I am satisfied in general with the results of business forums and interest of foreign companies to invest in Macedonia, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told reporters, who have been covering the activities of this week investment promotion road shows in Belgium and the Netherlands.

He is also pleased with the developments at the 20th Congress of the European People's Party (EPP) in Marseille.

These road shows are useful, as many people hear about Macedonia and the business opportunities it has been offering for the first time, he said.

"Some of them are shocked in the positive sense of the word from the favorable conditions for doing business in Macedonia. We respond to all of those asking for meetings, being completely open and granting direct access to the authorities - this is the reason of my presence - to send a message that not only some institutions, but also government members and the prime minister are interested in helping foreign investors to come to Macedonia," Gruevski said.

The presentations of opportunities for investing in Macedonia have started in New York and Detroit and attracted great attention, Gruevski said. The road shows continued in London, Vienna, Munich, Dusseldorf, than Tokyo, Osaka and Singapore to be now wrapped up in Brussels and the Hague. The presentation in Turkey, although planned for this year, will be realized next month.

The Government's delegation, which also includes Deputy PM for Economic Affairs Vladimir Pesevski, Minister for Foreign Investments Vele Samak and Director of the Directorate of Technological Industrial Development Zones Viktor Mizo, is satisfied with the work done and believes in further bolstering of Macedonia's economic cooperation, trade exchange with Belgium and the Netherlands.

About 70 companies attended the business forum in the Hague, the PM said, pointing out that the event's organizer told him that many of them expressed serious interest to invest in Macedonia.

Yesterday, Gruevski said he held talks with seven businessmen, including a representative of the Dutch tour-operator "Corendon", which sells Ohrid summer packages and has already brought about 19.000 Dutch tourists to Macedonia's most prominent holiday resort.

Referring to the EPP Congress in Marseille, Gruevski said the gathering offered him an opportunity to brief many of his colleagues about the developments in Macedonia and the country's expectations from the judgement of The Hague-based International Court of Justice.

The Congress was focused on euro-crisis, but I used the opportunity at various informal, formal meetings to brief on the latest developments and ask for grater attention to be paid to issues related to Macedonia's NATO membership and opening the EU accession negotiations, the PM said.

Issues related to Macedonia and the European Union and what the country has done to make a breakthrough, recent reforms in numerous fields, as well as the ICJ judgement  were also discussed at Gruevski's meeting with EU President Herman Van Rompuy.