Message from Ambassadors

Invest in Macedonia
Andrijana Cvetkovik
Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to Japan
Introduction of the Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia is located in the Balkans and sharescommon borders with Albania, Bulgaria, Greece,
Serbia and Kosovo. The country covers an area of25,713 km2 has a population of 2.02 million (latestcensus, 2002). Once part of the Yugoslav federation,
Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia
peacefully on September 8th, 1991. Since thenMacedonia has chosen the path towards the Europeanand Euro - Atlantic integration. The diplomatic
relations between the Macedonia and Japan wereofficially established on March 1st, 1994. The Embassyof the Republic of Macedonia in Tokyo was officiallyopened in 2013 and in 2017 Japan officially opened its
Embassy in Skopje. Macedonia is multiethnic,
democratic, safe, and a country leader in economic
reforms in the region. It was ranked 10th in the world
and 5th in Europe according to the Ease of Doing
Business Report of the World Bank. Macedonia has
the lowest taxes in the world and 2nd biggest GDP
growth in Europe.

Adriatic, Aegean and Black Sea. From Macedonia
each European country is reachable for only 72 hours
by truck or rail. Although a landlocked country, theclosest harbor in Thessaloniki can be reached for only
2.5 hours. Another important advantage of Macedonia
is the same time zone with the European countries
which is very important for doing business.
2. Access to Markets
While the Republic of Macedonia is a small country ofaround 2 million people, the market is actually morethan 650 million consumers. The reason behind is theconclusion of Free Trade Agreements between
Macedonia and the EU, CEFTA, EFTA, Turkey andUkraine.

Ten Reasons to Invest in Macedonia

3. Higher Profitability
Macedonia is ranked 1st in the world in lowest total
tax rate according to the PwC and World Bank Study
Group Report 2016. In Macedonia the income tax andthe corporate tax amounts 10% and the reinvested
profits is 0%. Macedonia also offers up to 10 years tax
holidays and 27% pension and social security
deductions.

1. Strategic Geographical Position
Macedonia benefits from a strategic geographicalposition at the crossroads of two major pan-European
transportations corridors linking Central Europe to the

4. Macroeconomic stability
Macedonia has a macroeconomic stability which isexpressed through stable GDP growth – 3.7% average
GDP growth over last three years (2nd in Europe), low20

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Andrijana Cvetkovik is the first resident Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia toJapan and the youngest among 169 ambassadors in Tokyo. She is also one of a selectfew Ambassadors in Japan who are fluent in Japanese. She speaks five languages.
Ambassador Cvetkovikj was Visiting Associate Professor at Kyoto University prior to her
diplomatic posting. She has a Doctoral Degree from Nihon University Graduate Schoolof Arts in the field of Japanology and cinema studies. Prior to her nomination she was auniversity professor, film director, public speaker, AI specialist. Ambassador Cvetkovikj
is also a philanthropist, entrepreneur, commentator on global politics and diplomacy
and peace-building. Ambassador Cvetkovikj worked as a professor and researcher atseveral top academic institutions in Japan and Europe such as Kyoto University, Nihon
University Research Center, the International Research Center for Japanese Studies(Nichibunken), the European Academy ESRA Paris-Skopje-New York and others.
The latest news about the activities of the Embassy is available on this Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/andrijanacvetkovikj.taishi/

inflation rate of 2% on average in the past 10 years anda well-functioning coordination between fiscal andmonetary policy. The domestic currency is called
Macedonian Denar.
5. Skilled workforce
Macedonia prides itself with its educated, highlyqualified, and ethical workforce that is available toforeign investors. 41.5% of the population in
Macedonia is under the age of 30, while 98% speaks
fluently English and many other foreign languages.
The average gross monthly salary is €525.
6. Free Economic Zones and excellent incentives
Macedonia has 15 free economic zones (FEZ) aroundthe country which offer incentives for foreign investors.
Investors in the FEZ are exempted from all the taxes
for the first 10 years. In the FEZ up to €500.000 can begranted as incentive towards building costs. Land in aFEZ is available under long-term lease for a period ofup to 99 years. Other benefits include free connection
to natural gas, water, electricity and access to a maininternational road network.
7. One-stop-shop-system for registering businessThis system enables investors to register theirbusinesses after 4 hours of submitting on application.
One can register a company in Macedonia by visiting
one office, obtaining the information from a single
place, and addressing one employee.
8. Business friendly government and leader in
economic reforms
The Government of the Republic of Macedonia has
been designed to attract foreign investors to Macedonia
and ease their business in the country. There are four
Ministers for attracting foreign investments, twoagencies that support foreign investors and Directorate
for economic diplomacy within the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. In addition to that, economic reforms havebeen continuously implemented, that made Macedonia
economic leader in the region. The reforms that thecountry has implemented in the past several years
allowed it to rise from the 94th positions of Ease ofDoing Business of the World Bank Report in 2016 tothe 10th position in the world and 5th in Europe in2017.
9. Diverse Investments Opportunities
There are diverse opportunities to invest in Macedonia.
Some of the attractive fields for investments are:manufacturing, IT, healthcare, tourism, R&D etc. The
favorable investment climate has attracted many
companies from around the world to set up theirproduction facilities in Macedonia. Some of thesignificant foreign investors include Johnson Matthey(UK), EVN (Austria), Deutsche Telecom (Germany),
Kromberg & Schubert (Germany), Van Hool(Belgium), Societe Generale (France), Johnson
Controls (USA), KEMET etc.
10. Quality of life
There are 280 sunny days with four seasons throughout
the year in the Republic of Macedonia. According to
the World Economic Forum Report, Macedonia has
been ranked 4th friendly country in the world forforeigners.
マケドニア大使館

マケドニアでのビジネスや、投資、貿易について、是非お気軽にお問い合わせください。
Tel: 03-6868-7110 / E-mail: tokyo@mfa.gov.mk

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