Q: What incentives Macedonia is offering to investors?

A: Macedonia is in a unique situation. We are close to EU nations but we are not part of the union

We have several cooperation agreements but we are still outside the union.

This allows us to offer incentives that many member nations may not be able to offer. We have agreements with SAA, CEFTA and EFTA, and bilateral agreements with Turkey and Ukraine. Through Macedonia a prospective investor can reach 650 million people where goods and services can be exported duty free and customs free.

We have four free economic zones and we may expand them to ten. The companies that operate there do not have to pay corporate tax for a period of ten years.

For the first five years of operation, the personal income tax is decreased to 5% from10%. The companies do not have to pay any customs or import duties or value-added tax for any machinery, equipment or raw materials used in production.

The government is offering a grant of up to ˆ0.5 million for the construction of the plant based on the level of investment or the number of jobs created. We also lease land in the zone for up to 99 years for annual rent of 10 euro cents per square meter. So, it is a very low concessionary price where the government is creating the conditions to attract investment rather than trying to profit or make money from renting or selling the land.

All economic zones are next to major highways and two of them are just across the main airport in Skopje and close to a railroad network.

Q: Does tourism offer opportunity to attract investment?

A: Our promotional campaign was initially focused on print and internet. As of March of this year we started a TV campaign for attracting investment in Macedonia. Concurrently, we have also been running an ad for promoting Macedonia as a tourist destination which is the Macedonia Timeless TV spot.

Tourism is also a large part of the economy, but mostly cultural tourism. Macedonia offers ancient history to explore and an abundance of lakes, mountains, churches, monasteries, and mosques because Macedonia has been at the crossroads of history and culture. Certainly, this is another strong selling point for the country.