NEWSLETTER, MARCH 2008

Conference on corporative management

The benefits from the skillful corporative management such as easier access to finances, better public reputation and enhanced attractiveness for foreign and institutional investors, were presented at the business conference organized by Capital Media Group and the International Financial Corporation (IFC). The conference took place in hotel “Aleksandar Palace”. At the conference participated round 150 bankers, representatives of home and foreign companies, professors and representatives of investment funds and experts who explained the need and advantage from the corporative management in the modern world.

Tendencies, transparency and the importance of the corporative management were main topics at the conference. This activity is part from the program for corporative management of IFC. The respective program provides technical assistance for companies and banks in Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The IFC-research conducted in 2006 in 90 corporations shows that the Macedonian companies are aware of the significance of this issue. Almost half of them (46, 8 %) stated that they plan to introduce the international standards for financial notification in order to improve their corporative management.

 

Spanish businessmen are considering the opportunities for investing in Macedonia

 A group of ten Spanish businessmen from Saragossa, Spain had a visit in Macedonia that lasted a few days in order to consider the opportunities for cooperation and potential investment in the country. The Spanish companies are interested in investing in Macedonia, especially in the sectors of food, tobacco, meat, metal, automobile and ceramic industry. The Spanish businessmen estimate the business climate in our country as favorable, especially because of the perspective of accession to NATO and the EU, because it will be a guarantee for the economic stability when entering our market.  The business delegation that visited the country consisted of representatives of transport and construction companies as well as representatives of companies that generate electricity. 

The Spanish visit is a beginning of the attempt for establishing business cooperation between the Macedonian and Spanish businessmen that should become more tangible at the EXPO fair. This year the fair will take place in Saragossa and many Macedonian companies have announced their participation at the fair. Macedonia will participate along with other 112 countries- participants, which can benefit from this manifestation in terms of establishing business cooperation.

In order to intensify contacts with Macedonian businessmen, Spain has set up an embassy in Macedonia. Two years ago a Spanish delegation visited the country and announced opening an embassy in Macedonia as a part of their politics for EU candidate countries. It was stated that not having an embassy in the country was a hindrance. At the time contact was made through the Spanish embassy in Sofia. Therefore Spain did not have accurate information for the country’s potentials. By establishing an embassy it is expected the business contacts between the two countries to revive.   

Macedonian and Spanish businessmen are expecting strengthening of trade cooperation. The Cooperation memorandum between the Macedonian Trade Chamber at the Macedonian chambers of commerce and the Chamber of Commerce of Saragossa that was signed on March 13th should contribute to this cooperation. “The strengthening of the trade exchange is focused on investments in the energy sector, construction and cinematography”, stated the Spanish ambassador in Macedonia, Hose Manuel Las Agueras. According to him, enhancement of the trade exchange and investments is expected owing to the establishment of the Spanish embassy in Skopje. “The trade exchange with Spain amounted 250 Million $ last year and this year it is expected to be doubled”, emphasized the chairwoman of the Macedonian Trade Chamber at the Macedonian chambers of commerce, Slavka Kalenikova.  

“Volkswagen” is interested in the services of the Macedonian suppliers

The German automobile giant  “Volkswagen” is interested in using certain services of a few Macedonian automobile suppliers. This was announced at the first Macedonian conference of automobile suppliers, which was attended by representatives of the Group “Volkswagen”. The foreign investments minister Vele Samak organized the conference in cooperation with USAID’s competitiveness project.

At the first conference of this kind in the region, the “Volkswagen”  representatives presented their interests and needs for cooperation and supply of automotive parts for every new vehicle. Afterwards, they had meetings with the Macedonian companies: “Vesna SAP”, “IZO staklo”, “AMAK”, “SIPO”, “Velmaks”, “Ruen”, “Te-Te plast”, “Niche Aurora”, “Pruteks”, MZT ”Learnica” and TCG “Learnica”.


“Johnson Meti” starts to build its facilities in April
 
 
After “Johnson Controls”, the second Greenfield - investment in the free economic zone “Bunargic” is already there.  The British company  “Johnson Meti” in the middle of April will start investing in Macedonia.  In “Bunargic” the construction of the new factory for manufacture of automotive parts is going to start and the beginning of the manufacture is planned for May next year. The first phase of the investment costs 50 million euros, and the second phase is expected to start three years from now. 700 new job vacancies are announced. That is the biggest foreign investment in Macedonia at the moment.

“It concerns the biggest investment that “Johnson Meti” has had in Europe in the last 30 years. The free economic zone offers excellent performances for factories that manufacture automotive parts. We estimated that Macedonia has very good potentials for investing and the exchanged experience with “Johnson Controls” was positive”, stated yesterday in the Economic Chamber of Macedonia Colin Geoffrey, regional chairman of “Johnson Meti” for Macedonia. He informed that there are announcements of two other world’s leading multinational companies from the automotive industry to enter the Macedonian market. The fact that there is a qualified personnel in the country is very convenient, so Macedonia could very easily soon become a leading country in Europe in terms of the development of the automotive industry.

According to Geoffrey, the political situation in the country as well as the growing inflation are not a hurdle for the planned forthcoming business. He reminded that “Johnson Meti” is a company that exists 200 years; it has an annual profit from 12 billion dollars, hires 10.000 workers in 50 countries in the world where there are different political systems with much more serious issues than those in Macedonia and that still is not a hurdle for the business.

“According to me, the name dispute is a family disagreement. In five years I see Macedonia as a member- state of NATO and the EU”, said Geoffrey. He added that they were acquainted with all the details and current events when they decided to invest in Macedonia.

Geoffrey expects a further good collaboration and support, taking into account that this investment is a new challenge, experience and adventure for “Johnson Meti” as well as for the Government and for the other institutions. 

On March 18th, “Johnson Meti” became official member of the Council of foreign investors at the Economic Chamber of Macedonia and Geoffrey signed the application form that he was handed in by the president of the Council Georg Valdner, the chairman of EVN ESM.

This is a second investment in the free economic zone “Bunargic”. The American company “Johnson Controls” recently began with tentative manufacture in its factory.

Macedonia promoted as a new economic wonder in Europe
 
The main motto of the business forum ”Macedonia – new economic wonder in Europe” that took place in the middle of March in Washington was that Macedonia is a very convenient country for foreign investments. At the forum in the luxurious hotel Ritz- Carlton there were approximately 100 attendees, round 80 % from the business sector, but there were also representatives of the American State Department, USAID and the media. Two thirds of the attendees were American and one third were from the Macedonian Diaspora. The Macedonian participants established numerous contacts with the American companies and investment funds.  

“The forum had two goals – representing the possibilities for investment in Macedonia and creating another image for the country – Macedonia as a state in which there is economic progress and which strives for investments. Until now in Washington were discussed the stability, the security situation, the multiethnic relations, the name dispute with Greece etc. Therefore the forum intended to create a different image for Macedonia, immediately before the NATO Summit in Bucharest”, stated the Macedonian ambassador in the USA, Zoran Jolevski.

Mike Zafirovski, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian telecommunications giant Nortel, greeted the accomplishments of the Macedonian Government in terms of the improvement of the business climate in Macedonia and the enhancement of the investment possibilities. He emphasized the implementation of the regulatory guillotine and the introduced advantages for the foreign investments as very significant. 

The Deputy Prime Minister, Zoran Stavreski, also held a speech at the forum. He underlined the constructive role of Macedonia in the Balkans and her persistent development in compliance with the Euro - Atlantic standards.

The Deputy Prime Minister talked about the economic policy and the reforms of the Government in the key areas for the improvement of the business climate that resulted with the increase in GDP, in export and the considerable enhancement of the foreign direct investments. As important economic reforms over the year 2007 he pointed out the tax reducing, the introduction of the flat rate taxes, the tax and customs relief for the investors in the free economic zones, the functioning of the one desk system, the liberalization of the financial and telecommunications sector, the strengthening of the competitiveness of the Macedonian companies and the investment in the infrastructure.        

The forum was attended by numerous representatives of leading American companies, members of the list Fortune 500, as well as representatives of international financial institutions, influential NGOs, media, political and lobby US circles.  

Ambassador Jolevski announced that the Macedonian embassy in Washington in collaboration with the Agency for foreign investment plans to organize three forums more at different locations across the US by October. It is possible that one should take place in Columbus, Ohio, the other either in Detroit or in Chicago, and the third somewhere on the West Coast.


An automobile company from the US announced to enter the Macedonian market

 
Signing of a memorandum for collaboration with an automobile company from the USA is expected at the end of this month. That will be followed by a final decision whether it will invest in Macedonia. This is a result of the business forum “Macedonia – new economic wonder in Europe”, which took place in Washington.

The chairman of the telecommunications giant Nortel, Majk Zafirovski, announced that his company will open sales offices in Macedonia in the next few weeks and in the next two years it will expand its presence.

The Macedonian ministers led by the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Zoran Stavreski, at the forum in Washington, presented the policy for attracting foreign investments as well as the development programs for information technology.  


EU Finance Day for SMEs – series of one-day events in 2008/2009

EU Finance Day for SMEs is a series of events in the Member States that the European Commission is organising to inform about the EU financial instruments for SMEs together with the national financial intermediaries that implement these instruments locally. The aim is to raise awareness about different sources of finance and provide a forum for sharing good practices in helping innovative SMEs get easier access to finance.

For these events, the European Commission will also invite speakers from:

·         European Investment Fund (EIF),

·         Enterprise Europe Network,

·         national and regional financial intermediaries,

·         organisations representing SMEs and many others.

One-day events will be organised in all Member State capitals in 2008-2009. The launching event will take place in Ljubljana on Friday, 28 March 2008 under the auspices of the Slovenian Presidency.

Invitations to the events will be sent to organisations representing SMEs, financial institutions and financial advisors, policy makers in national governments or regional authorities, chambers of commerce, business organisations, entrepreneurs, organisations and networks promoting innovation and other similar organisations.  

During their start-up phase, SMEs often face a number of problems directly linked to the lack of resources: lack of human resources, lack of experience, lack of expertise in certain fields, lack of contacts, and of course, lack of financial capacity. One of the most important issues is to improve the access to suitable finance. The Commission has developed a number of actions aimed at addressing these problems.

Helping SMEs to develop their innovative potential and raise awareness about Commission policies and programmes is the aim of the Enterprise Europe Network. This new European Commission initiative offers entrepreneurs a one-stop shop where they can seek advice and benefit from a wide range of easily accessible business support services.