Wizz Air introduces direct flights Skopje - Stockholm

The low cost Wizz Air has inaugurated Friday a new direct Skopje-Stockholm flight.

Starting from today, citizens of Macedonia may fly from Skopje to the Swedish capital each Monday and Friday.

The new flight is part of the Government's project for supporting the development of the air traffic in Macedonia, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said today in a press release.

Since last October, when Wizz Air won the Government's international tender, aimed to attract European LCCs (low-cost carriers) by offering subsidies to cover a wide range of new routes from the Macedonian capital, the Hungarian airline has inaugurated six direct flights from Skopje to Milan (Italy), Dortmund and Munich (Germany), Eindhoven (The Netherlands), Malmo (Sweden) and Basel Mulhouse (France).

EU Block is Macedonia's biggest trading partner

The volume of international trade in the first three months of 2013 was 2.447.987.000 US dollars.

According to preliminary data of the State Statistical Office, the export value of goods in Macedonia in the  period January - March 2013 was 948.053 thousand US dollars, and the import value was 1.499.934 thousand US dollars. Import  coverage by export was 63.2%. The trade deficit in the period January - March 2013 was 551.881 thousand US dollars.

The trade exchange according to products shows that in the exports the most significant products are supported catalysts with  precious metal or precious metal compounds as the active substance, ferro-nickel, iron and steel products (flat-rolled products), clothes, and petroleum oil preparations. In the imports, the most significant products are the crude petroleum oils, platinum and platinum alloys, unwrought or in powder form, nickel ores and concentrates and electricity.

From January till March the most important export partners were the EU's 27 countries (72.4%) and West Balkan  countries (18.8%), while the most important import partners were the EU's 27 countries (56.3%).

According to the total volume of international commodity trade, Macedonia's most important trade partners of are Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria (49.1% of the total international commodity trade).

Special recognition for new Macedonian museum

Skopje-based Museum for Macedonian Struggle was a candidate for the Luigi Micheletti Award 2013 in the category of history and military-history museums, administered by the European Museum Academy (EMA).

The Museum said in press release Tuesday that in a competition of 21 top institutions from Europe, it was honored with a special recognition for the enthusiasm and achievements in preserving the national treasury, as an encouraging sign of the viability of European practice.

EMA Director and Chairman considered the Museum's presentation as rather innovative, saying that it may serve as an example to future candidates.

At a ceremony held in Bursa, Turkey, the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden, Germany, was announced as the winner of the 2013 Micheletti Award.

The Luigi Micheletti Award is the European prize for innovative museums in the world of industry, science and techniques. It is one of the leading activities of the Luigi Micheletti Foundation.

The criteria are concentrated on those aspects of a museum which – more than the quality of the exhibitions, of the building, etc. - contribute most directly to attracting and satisfying visitors beyond their expectations. Kenneth Hudson, the founder of the European Museum of the Year Award and the European Museum Forum, called it 'Public Quality'.

From the DASA of Dortmund, the first winner in 1996, to the TIM of Augsburg, the winner of 2011 Edition, the story of the Luigi Micheletti Award confirms that the concept of "museum's quality" is a reality from a changing, bur recognizable, face.

Macedonia industrial production rises 4.2%

Macedonia's industrial production rose 4.2% in March in comparison with the same month in 2011, the State Statistical Office said on Monday.

Statistical data show that industrial production in the section mining and quarrying in March 2013, in comparison with March 2012, increased by 8.2%. In the section manufacturing industry it increased by 0.9% and in the section electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply it increased by 20.6%.

Industrial production by Main Industrial Groupings in March 2013, in comparison with March 2012, was higher in energy by 16.2%, capital goods industries by 36.1%, durable consumer goods industries by 26.9% and non-durable consumer goods industries by 13.6%, but was lower in intermediate goods industries, except energy by 18.5%.

A 2.7% increase was also registered in industrial production in the period between January and March 2013, in comparison with the same period last year.

New Aqua park built near Boris Trajkovski Sports Complex

16th Skopje Film Festival begins

Film "Circles" of Serbian director Srdjan Golubovic opens the 16. Skopje Film Festival in cinema "Millennium" on Friday evening.

In "Circles", five people are affected by a tragic heroic act. 12 years later, each of them will have to confront the past, through their own crisis.

The film won the Special Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Sofia International Film Festival.

This year's festival includes the latest film achievements of world cinematography, documentary and short films.

Skopje Film Festival will close on April 27 with "Betrayal" by Russian director Kiril Srebrenikov, including Macedonian actor Dejan Lilic in the leading role.

Photos: Japanese Cherry Trees blooming in Skopje

Skopje to host international business forum

Promoting the markets of Balkan countries as a single joint market is one of the goals of the Second International Business Forum organised by the Macedonian-Israeli Business Club (MIBC) in Skopje on Thursday.

The forum titled "The Balkans - Alternative Road from Israel to Europe" brings together representatives of 100 companies from Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo in the field of IT, agriculture and food industry, renewable energy sources, medicine and pharmacy.

"Macedonia's market is small for foreign investors or large companies from abroad. Thus, the idea of the forum is to encourage all our neighbours from the Balkans to join forces and offer a single Balkan market to large international companies, including those from Israel," MIBC's executive director Ekaterina Dimitrovska stated on the sidelines of the event.

Deputy economy minister Hristijan Delev said the business forum was a crucial event to launch new businesses and to exchange ideas.

"The government of Macedonia supports such events and hopes that more of them will be organised in the future, because they offer a unique chance for businesses to establish contacts. There is great potential to cooperate with Israel in agriculture and energy," Delev noted.

Israel's honorary consul Viktor Mizrahi pointed out that Macedonia and Israel were fostering excellent political relations, which was not the case with economic ties.

"We are attempting business relations to reach a satisfying level. I hope that these forums will contribute to increasing foreign exchange between Israel and Macedonia," said Mizrahi.

More citizens installing Solar Panels

More and more citizens are interested in installation of solar collectors in their homes. For this purpose the government will allocate Denar 6 million in subsidies in 2013.

I am happy that more and more citizens are applying in the Ministry of Economy for subsidies. I hope that in the future the interest will increase and the ministry will be able to expand the programme, Economy Minister Valjon Saraqini said at the open day under the motto "Buy Solar Collector - Apply for Subsidy."

The public announcement for subsidies has been already announced and will last until May 31.

If all of the about 600,000 households in Macedonia install solar thermal collectors on their homes, then the country could save up to €1 billion, Saraqini said.

Professor Konstantin Dimitrov from Faculty of Mechanical Engineering said that there are quality solar collectors in Macedonia that meet strict European standards.

The event's goal is to promote the usage of solar collectors in households and potential of the sun in our country as renewable energy source as well as benefits from use of thermal solar collectors.

Open day was organised in cooperation with the Macedonian Center for Energy Efficiency.

New blanket of snow on Popova Shapka