Zaev in Berlin: German companies see stable partner in government

Foreign investors including those from Germany see sincere and open partner in the Macedonian government that ensures stable and predictable business environment, PM Zoran Zaev and Volkier Treier, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Association of German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) assessed at Wednesday’s meeting in Berlin.

Zaev, who pays a visit to Germany accompanied by DM Radmila Sekerinska and Deputy PM for EU Affairs Bujar Osmani, also held meeting with the representatives of the Association of German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

At the meeting both sides expressed great satisfaction with the current economic ties between Macedonia and Germany, which are characterized by significantly good political relations and therefore it is expected to further improve, government said in a press release.

Macedonia’s major trading partner is Federal Republic of Germany with a trade volume of over 40% of the total value, while the value of the trade exchange grows each year and in 2017 reached over €3 billion.

German investments are mainly targeted at the textile, metal processing industry and support for automotive industry and transport. The growth of German investments in Macedonia continues whereat 20.000 people are employed in the existing companies with German capital.

DIHK representatives offered their capacities as a link between investment opportunities in Macedonia and the German companies with which they cooperate and underlined that they want to support the process of Macedonia’s integration in the EU.

The talks were also focused on the concepts for the development of secondary vocational education for which the German companies are interested in Macedonia aimed at strengthening the capacity of the professional staff with a focus on creating quality mechanics and mechanics-electronics. The relation between theory and practice that aims to produce the professional staff we need for our, but also for the German economy was underlined as particularly important.

Opportunities for cooperation were detected in areas of energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources for which Macedonia has been mapped as a country with adequate climatic conditions.

“We want to attract renowned foreign companies to come to our country and at the same time to encourage both domestic investors to develop technologically, to be export-oriented and become suppliers of foreign investors, thus raising the level of mutual cooperation. We have already started these new measures and we expect the first results,” Zaev said at the meeting in Association of German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.