Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev met with the two top representatives of the Heritage Foundation who prepare the Index of Economic Freedom, Ambassador Terry Miller and Anthony Kim. They presented Prime Minister Dimitriev with a copy of this year's Index, which for the first time ranked Macedonia as a largely free economy, with a significant improvement in the ranking, from 47 to 31 in the world.

Macedonia easily surpassed all Balkan countries and ranked 18th in Europe in the four categories that include the size of the state, regulation, rule of law and openness to free trade. According to Miller and Kim, the result shows Macedonia's continued improvement in opening and liberalizing its economy that serves as basis for economic prosperity. Prime Minister Dimitriev said that the Government sees the results of the index as verification of its hard work and dedication to improve the business climate.

"Despite the political crisis and the migrant crisis Macedonia continued to go forward on the path it traced and the improvement of 16 places serves as testament to our work", said Dimitriev. Ambassador Miller responded that the Heritage Foundation uses Macedonia as an example to other countries on the type of reforms they need to implement if they want to liberalize their economies.