German companies believe in investment conditions in Macedonia and seriously consider starting business in Macedonia. They were presented with the opportunities and advantages that country is offering by government team led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski at the business forum in Frankfurt.

We believe in conditions which we have heard at the presentation. We have seen several factories built by foreign investors. The road is leading us to Macedonia and it is a highly probable that we are to open factory, firstly brownfield and afterwards greenfield. Representatives of our company have visited Macedonia in September. And in January 2015 we are planning to visit Macedonia once again, Ines Anra, business partner to company Akonplas who said that her company seriously considers investing in Macedonia.

The businessmen gave positive assessment regarding the presented favourable conditions pointing out tax alleviations and subsidies. They emphasised that the conditions would enable increase of opportunities to companies to seriously consider Macedonia in making analyses for expending the capacities and investment.

Tax alleviations and subsidies granted for construction of factories to foreign investors are very attractive and we are very much satisfied with the business conditions offered in the Republic of Macedonia,” Frank Michaelis, manager of Akonplas company, said.

Ludwig Bathon from ODW Elektrik company said that Macedonia offers favourable conditions in regard to work force costs and both government’s and local authorities support is at highest level of all countries he had visited.

Macedonians have technical knowledge in production of car parts and textile industry due to which trends of labour force market are very good, Bathon said, adding that he is sure that Macedonia is the right choice for them.

Even before I came, I knew that Macedonia has good climate for investment. One cannot walk through the countries to inquire, but we see reports of companies that have invested here, we see the sincerity behind the support offered by your government, said Hasan Kara from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Frankfurt.

Representatives of 40 companies in the field of automotive, electronics, ICT and other manufacturing and service industries attended the business forum.

We as government are fully committed to economy, good business climate and we encourage domestic and foreign investors to make step in investing and in opening new jobs, PM Nikola Gruevski recommended the potential investors.

He said that the second largest challenge of the government aside from reconciliation of relations with Greece regarding NATO and EU membership is the unemployment.

When we assumed power in 2006, the unemployment was extremely high and was 38%. It is still high however reduced by 10%. We have passed through a very difficult period, global crisis, European debt crisis and in biggest part of EU member states and in Europe in general the unemployment rate increased. In this difficult period, we succeeded to reduce unemployment by around 28% in Macedonia which is a success, Gruevski said.

Favourable conditions for realisation of foreign investments are seen through low personal tax and corporate tax rate of only 10%, to educated and skilled workforce and tax alleviations provided in the technological and industrial development zones.

Gruevski in his address explained government measures and policies that provide support to companies, growth of their activity with priority goal for stimulation of employment and unemployment reduction.

Deputy PM Pesevski said that organising the business forum in Frankfurt, which is one of the major economic centres in Germany, is of great importance for attracting new foreign investors in the country, especially if taken into consideration that the German companies are companies that have large potential to expand their production and some of the companies already have invested in Macedonia.

Minister for Foreign Investments Vele Samak presented comparative advantages for investment in Macedonia referring to opportunities for investment in automotive industry.

The director of the Directorate for Industrial Development Zones, Viktor Mizo underlined the preparedness of the Directorate for infrastructure and logistical support for realisation of potential investors.