Kavadarci, 6 December 2025 (MIA) — The Macedonian economy needs to free itself from the historical trap of low wages, cheap labor and limited production and transition from a cheap production-baed economy to a knowledge-based economy by 2030, Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE's leader Hristijan Mickoski said at the VMRO-DPMNE party's 18th congress held Saturday in Kavadarci.

In his speech, Mickoski said the country needed to abandon the model of low productivity and dependence on imports and turn toward knowledge, technology and innovations.

"This transition requires a series of systemic reforms in several areas: the knowledge-based industries, technology, ICT, biotechnology, pharmacy, engineering and the creative industries, because this is the new economic matrix," he said.

He added that the country needed to boost its global competitiveness through digitization and automation, which he said were a prerequisite for joining European and global production chains.

"Modernizing the business sector, new digital technologies and technology parks will create high-value-added jobs and increase export capacity. Domestic companies need to become engines of growth through strong institutional support: capital injections, credit lines, reduced administrative barriers and growth incentives," Mickoski said.

"The national economy is strong only if domestic businesses are strong. Development requires a predictable fiscal policy, stable tax rules and long-term strategic planning, aligned with European standards," he said, adding that "no company invests in a country where tax rules change depending on daily politics." 

"Stability and development are impossible without trust in the state, and trust is built only through independent institutions, the rule of law and systems that create fairness, not dependence. Without any trust in institutions, there is no state," he said. 

Mickoski also noted that the rule of law was not a set of laws, but their consistent application. 

"Macedonia must cross the border from formal to functional democracy," he said.

According to the VMRO-DPMNE leader, the paradigm of modern leadership was defined by ten principles, including dignity; justice; knowledge as the highest form of capital; a strong but not dominant state; a nation as a community; a market economy creating opportunities; democratic institutions; European orientation as a civilizational determination; technology and sustainability; and a society built on trust. mr/