Istanbul, 10th May 2013 (MIA) – There are no open issues between Turkey and Macedonia. They are two friendly countries which will have exceptionally good strategic political and economic relations in future, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski, said at his visit to Turkey, where he participates in the EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum. We believe there to be good possibilities to increase investments from Turkey.
– Republic of Turkey and Republic of Macedonia have established long standing friendly relations in both political and economic sector. These are two countries having established good cooperation, I would say, more at political level, rather then on economic one, and I expect for the economic cooperation to deepen in future. However, in the past period, support to the efforts made by each of the countries in realizing foreign affairs objectives and other goals was expressed at the highest level, including through visits by the Prime Ministers of both countries, the Presidents and on their meetings, as well as at all other levels, Minister Stavreski said.
He underlined that Macedonia offers a lot of advantages to investors from Turkey as regards tax environment, low taxes, additional tax advantages when investing in free economic zones, qualified labour force, business opportunities and cooperation in various sectors.
Minister Stavreski expects for large number of Turkish investors, who are familiar with the investment opportunities and advantages in Macedonia, through the economic presentations the Government makes, to come and start a business in Macedonia.
As regards the sectors in which the cooperation is the greatest and there are the best chances for investments to be realized, Stavreski pointed out the construction sector, i.e. construction of immovable property, medicine, agriculture, textile, production activities and every other sector which investors will asses to offer good conditions for doing business.
The need to improve the business climate in the transition countries, as Minister Stavreski said, was also highlighted at EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum. He underlined that Macedonia has already improved its ranking on the Doing Business list being at the 23rd position from the 94th position in 2006, it has kept low taxes, etc.
EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum, held in Istanbul this year, is dedicated to growth, i.e. how to stimulate economic growth. He also pointed out that Macedonia has been implementing, for years now, the policies EBRD proposes for business climate improvement.