Belgian Companies mull investments in Macedonia

Several Belgian textile companies and a brand from the chemical industry have shown interest to invest in Macedonia, said Agency for Foreign Investments director Visar Fida after Tuesday's business forum, MIA reports from Brussels.

After the presentation in the premises of the Belgian Textile Federation, Fida told MIA the country's textile sector sought new business destinations in Europe, which would enable easier and faster access to established markets.

"These meetings offer a good chance to attract these companies, first to visit Macedonia and afterwards to decide and invest in the country", added Fida.

Besides companies from the textile industry, Fida said cooperation could be established with brands from other sectors.

"Today we met with representatives of one of the largest global companies in the chemical industry, who voiced their interest to visit and possibly invest in Macedonia, since the company wants to be closer to the Middle East and the Turkish market", he said.

During his stay in Brussels, Fida will also meet with representatives of companies from the IT, automotive and chemical industries.

Nine Macedonian companies in SeeNews TOP 100 SEE 2012

Macedonia  has nine entrants in this year SeeNews TOP 100 SEE chart - the only annual ranking of the top companies, banks and insurers in the region of Southeast Europe.

The chart includes Okta Refinery at number 59, three Macedonian banks, i.e. Komercijalna Banka at number 56, Stopanska Banka AD Skopje at 59 and NLB Tutunska Banka at 64.

Macedonia has five representatives in the TOP 100 Insurers ranking for 2011, unchanged from the previous year. Triglav Osiguruvanje AD (former Vardar Skopije AD) is the country's top insurer at the 64th spot in the ranking for 2011. The other Macedonian insurers on the list are Eurolink Insurance and Sava Osiguruvanje AD (former Sava Tabak AD) - 83 and 84, QBE-86 and AD Insurance Policy Skopje-98.

The best SEE company in 2012 is Romania's OMV Petrom S.A.; Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) - the Romanian Commercial Bank tops the list of banks, while the SEE leader of insurers is Zavarovalnica Triglav from Slovenia.  

The fifth edition of the SeeNews TOP 100 SEE was released on October 11, 2012. The annual ranking (www.top100.seenews.com) includes the best performing companies registered in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

"For the first time we have included research on Turkey and Greece, setting the scene for companies from the two countries to enter the TOP 100 rankings in the future," says editor-in-chief Mira Karadzhova.

The edition features three major charts - TOP 100 Companies, TOP 100 Banks and TOP 100 Insurers, as well as additional rankings, company and country profiles, interviews and feature stories on major events and trends in Southeast Europe (SEE) in 2011.

The SEE economies set out on the path of recovery last year, trying to beat the challenge of sluggish demand for their exports in the eurozone, their main trading partner. The performance indicators of the companies in the SeeNews TOP 100 SEE rankings give clear evidence that albeit difficult, their progress is steady.

SeeNews (www.seenews.com) is the business news and market intelligence supplier which publishes the annual ranking of the biggest companies in Southeast Europe.

Macedonia a crossroad for international companies to enter European markets, says FinMin

Macedonia is a fast-growing economy at the crossroads between East and West, North and South, which mitigates the work of businessmen operating in Macedonia to export goods in any European country.

This is how Deputy PM and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski presented Macedonia as a favourable business destination before Indian companies at a business forum in Chennai.

"Macedonia is a fast-growing economy compared to other countries in Europe, which means we are comparing the country with other European countries with a growth rate of one to two percent. Prior to the crisis, Macedonia registered an average growth rate of 5-6% and at the same time it coped with the crisis more easily than other European countries. Growth rate in 2010 and 2011 was 3% owing to export, which is increasing by 25 to 30% at an annual level. This is a result of the foreign direct investments i.e. companies that have opened their own businesses in the free economic zones," FinMin Stavreski said at the business forum.

He underscored that Macedonia was a candidate country for EU membership. "This fact is important for every businessmen, because it provides a high level of stability and predictability of the legislation, policies and regulations, which are crucial for the business itself."

Chennai, which is the fifth Indian city where the Macedonian government delegation presented the country's investment opportunities at business events, is ranked in the Forbes' Top Ten Fastest-Growing Cities list.

Chennai's metropolitan area is taking full advantage of India's soaring industrial sector, particularly the booming automobile sector. Electronics, led by Dell, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens, Sony and Foxconn, are also booming. Chennai is home to India's second-largest entertainment industry, behind Mumbai.

Tuesday's presentation was held in cooperation with India's largest chamber of commerce CII - Confederation of Indian Industry.

The government delegation, also including Minister for Foreign Investments Bill Pavleski and Directorate for Technological-Industrial Development Zones director Viktor Mizo, has already held presentations in New Delhi, Bangalore, Trivandrum and Hyderabad.

Macedonian, Austrian companies hold business meetings

Macedonian firms will hold business meetings with renowned Austrian companies in the field of environment at the Economic Chamber of Macedonia on Wednesday.

Austrian companies specialized in environment friendly technologies aim at finding partners for distribution/representative offices, importers to Macedonia, end consumers, offer of services and know-how, licenced firms, joint venture partners, research of production potentials of Macedonian companies, joint partnership/participation at international windmill projects, windmill parks etc.

Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Abdilaqim Ademi is set to open the business meetings, also organized by the Trade Department within Austria's Embassy to Macedonia, as well as the Carinthia Chamber of Commerce.

Presentation "Environment Friendly Technologies" will be held prior to the business meetings.

EBRD awards companies with the best energy projects

"Evropa" - Skopje, "Kontihidroplast" - Gevgelija, "Kiro Dandaro" - Bitola and "Betasped" are some of the companies that invested in energy efficiency projects with EBRD funds. The WeBSEFF sustainable energy efficiency awards were presented Monday at a ceremony.

The business sector, the government and financial institutions concur that it is necessary and profitable to invest in energy efficiency.

Economy Minister Valon Saraqini said the awards showed that Macedonian companies were starting to invest in energy efficiency.

He noted that the government remained focused on improving energy efficiency and urging renewable energy sources to be used more since it was "a vital segment for the economy in the country."

EU Ambassador Aivo Orav stated that the energy efficiency of companies would not only cut down energy costs, but it would also improve their competitiveness.

EUR 12 million have been envisaged for energy efficiency projects in Macedonia through the WebSEFF (Western Balkans Sustainable Energy Financing Facility) programme.

WeBSEFF is a EUR 60 million credit line set up by the EBRD and available from local bank for investments that results in more sustainable energy use.

Macedonian companies presented at Stockholm International Bazaar

Macedonian companies have been presented at the traditional 'International Bazaar' in Stockholm, organised by the Macedonian Embassy in Sweden.

More than 2.000 visitors visited Macedonian stand where wide-range of products from "Vipro", "Vitalia" and "Lars" companies were presented. They donated some of their products for this humanitarian event and funds are intended for international project "Save the children Sweden," MIA correspondent reports from Gothenburg.

Vice President of the Swedish Parliament Susanne Eberstein, FM Carl Bildt and his wife MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt and President of the Council of the City of Stockholm Margareta Bjork visited Macedonian display. They expressed satisfaction from possibility to buy and to taste Macedonian food products in Sweden.

Macedonian Ambassador to Sweden Kire Ilioski thanked for the continuous Swedish support to Macedonia on political and economic plan. He emphasised that the country will continue with intensified activities for European integration and invited MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt to visit the Republic of Macedonia.

Optimism of German companies in Macedonia

Several German companies operating in Macedonia are satisfied with their business situation, but they still point to certain factors in Macedonia that have to be changed urgently, show the results of an opinion poll conducted by the Federation of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry-Skopje branch in cooperation with Macedonian-German Economic Association. German investors still complain about lack of efficiency of public administration, transparency in tenders, legal certainty, poor approach to state aid and EU financial support as well as slow prevention of corruption and crime. Despite the problems, German companies are optimistic and 79 percent of them are satisfied with their situation in Macedonia.

200 most successful companies in Macedonia for 2008

Telecommunications are the most profitable sector in Macedonia, while the energy sector employs the biggest workforce, a study of the 200 biggest and most successful companies in Macedonia showed. The study was conducted by the Euro-business Center for the 5th year in a row.
The top 200 list of most successful companies is headed by Macedonian Telecom, followed by Kameni Most komunikacii, T-Mobile Macedonia, the mine SASA and Usje.
Biggest employers in Macedonia are OKTA, Makpetrol and EVN-Macedonia. Due to the crisis, one half of the ten biggest Macedonian companies closed 2008 in the red. Also, Macedonian Telecom and Usje saw their profit before taxation slide in 2008 compared to 2007 by nearly 27 percent.