Makedonska Kamenica, 4th July 2013 (MIA) – EUR 18 million is the worth of the investment for opening new excavation site at Sasa Mine in Makedonska Kamenica, which means continuation of the exploitation in the coming 12 years and creation of 30 new jobs.
According to Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski, today’s opening of the new shaft in Sasa Mine shows that Macedonian economy is tough and defies the general economic crisis going on in Europe, being an indicator of the traditionally good relations with the Russian investors who, as he pointed out, recognized that Macedonia offers the best opportunities when it is a matter of doing a business.
– It might be immodest, but I have to underline that, despite the extremely difficult conditions and challenges coming from Europe, Macedonian economy has become a kind of a phenomenon. In fact, when workers are laid off throughout Europe, new jobs are created in our country and unemployment rate is reduced, when production and economic activity experience a drop everywhere, new facilities and factories are opened in our country, when foreign investors withdraw in the neighbouring countries, new investments come to our country, Minister Stavreski pointed out.
He went on that EUR 18 million investment is a good signal that the investor is satisfied with the conditions for doing business in Macedonia and plans to further invest in new mining facilities. – Business climate in Macedonia is good, foreign investors are satisfied and are ever more determined to invest either in new or existing facilities so as to extend them or to open new ones, and domestic investors gradually start to invest more and more, since we have provided cheap credit lines, the Minister underlined.
He pointed out that the mining sector is important for the Macedonian economy, participating with more than 18% in the gross domestic product, and what is especially favourable is the positive growth rates of the production in the mining sector in the first two months this year, exceeding 17%. He expects for the opening of the new facility to have positive effects on the economic growth, in particular if one takes into account the favourable trends of the global stock market prices of lead and zinc.
– Export of metal or and other mining products in the period January – April 2013 amounted to EUR 49.9 million, being a significant increase of 31.5% compared to the same period last year, when it accounted for EUR 38 million. Value of exported metal ore and other mining products last year amounted to EUR 134.7 million, Stavreski pointed out.
Manager of the Mine, Aleksandar Rakov, sees the investment as continuation of the exploitation period of the mine and creation of new jobs, being around 30 jobs at the beginning.
Mayor of Makedonska Kamenica, Darko Mitevski, said that there was a fruitful cooperation with this economic entity, which would continue in future and would result in new projects in the utilities infrastructure and improvement of the living standard of mineworkers and the population in this region in general.
