Macedonia is a small, land-locked country and attraction of investors is not an easy task. The only way is solid and consistent reforms for improvement of the business environment, says Vice Premier and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski in an interview with London's "The Banker".

"First you have to significantly improve the business environment, the existing infrastructure, have a qualified workforce, not only in the sense of costs, but also quality. This is what we have done in recent years. We invested a lot in infrastructure, education, but also simplified procedures, reduced bureaucracy", says Stavreski.

According to him, the Government's challenge is to remain consistent, adapt and improve the business environment, thus coping with challenges and responding to the needs of the private sector.

"This has helped us in attracting global companies, such as 'Johnson Matthey', 'Johnson Controls' and others that have invested, but also opened follow-up capacities, which demonstrates their satisfaction from the business environment", stresses FinMin Stavreski.

Pertaining to the banking sector, he says it has been one of the pillars of growth, providing the required credit support to the private sector.

"We see the banking sector consolidating, meaning not many banks, but more healthy banks. In this context, we are open for new investors, which are prepared to buy existing banks or be present in Macedonia's banking sector", underlines Stavreski in the interview.