Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said the week-long visit to the Russian Federation was a success. In the course of the visit, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visited four regions, where Macedonia's investment opportunities were presented before representatives of over 230 companies.

"All in all, I can say that we have had a quite successful visit, including yesterday's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at which talks amongst other things focused on additional liberalisation of the trade regime. We have visited four important regions of the Russian Federation, where presentations were held before nearly 230 Russian companies interested in starting up businesses in Macedonia. The Macedonian delegation also held meetings with the governors of the four regions, which is also of great political and economic importance. They are very influential amongst their entrepreneurs and their message will be definitely welcomed. We were warmly welcomed by them and they have been invited to visit Macedonia as soon as possible with a large group of businessmen and investors," PM Gruevski stated.

He added that meetings with Lukoil and Gazprom officials and ultimately with President Putin had been "in a way the highlight of the visit", which resulted in enhanced economic and political relations with the Russian Federation and with the largest and most powerful companies in Russia.