Macedonia to offer expert skills abroad

Tuesday’s signing of a cooperation memorandum between the club of consultants/experts within the Economic Chamber of Macedonia (ECM) and renowned Swiss consultancy “AF Consult” officiated the establishment of a club uniting experts in the fields of energy, infrastructure and industry, whose skills would be exported abroad.

The experts will be grouped into a register within the ECM, which will sum up basic data on their professional and vocational qualifications and prior experience. Data will be available to companies that want to hire Macedonian consultants and experts on activities and projects in the country and abroad.

“This memorandum is the first formal document aimed at exporting ‘brains’ from Macedonia, supported by one of the most renowned consultancies AF Consult. We will invest all efforts to make this a reality so that you get a chance to export and make profit of your skills abroad,” said ECM president Branko Azeski.

Vice Premier for Economic Affairs Koco Angjusev said Macedonia used to be renowned as an country of agriculture exporting wine and food, but not much high-quality industrial products.

“As a country we need to be committed to inputting intellectual labor in our products as much as we can, so that we are acknowledged across the globe. Experts in the fields of production and industry should make this step forward, while the establishment of the club of consultants is the real step in this direction,” said Angjusev.

AF Consult vice-president Hubert Hosp said there is an experienced and professional workforce in Macedonia, especially in the engineering sector, adding the club’s launch is a big step for the country.

“We will cooperate so that Macedonia exports skills throughout the world. Skills acquired abroad can then be brought here and applied locally,” said Hosp.

AF Consult is one of the leading consultancies in the world, with about 10,000 employees-engineers in 25 offices globally, including Macedonia since 2012. More than 1,500 projects are currently implemented in 75 countries in the fields of hydro and thermal energy, renewable energy sources, nuclear energy etc.