The policy of attracting foreign investments in Macedonia, deemed as a significant generator of economic growth and employment, has proven to be the right one. 11,000 jobs have been created in the companies and 950 million euros of exported goods were registered in the first 10 months and the figure of one billion euros of exports from these companies is expected to be surpassed this month.

This was stated Monday by Deputy PM and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski at a news conference saying the result was “fantastic” allowing Macedonia to export goods in circumstances when external demand was not high in Europe and elsewhere.

“From a long-term point of view, this means that the structure of Macedonia’s economy has been improved as well as the opportunity to export goods having high-level technological value even when there aren’t favourable external conditions,” said Minister Stavreski.

He said he expected the realization of upcoming investments in the zones, including the American ones announced at last week’s business presentation in the United States, to pave the way to increase the production process and create new jobs in an attempt to reduce the unemployment rate, which “is registered at a record-low level of 28.2%.” “However, I think unemployment is still high and efforts need to be made in the future to open new factories and create new jobs.”

There is also potential to boost the integration of local companies into the chain of suppliers for foreign companies, according to Stavreski. Measures and activities will be analyzed allowing local companies to join the chain of suppliers of foreign firms.

The measures include ways to strengthen the culture of entrepreneurship, capacity building in management teams, improve the standardization of products, etc.

This will also enable domestic companies to export on their own in the long run, said FinMin Stavreski.