Invest North Macedonia, within the Expo 2020 Dubai will organize the conference “North Macedonia opportunities in travel, trade and investments” on 14 January 2022.The event will be held at the TERRA AUDITORIUM, one of the five main thematic auditoriums of the EXPO and will be in the form of three panel discussions: Investment opportunities; Trade opportunities; and Tourism – potentials and opportunities.
What is the role of Invest North Macedonia in supporting the Macedonian textile companies?
Six domestic from textile industry Zlatex, Eurosolid, Eurojeans, Lars, Albatros, and Textile Solutions for the first time with InvestNorthMacedonia support participated in the A+A – International Trade Fair and Congress fair for security, protection and Health in Dusseldorf, Germany. Participation at the fair was also supported by the Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) and the Textile Cluster.
“About 60 textile companies use the benefits of the Law on Financial Support of Investments for new capital investments, construction of new halls and facilities. Starting from this year, we have enabled the installation of photovoltaics in order to produce electricity from our own sources. So, the benefits are here and the companies recognize them”, stated director Dejan Pavleski. “Our goal is to create a national brand that will be able to perform with greater capacity with its own, branded clothing, not only in our country, because our market is small, but to try to perform in one of the larger, above all European markets.” Using opportunities for online sales especially in the textile sector is our second goal” said Pavleski.
Energy, mining, tourism, agriculture and ecology are the areas in which there is great potential for intensifying economic cooperation between Poland and North Macedonia. The two countries have no open issues, and their good political relations are an excellent basis for strengthening business relations, it was concluded at the Polish-Macedonian Business Forum.
The Forum was held on 19th November as a part of the Polish President Andrzej Duda’s official visit to the country, and was opened by the President of North Macedonia H.E Stevo Pendarovski and President of Poland, H.E. Andrzej Duda.
We have traditionally good relations with Poland and the Polish people, and there are no open issues between the two countries, only open opportunities. We must not wait for better time to start the cooperation. “Better times will come if we start cooperating sooner”, Pendarovski said in his address.
He urges businessmen to use the signing of the Memorandum and focus on achieving its goals.
I am glad that some important Polish companies are already are presented into the Macedonian market. Today we will take another important step in this direction. The Memorandum of Understanding will enable dynamics in the cooperation. I expect the business communities of the two countries to us this opportunity” said President Pendarovski. He also referred to the benefits and underlined that in addition to the Agreement for avoidance of double taxation, we also have an Agreement for mutual protection of investments. The Chamber of Commerce of North Macedonia and the Polish Chamber of Commerce nurture long-term formal cooperation.
The President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda also stated that North Macedonia offers excellent investment opportunities, and the potential for intensifying cooperation between the two countries is great. This confirms the growth of trade in the recent years, especially last year in the time of Covid crisis, when many bilateral cooperation, as Duda pointed out, either decreased or even stopped altogether.
“I am happy with the quality of the economic relations. Our exchange is growing, but I see a great potential for strengthening cooperation. The trade exchange last year was 397 million euros, which is 5.3% more than in 2019”, stated President Duda.
He also said that the Macedonian economy is the most competitive in the region. North Macedonia is a perfect place for foreign investment given the facilities and great support. The investment support program includes direct subsidies, tax breaks and access to infrastructure, said the Polish president, noting that energy, mining, tourism, agriculture and the environment are the areas where there is a greatest potential for co-operation. Poland and North Macedonia face common challenges, especially in terms of energy transformation, a condition they need to meet in terms of EU membership.
Invest North Macedonia director, Dejan Pavleski and Chairman of the Polish Investment & Trade Agency, Krzysztof Drynda during the forum signed Memorandum of Understanding between both Agencies.
We do not have significant Polish investments. With signing of this Memorandum we want to encourage business for bigger, but also more balanced trade exchange, by placing more of our products there, as well as to encourage investment companies in both countries. “Our trade in recent years has increased significantly and takes place at a level of about 300 million euros per year, but Macedonian exports compared to Polish imports are four times lower”, said Pavleski.
We want to work together for greater competitiveness in the region because today the global market is difficult to attract. We are looking for some kind of synergy and we are sure that together we will succeed. Our trade has more than quadrupled since 2015 which is very important and impressive. “We want to sit down together and see what we can do for our regions, for the Polish and Macedonian economy”, stated Krzysztof Drynda.
During the visit of the President of Poland Andrzej Duda to the country, a Macedonian-Polish business forum was held at which representatives of companies from both countries will consider the possibilities for intensifying economic cooperation.
Presidents Stevo Pendarovski and Andrzej Duda addressed the business forum, after which a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the organizer of the event, Invest North Macedonia, and the Poland Investment & Trade Agency.
The Memorandum was signed by the director Dejan Pavleski and Krzysztof Drynda, director of the Agency for Investments and Trade of Poland. The purpose of the forum is to improve and strengthen the cooperation of companies from both countries, for which attendees will have the opportunity after the official part of B2B meetings, networking and presentations.
The European Commission projects in its Autumn 2021 Economic Forecast, that Macedonian economy growth will be 4% in 2021 and 3.9% in 2022.
“North Macedonia’s economic recovery is making good progress, as both, domestic and foreign demand are strengthening. The upswing is expected to gradually solidify in 2022 and 2023, based on a further firming of private consumption and foreign demand,” according to the European Commission 2021 Economic Forecast report.
“Real GDP growth is projected to average 3.9% in the period 2021 to 2023. The recovery in public finances is likely to be more protracted than anticipated earlier. Financing needs for the government’s ambitious new public investment plans, and continued implementation of anti-crisis measures are likely to entail sustained high fiscal deficit levels,” the Commission said in the Report.
Director Dejan Pavleski at today’s press conference informed about on of the biggest and most valuable projects planned by Invest North Macedonia. This project has been worked on for a long time together with Daniele Costantini, worldwide ski resorts designer from Italy.
In the past 6 months we have made comprehensive analysis of the potential of our country for development of all season tourism, whit a special focus on winter sports, so we can proudly present it to the public. Our country has a potential for building World Class All Season Resorts & Ski Centers on Jablanica near Struga and Vevchani, Bushova planina near Krushevo and Makedonski Brod and Karadzica in Sopishte and Studenichani.This are locations that have an excellent natural prepositions and adequate infrastructure.
The development of this project will promote the country as a top ski destination with competitive prices on the ski market, compared to the region and international competitors. It is a project that has the main goal to stimulate and give a strong impetus to the development of domestic tourism and whole economy.
These new tourist centers can be used by visitors throughout the year, not just in the winter. Preliminary estimates are that this project will cost between 700 and 800 million euros, involves the construction of three new tourist villages at these three locations which will include16 four and five star hotels, restaurants and about 130 mountain houses with a capacity of over 5000 beds, cable cars, ski-lifts, over 180 km alpine ski trails, cycling and adventure trails, said Pavleski.
In the next few months, we will present them at the world event EXPO 2020 Dubai, and we already made preliminary contacts that will soon result with direct presentation. I believe in success of this project, because all its aspects of utilizing the natural potential and the appropriate infrastructure are met.
The dominant exposure to the east, the presence of water and high altitudes, the presence of snow cover between 1200 and 2200 meters during nearly 140 days a year, as well as easy accessibility and the two international airports in close proximity are a huge advantage and difficult are all together in one place in most current tourist destinations in Europe and beyond, said Pavleski.
