedonian exports were realized in the EU member countries, followed by the countries in the Western Balkans, with 13.6 percent. The situation does not differ much in all the region countries, who also realize over 50 percent of their foreign trade exchange with the EU member states

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Thirteen carriers will connect Mace-donia with 36 European destinations

in the winter schedule. According to information, despite the existing ones, there will be no new destinations for now.

All airline companies that currently op-erate will continue to do so until March next year. The flying schedule is still be-ing prepared, informed the Civil Aviation Agency.

“We expect the continuity in the op-eration of the low-budget companies to continue during the Christmas holidays with greater tempo for which we are prepared to give the permits necessary,”

Dejan Mojsoski, Director of the Civil Aviation Agency, said.

Wizz Air will have around 40 flights per week. It will transport passengers from and to 14 destinations. Twice per week to Paris, three times per week to Eindhoven, Munich and London and four times to Malmö. The government subsidies will increase the number of destinations and passengers. The three-year contract ends in July next year. The Government confirmed that at the beginning of 2015, a new call for financial support of a carrier will be published. The money for this purpose is included in the budget.

The Ministry of Transport and Com-munications, at the beginning of next year, will publish a new public inter-national call in competitive tender procedure for granting financial aid for development of the aviation sector in the Republic of Macedonia, said the Govern-ment.

The Government continues with the subsidizing of the airline companies that will bring more competitive prices where-as the procedure for national carries is open. The market is still being analyzed. Experts said that this will also bring new benefits.

“Our professional cadres of pilots, stewardesses, who are now are working all across the world, will once again return to Macedonia,” said Kiril Kajevski, for-mer pilot.

A total of 4.9 million euros were al-located from the budget for the airline business, single cash injection of 40,000 for each newly-opened destination, mon-ey for each handled passenger. The cheap flights made a real boom in Macedonia.

The high-speed railroad to Athens will cost Macedonia around 1 billion

euros. Initial estimations have been made but it will yet to be analyzed whether the mega project for the high-speed railroad from Budapest to Athens is profitable for Macedonia, said Transport Minister Mile Janakieski.

“As a country, we are interested in such a project because it will improve the services of companies and citizens but it is still in the early stage, we must look at the way of financing, what the response of other countries will be since it is a regional project, an expensive one and it will cost 1 billion euros in Macedonia only. We are planning to meet with the Chinese authorities and with officials from the countries in the region and

therefore it is too early for details,” said Minister Janakieski.

This mega-railroad project will most probably be financed with Chinese money. The Chinese government is already negotiating with Hungary and Serbia for crediting the construction. The new Chinese-sponsored plan envisages trains moving at between 160 and 200 kmh, which would require further significant, costly upgrades. Janakieski said that if Macedonia becomes part of the plan, certain parts of the railway line will have to be built afresh. Other parts will only need to be adjusted.

Except in Macedonia, Hungary and Serbia, there is also an interest in Greece for the high-speed railroad which will have the task to modernize

the rail especially from border-crossing Bogorodica to Thessaloniki. If a final agreement is reached, the construction would start as soon as next autumn.

According to the initial estimations, the Corridor would be entirely adapted for super high-speed trains in three years. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who met last month with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, said he would also schedule a meeting with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to get informed about the potentials of the Macedonian railroad.

The final project for the high-speed railroad Budapest-Belgrade-Skopje-Athens, will be presented in Belgrade in December at the Summit of the leaders of the Central and Eastern European countries.

MACEdONIA wANTS PART OF hIgh-SPEEd RAILROAD BUDAPEST-ATHENSThis mega-railroad project will most probably be financed with Chinese money. The Chinese government is already negotiating with Hungary and Serbia for crediting the construction. The new Chinese-sponsored plan envisages trains moving at between 160 and 200 kmh, which would require further significant, costly upgrades. Janakieski said that if Macedonia becomes part of the plan, certain parts of the railway line will have to be built afresh. Other parts will only need to be adjusted

GOVERNMENT TO EXTEND LOW COST SUBSIDIESAccording to information, despite the existing ones, there will be no new destinations for now. All airline companies that currently operate will continue to do so from the end of October to March next year...

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Bulgarian company “ISA 2000” will build a mall in the vicinity of airport

“Alexander the Great.” The investment in Luxury Balkan Mall, according to announcements of the Municipality of Petrovec, will amount to 50 million euros and open 2,000 jobs. The object will be twice as big as City Mall.

“This parcel is around 70,000 square meters. According to announcements of the investors, the plan is reaching its final stage and refers to a major luxurious Balkan mall of 200,000 square meters where 2,000 jobs are planned to be

opened,” said Borce Mitevski, Mayors of the Municipality of Petrovec.

Industrial zone “Kjojlija” that is located near Skopje’s airport is the biggest zone in the country and one of the most sought after. Out of some seventy parcels, only three remain unsold.

Numerous domestic and foreign companies bought land for different purpose all from hotels to light industry, food, logistics and automotive spare parts. A total of 20 construction permits have already been issued and the zone is

expected to become a large construction site next spring.

“We have investors from Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy, Albania, and Macedonia too. We have already issued a construc-tion permit for a luxurious hotel near the airport to a Turkish investor. The hotel will stretch on a surface of 21,000 square meters. The preparatory activities of firm “Nov Trejd” from Stip for an 8,000 square meter hall intended for automo-tive spare parts have already kicked off,” said Mitevski.

An Italian company is building a pri-vate hospital with top equipment for patients from Macedonia and neighbor-ing countries in the municipality of Petrovec. The mayor expects not only the unemployment in the municipality to be completely solved with the announced projects but thousands of people from the entire region of Skopje to find a job as well.

The situation in the building industry has improved in the past few years.

The building sector has registered higher activity and hence its contribution to the Macedonian GDP has been on a steady rise. In 2008, it constituted 4.9 percent, in 2009 5.2 percent, in 2010 5.6 percent and in 2013 around 7 percent of GDP.

Active building firms last year totaled 4,322 and they had some 45,000 em-ployees. Small building firms, which to-tal 4,073, constitute 94.3 percent of the sector, while medium and large compa-nies, which have between 20 and 2,000 employees and which total 249, account for 5.7 percent of the market, while em-ploying over 75 percent of all building sector employees.

In the words of Marija Petroska from the Building Association at the Econom-ic Chamber of Macedonia, this sector is increasingly more active in building

roads and other infrastructure and there-fore more jobs will definitely be created.

The Government has allocated funds and has already launched several major infrastructure undertakings such as the

Demir Kapija-Smokvica highway, the Miladinovci-Stip highway, the Kicevo-Ohrid highway, the expansion of the Veles-Kadrifakovo road and the recon-struction of the Veles-Skopje highway.

MALL TO BE BUILT NEAR SKOPJE’S AIRPORTIndustrial zone “Kjojlija” that is located near Skopje’s airport is the biggest zone in the country and one of the most sought after. Out of some seventy parcels, only three remain unsold

BUILdINg SECTOR REMAINS dRIVINg FORCE OF MACEDONIAN ECONOMYThe Government has allocated funds and has already launched several major infrastructure undertakings such as the Demir Kapija-Smokvica highway, the Miladinovci-Stip highway, the Kicevo-Ohrid highway, the expansion of the Veles-Kadrifakovo road and the reconstruction of the Veles-Skopje highway

Estimated value of works by types of constructions and works

Buildings15.2%

Civil engineering 80.1%

Reconstructions 4.7%


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The projections for greenhouses gasses emissions, according to the scenario

for development of the electrical and power system, based only on coal, show an average annual growth rate of 3.6% in the period 2008-2020. If we analyze the environmentally improved scenarios (in-troduction of gas power plants for com-bined heat and power production, the reduction of electricity consumption for the large consumers and the increased use of renewable sources), the average annual growth rate in the period 2008-2020 will be reduced to 1.4%.

The energy sector in Macedonia greatly contributes to the environmental pollution because around 90% of the primary energy is produced from fossil fuels, mainly lignite and heavy crude oil. Therefore, this sector participated with over 70% in the total emission of green-

house gasses and the participa-tion is the same in the local pollution.

Regarding the obligations from the environmental aspect, very important for the energy sector are the requirements in the Law on Environment concerning the environmen-tal impact assessment (EIA), system for integrated license for integrated prevention and pollution control (IPPC), environmental plans for management and environmental audits, including eco-labeling. Also, when constructing new energy capacities the obligations from the international conventions, signed by the Republic of Macedonia, primarily the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context

and the Convention on Biological Diver-sity should be taken into account.

Presently Macedonia has no quantified obligations to reduce the emissions of the greenhouse gasses. However, in the future, it would have to be involved in the common European efforts and goals regarding the climate changes.

A total of 800 construction workers with energy efficiency skills will cer-

tify their knowledge and additional 200 workers will be trained to become train-ers as part of a project implemented in coordination with the Economic Cham-ber of Macedonia.

The project dubbed “Energy Efficiency Training for Construction Workers” is being realized within the Build Up Skills initiative promoted in the EU in June 2012.

Knowledge and skills in five professions in the construction sector, namely facade makers, carpenters, air conditioning, heating technicians, roofers and electri-cians, will be certified. A job announce-ment for them will be issued in May 2015. In addition to Macedonia, their

certificates will be recognized in Croatia and Slovenia as well.

“It is crucial given the fact that this system will introduce a system for rec-ognizing previous knowledge and expe-rience i.e. the knowledge of thousand construction workers will be certified. On the other hand, we will have a trained workforce which is going to build energy efficient facilities and the competitiveness of the construction sector will be raised,” said Jelisaveta Georgievska, Executive Director of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia.

Also, trainers in the five profes-sions will be trained to know how to recognize the knowledge and skills of workers. Their trainings are expected to be launched in February 2015. The

certification and training process will be conducted under the monitoring of the Adult Education Center.

“The role of the Center will be im-portant also after the end of the project because we do not want to continue to train workers. Together with the Eco-nomic Chamber of Macedonia, we will review the possibility to continue these programmes,” said Director of the Adult Education Center, Lindita Qazimi.

The 20-month project has a budget of EUR 400,000. In compliance with the EU strategy, Macedonia needs to provide 36.13% of energy saving in the construc-tion sector until 2020. To meet the goal, the country will be in need of at least 9,800 to 16,000 construction workers with energy efficiency qualifications.

CONSTRUCTION wORKERS TO BE TRAINEd FOR ENERgY EFFICIENCY

INTEgRATEd ENVIRONMENTAL LICENSES FOR ENERgY OBJECTS TOORegarding the obligations from the environmental aspect, very important for the energy sector are the requirements in the Law on Environment concerning the environmental impact assessment (EIA), system for integrated license for integrated prevention and pollution control (IPPC), environmental plans for management and environmental audits, including eco-labeling

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The most successful hotels in Mace-donia are: “Aurora Resort&Spa”-

Berovo, “Izgrev”-Struga, “Sultan”-Skopje and “Skardus”-Tetovo. Among the best incoming tourist agencies are: “Badem Tours”, “Karaci”, “Visit Mace-donia” and “VAS-TOUR”. Acknowl-edgements were received by the restau-rants “New Star”, “Raguza”, “Veneto” and “Mirakoli” from Skopje and the tourist manifestations that marked last year are “Esnaf ”-Skopje, festival “Ohrid Summer”-Ohrid, festival “Manaki Brothers”-Bitola and the Tetovo Cul-tural Summer-Tetovo.

The nominations were received by the Chambers of Commerce for tourism and the information from the Agency for Promotion and Support of Tour-ism on agencies with most requests for subsidies and hotels that registered most guests during the previous year were taken to consideration. The follow-ing criteria were considered during the selection: contribution to tourism, ef-ficient working and improvement of the tourist offer. On the occasion of 27 Sep-

tember- World Day of Tourism, Econ-omy Minister Bekim Neziri presented the results that Republic of Macedonia marked in the tourism sector.

“During the last 3 years we have had an average increase of the number of total visitors by 5 percent while only in 2013 we had increase of 5.8 percent while the number of foreign tourists increased by 13.8 percent. The number of foreign tourists in Macedonia dur-ing the past eight years doubled by 98 percent and the total number of tourists marked a growth of 40 percent. This is mostly result of the subsidizing of the foreign organized touristic turnover and

because of that the Government of Re-public of Macedonia increases the funds for this activity every year so this year they totaled 2.5 million EUR”, stated Neziri.

What is especially significant to em-phasize, according to Neziri, is that for the first time last year, the number of tourists exceeded the number of 700,000 which was the main goal in line with the Strategy for Tourism Development.

“AURORA RESORT&SPA” – BEROVO AMONg MOST SUCCESSFUL HOTELS IN MACEDONIAThe tourist manifestations that marked last year are “Esnaf”-Skopje, the festival “Ohrid Summer”-Ohrid, festival “Manaki Brothers”-Bitola and the Tetovo Cultural Summer-Tetovo

New Turkish investment in the tourist industry was announced recently at

the Business forum in Mersin where the benefits for investing in Macedonia were presented by the government delegation led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

The investment is of the company Develi Group, which has more businesses in the areas of tourism, construction and agriculture, and is currently considering the opportunity to invest in Macedonia.

“We are planning to invest in the tour-ism sector, we might build several hotels

and bring tourists from Turkey to Mace-donia and vice versa,” said Director of the group, Deha Develi.

During the business forum in Mersin, Prime Minister Gruevski told the Turkish businessmen who are considering expan-sion and investment outside of Turkey, to look for markets that offer low costs for making business and a well-educated workforce, which are closer to Europe and offer excellent business climate. That could be found in Macedonia which has a government that is business- friendly

oriented. PM Gruevski pointed out that Macedonia invests in building techno-logical industrial development zones, in which investors during the first 10 years are not obliged to pay personal income tax and corporate tax.

Macedonian Prime Minister pointed out that has more foreign investors al-ready operate in Macedonia and they are satisfied with the working conditions and investment climate, including the already present Turkish companies.

TURKISh INVESTMENT IN TOURISMThe investment is of the company Develi Group, which has more businesses in the areas of tourism, construction and agriculture, and is currently considering the opportunity to invest in Macedonia

Kind of service Very good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Total

Traffic 50.24 40.32 9.43 100.00

Food services 61.54 36.53 1.93 100.00

Entertainment 49.22 47.02 3.76 100.00

Shopping 40.50 55.21 4.29 100.00

Police treatment 54.86 37.80 7.34 100.00

Opportunities for rest and recreation 49.67 48.68 1.65 100.00


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A subsidy of 65 euros for each tourist will be paid by the Government for

tour operators that will bring guests from USA, Germany, England, Qatar, Kazakh-stan and Azerbaijan. These six countries are new on the list of the Government for subsidy as of next year. The condition for receiving a government subsidy of 65 eu-ros per person is for the tour operator to bring a group that will travel by plane and stay for at least three nights.

“This is a good sign for the domestic tourist agencies to immediately start establishing partnerships with the tour-

ist organizations from these countries aiming to attract greater interest from the tourists from these countries. This will be in the interest for them as tourist workers but also for the country because these countries leave foreign curren-cies that are afterward used in several economic branches in the country,” said Government Spokesman Aleksandar Gjeorgiev.

Thus far, the government has provided subsidies for tour operators who bring organized groups from Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Nor-

way, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. As of this year, subsidies for tourists from China and India are also allocated.

The subsidies have yielded the initial effects. In 2012, foreign exchange earn-ings of 122.3 million dollars from tour-ism were realized.

Statistics shows that in the past five years, the average rate growth in this sector totals around 10 percent or from the period between 2010 and 2013, the number of tourists increased by over 115,000.

The number of Dutch and Belgian tourists along the coast of Ohrid will

increase and the optimism is based on the increased interest for buying arrange-ments in the mentioned countries up to 20 percent. On the other hand, the Hotel Association of Macedonia demands of the Government the list of countries where the tour operators will be subsidies to be extended which would drastically increase the number of foreign tourists.

Since the end of August, tour operators “Corendon” and “TUI” have been selling the arrangements for Macedonia for next year. Since then, reservations have been made and the sale is better compared to the same period of last year.

“The sale of Macedonia as a tourist destination this year is unexpectedly go-ing better compared to previous years. The percent registers an upward trend by 10 to 20 which means that we can expect greater number of countries from the Benelux countries next year,” said

Asim Megjedovic, Director of “Fibula Air Travel”.

The presence of Dutch and Belgian tourist outside the peak season has posi-tive influence on the tourism. The hotels and hospitality objects are being filled.

The subsidizing of the foreign orga-nized tourist turnover yields results. Therefore, the Hotel Association of Macedonia (HOTAM) demands the list to include countries from the region and beyond and from Central Europe.

“We have estab-lished that the list needs to include a new group of coun-tries that demands subsidies in an amount of 45 euros per passengers to be introduced but with a minimum stay of 7 days. Thus far, we had

an average stay of guests of 2.2 days in the Republic of Macedonia,” said Presi-dent of HOTAM, Donco Taneski.

The goal is not only to increase the number of tourists but also the average stay. This will boost the average con-sumption of every tourist and at the same time the small businesses that gravitate towards this economic branch will ben-efit too.

gOVERNMENT TO PAY 65 EUROS SUBSIdY FOR EACH TOURIST FROM USA, gERMANY, QATAR...Thus far, the government has provided subsidies for tour operators who bring organized groups from Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. As of this year, subsidies for tourists from China and India are also allocated

BENELUX TOURISTS ALREAdY PURChASE ARRANgEMENTS FOR NEXT SUMMERThe subsidizing of the foreign organized tourist turnover yields results. Therefore, the Hotel Association of Macedonia (HOTAM) demands the list to include countries from the region and beyond and from Central Europe

Structure of tourists and nights spent, July 2014

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y14 Macedonian Business MontHly

Ohrid Lake’s Gorica beach was proudly marked with a White Flag,

by the Global Underwater Awareness Association (GUAWAA) to point out that this is an area of extraordinary ecological purity and protection.

President Gjorge Ivanov, speaking at the flag raising ceremony, said that this is yet another acknowledgement for Ohrid, which puts the lake on the world map of pure, clean resorts. President Ivanov added that this generation must work to preserve Ohrid for posterity.

“This ceremony is an appeal of sorts, to take care of the waters not only of Macedonia, but of the world, knowing what clean water means for humanity. This should entice us to keep not only

parts of Lake Ohrid clean from pollution, but to preserve the entire lake for the future generations,” President Ivanov said.

The Global Underwater Awareness Association, a Norway based non-profit organization, works to protect seas, rivers and lakes from pollution and to inform the public of their vitality. GUWAA President Kristijan Curevic said that the organization is awarding its first White Flag to Macedonia, as an international sign of water purity.

“We take the White Flag to four new countries, and Macedonia is one of the first among them. The White Flag can’t be bought, it must be earned,” Curevic said, pointing out the work of diver Kiro

Angeleski from the cave diving club Vrelo, for his work to clean numerous bodies of water around the world.

“It is activities like the ones undertaken by Angeleski that helped Macedonia earn this mark. In two to three years, the White Flag will be raised in 60 countries around the world, and in Macedonia, it will help promote tourism and draw people to this beautiful lake,” Curevic said.

The White Flag was first raised in Monaco, and in the Balkans, it was promoted in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. GUWAA has famous actor Armand Assante as its global ambassador, while in Macedonia, it is represented by legendary musician Vlatko Stefanovski.

LAKE OhRId EARNS whITE FLAg FOR PURITY

REgION UNITES IN ThE FIghT AgAINST CLIMATE CHANgESWith the catastrophic floods in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, the rule that the extraordinary situations tear down the political barriers between the countries in the region was once again confirmed. With the future establishment of the regional coordinative body for dealing with elementary disasters, the cooperation in this field will be lifted to a better level

The region unites in the fight against the climate changes. The massive

floods that hit the Balkan countries this year turned on the red light that some-thing must be undertaken as soon as possible. Experts are unanimous that the floods are a consequence of the global warming that is result of the enormous pollution of the atmosphere.

This is a global issue and its solution requires a global response. The countries from the region, represented by the lead-ing members of the green parties dis-cussed how to improve the cooperation in this field. Every country has its own strat-egy on how to deal with the floods but everyone agrees that a new regional body that will coordinate the Balkan countries during future possible disasters must be established.

With the catastrophic floods in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, the rule that the extraordinary situations tear down the political barriers between the countries in the region was once again confirmed. With the future establishment of the regional coordinative body for dealing with elementary disasters, the cooperation in this field will be lifted to a better level.

Nevertheless, representatives of 11 countries from the region attended the first conference of the Balkan green parties in Skopje and through their discussion showed that the climate changes do not recognize borders.

MEP representative of the Croatian green party “Orah” Davor Skrlec put the emphasis on the financial mechanisms and stressed that “the Balkan has the need of cooperation and networking

following the example of the European Union.” Also, in his view, the Balkan countries do not use the Balkan funds for environmental problems enough.

Skrlec stressed that the establishment of a fund for assistance is not enough but the capacities of the political parties as well as the inclusion of the nongovernmental sector is also needed.

The coalition for environmental protection of the Balkan will lobby with the responsible institutions for organizing a regional platform for exchange of knowledge, experiences and equipment for dealing with catastrophes. The cooperation of the Balkan countries will contribute to the preventive functioning and controlling of the climate changes, as well as more efficient tackling of natural disasters.

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Macedonian company “Prilepska Pivarnica” was named National

Champion in the European Business Awards sponsored by RSM International; a prestigious competition supported by businesses leaders, academics, media and political representatives from across Europe.

The European Business Awards now in its 8th year engaged with over 24,000 business from 33 European countries this year and 709 companies from across Eu-rope have been named today as National Champions; going through to the second phase of the competition.

Prilepska Pivarnica already 90 years successfully exists on the Macedonian

market and seems to be a leader in the innovations field, in the ethical access and financial success in the last years. In the last couple of years the company invested more than EUR 30 million in modernization of the production which enlarged the sale and conquered greater market share.

“We’re very proud to be selected to rep-resent Macedonia as a National Cham-pion. The European Business Awards is widely recognized as the showcase for Europe’s most dynamic companies and we are now looking forward to the next round of the judging process where we can explain in more depth how we are achieving business,” said Sashko Samard-

jioski, General Manager of Prilepska Pivarnica.

“Congratulations to Prilepska Piv-arnica, it is a great achievement to be named National Champion and we wish them luck in the next stage. The European Business Awards is going from strength to strength, inspiring businesses to greater success and helping to improve the competitive edge of companies across Europe,” said Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards.

Macedonia will be the first country in the region to organize an open

agricultural fair. The initiator is the Fed-eration of Farmers of Macedonia and it will realize the fair in cooperation with the Turkish association Fuarcilik.

A delegation from Turkey paid a visit to Macedonia to look at the opportuni-ties and then signed a memorandum of cooperation.

“This will be a fair in the open that Turkey has been organizing for several years. These are fairs at which the entire process of production can be seen,” said Nikola Stamenov, President of the Fed-eration of Farmers of Macedonia.

“Before we start with the realization of the fair, we will have training of Mace-donian agriculturalists together with the agriculturalists from Turkey and Ger-

many and everyone will get coordinated to achieve success at this fair,” said Nezih Surajan.

The fair will be realized on a surface of around 20 hectares and the host will be the municipality of Vasilevo.

“This will greatly benefit our farmers too because they will be able to learn a lot,” said Vanco Stojanov, Mayor of the Municipal-ity of Vasilevo.

Turkish asso-ciation Fuarcilik

counts 2,000 members who combined own 75,000 hectares of agricultural land. The cooperation has four companies that work with production of seed material, trade, promotion and education and together they have an annual turnover of 25 million euros.

MACEdONIA TO ORgANIZE AN OPEN AgRICULTURAL FAIRThe fair will be realized on a surface of around 20 hectares and the host will be the municipality of Vasilevo

PRILEPSKA PIVARNICA NAMEd NATIONAL CHAMPION IN THE EUROPEAN BUSINESS AWARDS Prilepska Pivarnica already 90 years successfully exists on the Macedonian market and seems to be a leader in the innovations field, in the ethical access and financial success in the last years. In the last couple of years the company invested more than EUR 30 million in modernization of the production which enlarged the sale and conquered greater market share

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re16 Macedonian Business MontHly

The lease of state agricultural land over 10 hectares will be admin-

istered through electronic public auc-tion.

The Ministry of Agriculture said that first around 6,000 hectares of land in several municipalities across the coun-try will be announced.

The starting price of the electronic auction will be 25 euros for land from first to fifth cadastre class and 15 euros for land from the fifth to eighth class.

Depending on what the land will be used for, the rent will be for a period from 15 to 30 years.

Domestic and foreign investors have the opportunity to apply at the public action and the conditions will be the same for everyone.

The heavy rainfalls flooded the crops and quality of nearly all agricultural

cultures. The most critical state is seen with the grapes as the rain reduced the level of sugar units that are crucial for the quality. There is reduced crops and qual-ity both with the apple and vegetables as well with the wheat.

The economic damages from such weather conditions will yet to be ap-praised. Agro-economists said that there will be no price shocks on the domestic market but that citizens could face poorer quality of products. According to experts, the meeting of the export quotas will also be problematic.

The reduced crops of these agricultural cultures comes in a period when one of the biggest world markets Russia, due to the sanctions towards the EU countries, is looking for alternative markets for im-port of agricultural products. In the field,

the Russian wholesale traders conclude agreements for import of Macedonian products and demand kilogram plus. The agro-businessmen comment that due to the situation, they cannot fully respond to the demands of the Russian traders.

Traders that work for the Russian market are showing interest for agricul-tural products that they can supply from Macedonian exporters but reaching an agreement is difficult as Macedonia does not have plenty of quantities and quality to meet these demands.

“Practically we have many products that we can distribute to Russia,” said Blazo Vitanov, Director of “Agrofruktus” from Strumica.

Vitanov said that usually apples are be-ing distributed to the Russian market but this time, due to the sanctions introduced by Russia, the Macedonian farmers un-

justifiably increased the prices expecting greater turnover.

Vasko Ristovski from the Economic Chamber of Macedonia appealed to farmers not to increase the prices because Russia has a choice for orders from many other countries. Executive Director of the Macedonian-Russian Economic Cham-ber, Dejan Beshliev, said that the Russian market is enormous but the Russian trad-ers are turned to the Asian countries, Ka-zakhstan and Uzbekistan, which are ma-jor fruit producers. Yet, his assessments were that the farmers and producers can expect greater sale of fruits, vegetables and canned food by 30 to 40 percent in the Russian Federation.

hEAVY RAINFALLS wILL AFFECT ThE QUALITY AND EXPORT OF AgRICULTURAL PRODUCTSAgro-economists said that there will be no price shocks on the domestic market but that citizens could face poorer quality of products. According to experts, the meeting of the export quotas will also be problematic

ELECTRONIC PUBLIC AUCTION FOR LEASE OF AgRICULTURAL LAND

Agricultural holdings by size of utilised agricultural area

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Up to 1 ha 1-2 ha 2-3 ha 3-5 ha 5-10 ha

%

Above 10 ha


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