German businessmen should take advantage of the opportunities for investing that Macedonia offers, Vice-Chairman of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce Jens Peter Breitengross told a business forum Tuesday in Hamburg, at which a governmental team, led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, presented the country's doing business potentials.

Praising the Macedonian Government's successful policies for economic development and attraction of foreign investments, Breitengross said that the creation of a healthy environment for investing in the private sector, attractive tax package and the flat tax presented a challenge to many businessmen.

"Great efforts have been made for advancing the infrastructure to generate an economic development and attract foreign investments. This policy is successful and you as a Prime Minister have been behind it for a longer period of time. As a result of the sound monetary policy and tying the national currency with the Euro, the economy once again marked a growth of about 3.00% in 2010 and 2011," Breitengross said.

At the event, Gruevski notified the positive experiences of German investors in Macedonia.

"The experiences of 'Kromberg & Schubert' and 'Dräxlmaier' are rather favorable and they are poised to expand their capacities, which is a proof of the friendly business environment that the Government has been creating in terms of investment opportunities," Gruevski said.

'Johnson Controls', 'Kemet Electronics', 'Windtech International', 'Protec Group' and many other companies has seen Macedonia as a favorable business destination for the last two years, Gruevski said.

He pointed out that those successful stories were a fruit of the Government's structural reforms, being also recognized by international institutions, such as the World Bank, which in its last 'Doing Business' report ranked Macedonia as the 23 best out of 185 countries.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers Paying Taxes 2013 report ranked Macedonia as the 24th most friendly country that made paying taxes easier and lowered the tax burden, Gruevski said.

Recently, he said, 'Forbes' ranked Macedonia as the second best in terms of business climate, far ahead from the new EU members Bulgaria and Romania.

Referring to Macedonia's macroeconomic results, Gruevski mentioned the avarage inflation rate of 2-3.00% for the last ten years, mid-term policy of budget deficit at about 3.00% of the GDP, low government debt of 34.1% of the GDP by the end of April 2013.

Speaking about the advantages of investing in Macedonia, Gruevski notified the free trade agreements the country had signed with the EU, EFTA, CEFTA members, Turkey and Ukraine, which offer access to a market of 660 million consumers.

The Macedonian delegation also includes Vice Premier for Economic Affairs Vladimir Pesevski, Minister for Foreign Investments Bill Pavleski and Directorate for Technological Industrial Development Zones Manager Viktor Mizo.

The forum, organized in cooperation with the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, was attended by representatives of about 30 companies.