Newsletter for November / December 2008 - 15.11. – 5.12.2008.
Meeting of the Chambers from Bitola and Greece

With a common economic programme the companies of the South-Western part of the country and of Northern Greece, will create a business climate and will open the possibilities for economic cooperation.

This was agreed today in Bitola by the representatives of the regional chamber from Bitola and the industrial federation of Northern Greece, in order to cross over the border, as well as the political barriers.

“These are the main issues that we are discussing at these mutual meetings and we will continue with such type of talks at our next meeting scheduled for the 27-28 of this month in Thessaloniki” Mr. Giannis Vlachos of the industrial federation of northern Greece stated.

The businessmen from Bitola are convinced that the possibilities for mutual business are much bigger than the pressures of the daily politics, which burdens the bilateral relationship of the two countries.

“The politics has conquered the economy, however we are more persistent, we will not give up and will go forward”, Mr. Blagoj Stojcev of the Regional chamber of Bitola stated.

At the moment in this region, with their capital there are 28 Greek companies, whereas intensive business relationships, exchange of goods and capital with Greek companies have another around twenty businessmen of this region.

The two sides consider that an intensive promotion of the cross-border cooperation is necessary. “We have concluded that we are a little bit back with the trade exchange and have mutually agreed about the problems. The Greek businessmen however were reserved about the estimation of the cross-border cooperation.

“We are businessmen who know best what the road for establishment of the cooperation is. Our goal is to establish criteria regarding the direction towards which the cross-border cooperation will be developing. From there on, everything is easy”, Mr. Giannis Vlachos, representative of the Industrial chamber in Thessaloniki stated.

The Greeks have invested 2,5 billion euros

During the course of the recent 12 years Greece has invested in the country around 2,5 billion euros in the telephony, banking, energy, food, agriculture and the textile industry, the representation of the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece stated at the meeting with the Regional chamber of commerce in Bitola. According to them, the Greek businessmen want to enter into new markets, but they say there have been some obstacles which have made the entrepreneurship climate in the country more difficult.

“The issues in question are the difficult battle with the administration, the reforms with the Cadastre which should be completed, the ownership to be clarified, the Laws to be adjusted to the European ones, the Court disputes to be resolved more efficiently and quickly, parts of the Law on employees’ rights to be made more modern, as well as to standardize the manners in which international tenders are announced” –Mr. Athanasios Markandreou, the Head of the Greek Economic and Commercial Department stated.

LUKOils: We are fighting for equality on the market in the country

На The BoD of the company, led by the President of the company, Mr. Vagit Alekpetrov, have decided to create Balkan Interregionl Association (BIA), in which the Balkan countriers will be included, and as a main coordinator the LUKOil Bulgaria will appear. The company which has  150.000 employees and is present in more than 30 countries in the world, has invested 566,65 million dollars in the Balkans in 2008, the greater part of 403,21 million dollars are in Bulgaria, and only 12 million in the country. When asked by a journalist why the situation is a it is, the President of LUKOil Bulgaria and now of BIA, Mr. Valentin Zlatev answered that the investments in the country are at the lowest level because they are fighting for equality on the market as well as the removal of OKTA’s monopoly. He stressed hat it is necessary that a situation of equal competition is created on the market in order to have more investments, and at the same time he reminded that th company is market oriented and its investments are in compliance with the demands on the market. The strategy of BIA is a continuous investment and development of the region. Until the end of 2012 an increase in the number of the gas stations is planned, i.e. in the country from the existing 9 to 15, in Bulgaria from 104 to 200, Serbia from 150 to 158, Croatia from 5 to 100, Montenegro from 0 to 15, as well as entrance of the company on the markets in Albania, Kosovo, Slovenia and BiH. He stated that in his company there is no financial crisis, and that they will continue to invest in spite of the momentary international crisis.

T – Mobile packages for the best students

T – Mobile warded pre-paid ppackages to the best students at the School of Economy within the University of St. Kiril and Metodij. At the diploma awarding ceremony  held on November 14^th, the best 20 students were awarded the pre-paid packages, which has become a tradition and is a part of the general strategy of T-Mobile for corporate responsibility, where the support of education is one of the main activities of the company.   New owner of the “Taiwan” building in Bunardzik

The Italian company Techno Hose for 660 thousand euros has become the owner of the building which was buiklt by the Taiwan investors some ten years ago in Bunardzik. The Italians will ope a factory for production of tubes for the automotive industry and will employ 100 people.

The Government has sold the building which was bought at the end of last year for 510.000 dollars, which were paid as an out-of-court solution for the dispute initiated by the Taiwan company which left Bunardzik.

  Minister Besimi: The country can have gain out of the financial crisis? - The economy still showing positive trend

The country can gain from the influence   of the international financial crisis because the big companies can redirect its businesses to markets such as this, Mr. F. Besimi, the Minister of Economy stated. When asked whether the Governmen has prepared a plan of measures to protect the small and the medium sized enterprises from the influence of the international financial crisis, Mr. Besimi said that this sector is very flexible and can quickly redirect its activities in segments which are needed on the market.

So far in 2008, the country’s economy is showing positive trends, we have no pessimistic expectations for the following period, but certain indirect implications are possible.

This is the keynote of the address of the Economy Minister Fatmir Besimi at the panel discussion held in the frameworks of the Annual Assembly of the European Business Association, which took place in Skopje on Tuesday.
           
Some of the attendants, convinced that the country will feel the real impact of the world crisis next year, suggested to Besimi to form a "crisis group" comprised of relevant representatives of the business community, which would be tasked to monitor the situation.

Minister responded by saying that the government is keeping a watchful eye on the developments and therefore, as he put it, there is no need to set up a crisis group. Nevertheless, he added, I am always open for initiatives and suggestions.
"The financial sector in the country maintained stability despite the two major global turbulences ," Besimi said. However, the economy minister did not rule out the direct implications, acknowledging that "it would be delusive to deny this." "The volume of export-import operations exceeds the country's GDP, therefore, decreased global demand can have a strong impact on the export oriented companies," Besimi explained.

Telekom Slovenia wants to buy Cosmofon

The Slovenian Telecom announced that it wants to buy the second mobile operator – Cosmofon. The announcement published on the web site of the greatest Slovenian telecommunication operator, they say they are negotiating with few banks for a credit of 400 million euros, means which will be used for the expansion of the regional market. The Slovenian company should pay for Cosmofon between 266 to 319 million euros.

Interest for buying of Cosmofon has shown the Austrian Teleco m Austria.

The Turkish mobile operator Turkcell interested in Cosmofon

The Turkish company is among the candidates to buy Cosmofon. According to the news, the Turkish operator in which one of the main owners is the Finish company Telia Sonera, will be appliying at the announcement for the sale of Cosmofon. The Turkish company has already established contacts with the Greek compay OTeE, whereas the value of Cosmofon has been estimated to more than 250 million euros.

The second mobile operator in the country will be sold because of the entrance of Deutsche Telecom in the Greek OTE, which created a monopoly in the market of mobile telephony in the country.

The interest to buy Cosmofon has also been shown by Telekom Austria, which is the owner of the mobile operator VIP in the country, and the Slovenian Telekom, which owns On.Net.

The system for video conference TelePresence was presented at the CISCO EXPO

The CISCO EXPO conference, held for the first time in the country, the system for video conference TelePresence was presented. It represents one of the newest tools of business cooperation at a distance. The journalist had the chance to follow the video conference between Ljubljan and Skopje. In front of the camera in Skopje appeared the Minister of Information technologies, Mr. Ivo Ivanovski, Mr. Nikolai Beckers, the Chief executive Manager of Makedonski Telekom AD, and the Manager of Cisco Systems for Eastern Europe, Mr. Kaan Terzioglu. Mr. Terzioglu stated that he was very pleased with the huge attendance of the conference, where around 50 participants of the country, Albania and Kosovo took part. “The people of the country have the apetite and interest for new technologies, and I am extremely happy for that”, Terzioglu said. He also pointed out that the quality of the picture is even higher than the HI definition TV. The Minister Ivanovski pointed out that the presence of Cisco Systems on the market is of great importance for the country, because through their products and technology, the numerous companies in the country can implement their business plans in a much easier manner.

Cosmofon launches a new Select Family package

The company launched a new offer in the post-paid segment, Select Family intended for all the members within the family. With this package, the users can include up to 6 lines with a single subscription and talk between themselves for 0 Denars per minute, with o costs for establishment of the calls. The offer enables adding of pre-paid mobile and ALLO fixed lines which can be called for free, free calls in the amount equal to the monthly subscription fee towards all the national fixed and mobile networks, up to 150 MB included free internet traffic each month, etc. 

The offer is available for business users as well.As announced by Cosmofon, additionally, all the users o Select family get the chance to activate a new ALLO fixed line and 3G internet connection with a  discount of 50 % of the monthly fee for ALLO line and internet connection.

The Select family once again confirmed that the company provides the best communication solutions, by recognizing the most specific telecommunication needs of its clients.

More than 6000 applications for the Max TV service were submitted

The citizens have shown great interest for the new service Max TV, Mr. N. Beckers, the Chief Executive Manager of Makedonski Telekom stated.

“We can already announce that only one week after the start up of the nerw service, 6000 application for use of the service have been submitted, which represents a respectable figure”, Mr. Beckers stated. He said that according to the shown interest for the new service, the company expects great results for the first quarter of next year. “We are convinced that we have an excellent product and that the domestic clients will become to love it” Mr. Beckers said, announcing still new and varied packages during the course of 2009.

“What we are offering at the moment, represents an initial package, whereas within the further phases we plan to complete the offer with new packages, after previously checking the interest of our clients. So far we can dsay that we plan to start a sports package, movie package, and most probably another package, the package in Albanian” Mr. Beckers said, still unable to talk about exact time when the new packages would start, because as he pointed out, the Max TV service has just commenced. As he clarified, the country’s model is the same with the Montenegran, Hungarian and German, where the interest for the service has also been great.

Japan Tobacco International is entering on the country’s market

Japan Tobacco International (JTI), the world’s third greatest tobacco company is entering the country by launching its world famous brands Winston and Camel for the first time.  The General Manager of JTI for Western Balkans, Mr. Kristian  Kring pointed out that JTI as a company with the fastest growth in the tobacco industry in the world, came to the country in order to invest in the long term and to develop its business on the market.

“JTI plans to widen its assortment in the country with addition nal brands as soon as possible. The planned trade for next year is 10 million euros. Our company has the reputsation of a careful and dedicated investor and we are proud to be in the country and to develop the business in the long run. The presentation of our famous brand on the market will yield 6,08 million euros in the next 12 months to the Government, Mr. Kring, manager of JTI Adriatic  pointed out. At the same time, the country is one of the first markets where the new Camel – American Original has been launched. 

The company has its seat in Geneva, Switszerland, has more than 22.000 employees in 120 countries and a yearly net-sale of 8 billion US dollars.

The Agency for investments is satisfied with the investments – the crisis will bring the investors to us

There are no postponed investments, nor is any of the investors who operate in the country packing to leave, stated Mr. V.Mizo of the Agency for Foreign Investments. According to him,  he region is attractive for the investors because it is the least struck one by the international recession. “We have had negotiations with two big foreign companies these days. Th one is from USA and with its production is present in 47 % in the overall world market, whereas the company from Germany covers more than 1/3 of the world’s economy” Mr. Mizo says. According to him, only a postponement between the signing of the memorandum until the final contract is possible, but this is only due to the time necessary for the companies to perform the analyses of all the economic data.

“What attracts the investors from the West to come to us is the cheap qualified labor. The second factor is the favourable tax climate, third the infrastructure and our connection with the countries of the region”, Mizo stressed. He pointed out that on separate meetings, the foreign companies have shown the greatest interest for the contract for free trade which the country has with Turkey, because according to the indexes of the World Bank, the Turkish market is with the greatest potential to be invested in, and an economic boom is estimated there.  The favourability is that our country is business connected to Turkey  and the companies find their interest to be located in the country and trade from here without customs.

The General Manager of Tutunski Kombinat Prilep has resigned

The General Manager of Tutunski Kombinat Prilep, Mr. Toni Dimitrioski has submitted his resignation to the function, as stated by himself, due to personal reasons. An irregular session of the BoD has been scheduled, during the course of which the BoD should accept the resignation and appoint and elect the new General Manager out of the inner members of the BoD. Diuring the session the decision for the start and the course of the buying of the tobacco of this year’s harvest will be brought, as well.

Invest Banka will be capitalized -  a new emission of 43.530 shares

By a decision brought by the shareholders of Invest Banka, the bank will issue new emission of 43.530 shares by which it will be capitalized i.e. will increase its initial capital. These shares the bank will be selling by means of a private offer of shares. The aim of this emission is that the bank collects a fresh capital which will then be distributed in long term investment and residential loans. The sale price of one share was set at 9.258 Denars, whereas the nominal price is 2.670 Denars. This is the 18^th emission of shares of the bank, which has no guarantee for purchase of the shares in full as a lot.

The new owner of these shares will have the right to a vote in the Assembly of the bank and the possibility to appoint a member of the Supervisory Board, the right to a dividend, and the right to a payment of a part of the liquidation i.e. the bankruptcy assets of the bank.

The shares will be offered to the Austrian Steiermarkische bank.

The EVN Macedonia has increased the controls for the improvement of the supply

In the beginning of the winter period when the need and the consumption of electric energy has been increased, the EVN informs that its teams are effectively and intensively working in the field in order to completely check and prepare the distribution network for the forthcoming period. The most of the problematic points have been resolved and completely renovated which will enable quality and timely supply with electric energy to the consumers.  In case of future possible problems which might require EVN’s support in the field, the company is  ready to react on the spot immediately.

Illegan connections are the most frequnt reasons for the interruptions within the supply with electric energy as well as for the defects in certain regions.  A better and sooner resolution of this problem, the company has the campaign for the Legalization of the connections, by which the possibility to become a legal user was given to the consumers which were not registered as our consumers. They can do this voluntarily, without having to face any legal repercussions. On the contrary, if our teams find and determine any illegal use of the electric energyuch users will be fined in accordance with the prescribed legislation. At the same time we apeal to our users to report any abuse or stealing of electric energy, s an incorrect behaviour of our employees. By doing this, the users will directly participate for the improvement of the services and for the stable supply with electric energy for the period to come” the EVN announcement stated.

The company EVN continues in future with its credo for an equal treatment for all of its consumers.

Alfa Bank with a promotional interest rate of 11 % for time deposits in Denars

The bank offers a unique interest rate of 11 % for deposits in Denars and 6 % for deposits in euros for the time deposits of 11 or 12 months. The interest rates are fixed for the whole period. The minimum amount for a time deposit is 30.000 Denars or 500 euros.

The promotional campaign will last until 31 December 2008.

An optic cable to your home, the project of Makedonski Telekom for 2009

The Board of Directors of Makedonski Telekom AD Skopje has addopted the yearly Business Planof the company for 2009. The plan, as announced by the company,enables investments for development of the network, iion of new telecommunication solutions, and services for the users. The BoD has also approved the beginning of the implementation of the project “An optic cable to your home” which is one of the projects of the company for the 2009. It enables aonstruction of a telecommunication network which offers an ultra fast internet access up to 1bps, a greater flow of information, and other services. The project will commence in the larger urban regions, starting from Skopje, Tetovo, B, Kumanovo and Ohrid, and will later be implemented in the rest of the towns of the country. The value of the investment has been estimated at several million euros, the company announced.

The VIP operator has decreased the prices of the international calls for up to 45 %

The international calls towards 45 countries including the countries participants at the European handball championship 2008, as well as the most called international destinations will be decreased for up to 45 %. All of the existing and new VIP Smart post-paid users can talk at discounted prices for international calls for up to 45 % with the favourite country, the announcement of VIP says. The prices for the international calls range between 15,9 up to 39,9 denars. For the activation of the favourite country, the users have to send an SMS with the nme of the country, or to do the same in each of the VIP shops. The price of the service is 116,82 denars with VAT for each of the activated country. The service does not have to be activated each month. It will remain active until the moment of cancelation, or change.

The Turkish Ziraat Bankasi goes into a complete automatic servicing

The oldest commercial bank of Turkey, the Ziraat Bankasi, which has its branch office in the country, announced that it goes into a complete automatic servicing of its clients. The bank will commence with the use of the new VTM bank machines, which differ from the standard ATMs by their characteristic that they immediately control the unique citizen’s number and their fingerprint, after which the bank clerk through the machine will automaticaly serve the client.

The general Manager of the bank, Mr. Dzan Akan Chaglar announced that as early as the beginning of 2009 the first 1.000 VTM machines will be installed. The price of a VTM machine amounts to 70 thousand euros, but according to Chaglar, the VTMs are more economic because for their servicing a smaller personnel is required.

At the Ziraat Bankasi, 33 million Turkis clients have their accounts, which represents almost one half of the 70 million banking accounts in Turkey, and the bank has around 1.300 ATM machines.  The bank has been established 145 years ago as the first bank of the then Osmanli Empire.  

The value of the operator has been drastically increased – The sale of Cosmofon will be finished around April

Until April of 2009 the sale of Cosmofon is expected to be completed, without no personnel changes in the top positions of the company, which as of the beginning of 2008 is under the leadership of Mr. Petros Lefkovits. Although at the moment the revisors in the company are scanning how much precisely the company is worth, it remains a fact that its price since the arrival of Mr. Lefkovits has been drastically increased. This was due to the increased number of post-paid users, the new services in the fixed telephony, the introduction of the 3G technology, the increased incomes, all of these at a time when the third operator started to function on the market. The market value of the second operator has been estimated to 260 to 315 million euros.  

There have been unofficial news about the possible buyers of Cosmofon, among which the following were mentioned: the greatest Russian telephone operator Systema, the Turkish Turkcell, the Norwegian Telenor, the Austrian Mobilcom, and the Slovenian Telekom.

After the arrival of Mr. Lefkovits, Cosmofon increased the number of subscribers for 22,5 % in regard to the previous three months, it gained more new post-paid subscribers for 23 % in regard to the same period of last year, and according to the data published by OTE, the incomes of Cosmofon for the first nine months of this year have reached 47,6 million euros, which is a growth of modest 1,2 million euros.

Mr. Petros Lefkovit in January of this year replaced Mr. Stefanos Oktapodas, who continued his job at the Albanian operator AMC. Mr. Lefkovits has an extensive experience as a manager of the Coca-Cola Group 3EUK as well as the Group for products in Reckitt & Colman.  For a certain period of time, he was a manager in Germanos, lagter in 2002 was appointed as the chief executive manager of samsung Electronics in Greece. In 2004 Mr. Lfkovits was nominated for The Manager of the year, within the framework of the yearly award in Greece “Leaders of the year”.   The Bitola brewery will probably be saved from liquidation The Turkish businessman Mr. Ahmet Iskender, who is the dominant owner of the Bitola brewery appeared before the Primary Court in Bitola and offered a sanation programme for the re-start of the factory, which was accepted by the employees. The employees do not want the brewery to go under liquidation, because they are aware that in that case they will not get anything.These days the claims of Stopanska bank AD Bitola in the amount of 55 million denars which the bank requires in cash will be reviewed, whereas new calculations in compliance with the Governments’ measures are being made as far as the Internal Revenue Services’ tax obligations claims are considered.



The businessmen are satisfied with the crisis measures

The businessmen are mainly satisfied with the Government’s measures for saving of the economy. A group of 15 businessmen of the bigger companies, led by the Presidents of the three Chambers of Commerce, had only praises for the Government’s package of measures. At the meeting with the Prime Minister and the Ministers there were no managers present representing the steel and the textile companies, which are the industries most affected by the crisis.

“Not only that the measures are anti-crisis, some of them will remain effective for a longer period and will be a great stimulus for the development of the economy”, Mr. Cekredzi from the Association of Chamber of Commerces said.

“The fiscal measures which were lanned by this package cannot be used by neither of our members, but the other measures will affect our memers in a very favourable manner”, Mr. Dauti of the Chamber of Commerce of Northern – Western part of the country said.

The crisis measures were addopted at approximately the same time when in Prilep around 1.500 textile workers were left out of their jobs, and when for a longer period a great number of workers in the companies of the heavy industry are being sent to mandatory leavefrom their work.

The Prime Minister stated that the Government will be on hold for new interventions and it remains to be discussed with the businessmen where else there is the need fo a reaction.

“We will continue to follow up the situation and of course, in case of a need for another measure, which will be simultaneously useful for the economy and industry, and not harmful for some other segment of the economy, we will seriously consider its implementation”, Mr. Gruevski stated.

“For me, these measures are a symbolic guesture that the Government will be with us in case of more serious situations than the one we are facing at the moment”, Mr. Branko Azeski,  from the Chamber of Commerce of the country stated.

The Cement factory USJE became a member of the Global agreement of the United Nations

The cement factory USJE AD has joined the Global agreement of the United Nations. By the act of joining, USJE has accepted the ten principles for good corporative management which are the basis of this Agreement, and took the obligation to implement them in the country.

As was announced by USJE, these principles refer to the respect of the human rights, the respect of the right of freedom fo association and the recognition of the right for collective negotiation, the respect of the rights of the workers and the elimination of the use of child labour, elimination of discrimination of employment and profession, respect and improvement of the environment, and the elimination of bribe and corruption.

“The times when it was important to the companies only to be good at their operatons and to reward its shareholders, are long gone in the past. Today, some other values are cherished besides the success of the business. It iis the creation of a good climate for work, the respect for the employees, the prevention of bribe and corruption within the company, taking care of the environment and the community.  The Global agreement of the UN is the confirmation that our company is not only a successful company, but it is a useful and responsible member of the community which promotes and practices the true values in all the domains. We will continue to operat in the spirit of the good corporate management, will impove the community and will be a loyal and a constructive partner”, Mr. Anthony Nikolopoulos, the chief executive manager of USJE AD stated.

The Global agreement of the UN is an idea of the former Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, who promoted it at the Economic Forum in Davos in 1999, and practically means approaching of the principles of the business communit to those of the UN.

Thousands of companies in the world have accepted these ten principles of the UN known as the Global agreement of the UN. In the country, besides USJE, 54 other companies have so far accepted the Global afreement of the UN.  Full story...