Skopje, 3 November 2022 (MIA) – The first meeting of the Macedonian-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation was held in Skopje on Monday, co-chaired by Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi and Kazakh counterpart Alibek Kuantyrov. “The economic areas covered by the meeting should give a new dimension to our trade relations and significantly improve trade figures. It is a great pleasure that the Chamber of International Commerce of Kazakhstan and the four Macedonian economic chambers signed four cooperation memorandums in 2021, which are a prerequisite and a stable basis for cooperation between businesses from both countries,” said Minister Bekteshi. Bekteshi informed that the bilateral trade between the two countries in the 2017-2022 period was relatively small and amounted to 29.9 million USD in 2018, 3.3 million USD in 2019, 1.4 million USD in 2020, 4.7 million USD in 2021 and 2.8 million USD in the January-August period of 2022, the Ministry of Economy said in a press release. “The Government of North Macedonia remains committed to attracting foreign investments and invites the Kazakh investors to participate in investment projects. The companies from the free economic zones account for a total of 50 percent of the country’s exports in September 2022, and have over 14.000 employees. They are entirely foreign owned, with no taxes and customs duties, exempted from communal fees, a symbolic fee for land lease and direct state support of up to 1 million euro - these are just a portion of the benefits that make us one of the most competitive investment destinations in the region and beyond,” said Minister Bekteshi and added that the Law on Strategic Investments adopted in 2020 provides that all projects must be in line with the country’s strategic priorities. He stressed that North Macedonia’s strategic goals are NATO membership and full-fledged EU membership, and as a result of that, the overall process of aligning with the EU’s policies, rules, standards and values is the highest national priority. “We have had the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU since 2001, as a result of which all our exports to the EU market have been duty free for 20 years now. The Government of North Macedonia, like many countries in the world, is making significant efforts to maintain economic stability and aid the recovery of the economy from the negative effects of the energy crisis,” said Minister Bekteshi. A Protocol was signed through which initiatives were launched for further consideration of an agreement for the fight against illicit drug trade and an agreement on road transport, which will define new opportunities for further economic cooperation. As part of the first meeting of the Macedonian-Kazakh Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, a Memorandum on Economic Cooperation was signed between the countries economy ministries, envisaging the development of action plans for the promotion of investments, reads the press release. ad/ik/