Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski visited Monday the Bitola-based industrial zone "Zabeni" to lay a cornerstone for a new plant of the German leading company for production of automotive parts, "Kromberg & Schubert", together with his hosts, Bitola mayor Vladimir Taleski and Martin Passern - member of the company's managing board.

PM Gruevski at the ceremony, where he was accompanied by ministers Vladimir Pesevski, Vele Samak and Ivo Ivanovski, said that the business forums at which Macedonia's favourable investment opportunities, business policies and business climate were presented kept on yielding anticipated results.

"The world-renowned company 'Kromberg & Schubert' has been in the automotive industry for over a century and it is present in more than 30 countries in the world. Even though the global crisis has postponed the investment, last year the company reach a decision and selected Macedonia amongst several countries as a country where it can expand its production," PM Gruevski stated.

The biggest green field investment in Macedonia's recent history is estimated at 20 million euros. It is expected the "Kromberg & Schubert" plant to create jobs for 2.500 people.

"It is also essential that this cornerstone is a cornerstone of a new and brighter future of the whole region. Bitola and the region of Pelagonija turns a new page - a page in which I believe many nice things will be written," Gruevski noted.

"The start of the construction of this plant is a resumption of the investment wave launched in Macedonia. The "Kromberg & Schubert" investment in Macedonia contributes to enhancing our economic ties with Germany, which is not only our number one trade partner, but it is also a crucial partner with a net trade surplus amid a crisis all across Europe," Gruevski said at the ceremony in Zabeni zone nearby Bitola.

PM Gruevski and the government team confirmed that Macedonia's investment benefits would be presented abroad in the future, since "the effects of the conducted activities are visible in the long-term."

"The government will continue to present the investment opportunities of Macedonia all across the world. In recent months, business forums have been organized in many countries, including Turkey, China, India, Qatar, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia... There are many interested investors, whose intentions will be demonstrated in coming years. Till then, our partnership continues will the firms and investors already working and functioning in Macedonia and one of them is the German company 'Kromberg & Schubert'," the PM concluded.