North Macedonia’s Economy Minister Kreshik Bekteshi and Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek, agreed at a meeting on Sunday that Slovenia will help North Macedonia in the development of spa tourism.
Participants in the meeting, among other, stressed that Slovenia unreservedly supports North Macedonia in getting a date for EU accession negotiations.
“Today we had the opportunity to talk about deepening our cooperation, especially in the development of tourism, and spa tourism, for which the Republic of Slovenia has great experience. Our country has great capacity for development of spa tourism and we agreed to organize meetings between theirs and our businesspeople. I invited them to visit our country, to be directly acquainted with the potentials we have,” Bekteshi said, adding that the meeting also discussed increasing trade.
“Initial figures from 2021 show that we are returning to the pre-covid period in terms of both exports and imports. We have very serious Slovenian companies already operating in our country. There are companies interested in investing here, particularly in the automotive industry. To our delight, we also have companies operating in the Republic of Slovenia, particularly in the metallurgical industry and other areas,” Bekteshi noted, voicing hope that the cooperation between the two countries will continue, in order to create new jobs, and then share Slovenia’s experience on its path to the EU.
Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, said he was honored to meet Minister Bekteshi again.
“We’ve been meeting for years while following the development of economic cooperation between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of North Macedonia. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, economic cooperation has slightly dropped, but to our satisfaction, over the past nine months we have made up for it and increased it by 30 percent. Slovenian investments in Macedonia are high, amounting to over EUR 400 million, and over 2,500 employees. Macedonian investments in Slovenia, which have been increasing in recent years, are also pleasing. According to data, they amount to over EUR 30 million,” said Počivalšek.
He pointed out that a large part of the economy in Slovenia is still under state ownership, particularly tourism, adding that Minister Bekteshi and him agreed on investments in tourism, and spa tourism in particular. The Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister stressed that he reaffirmed to Minister Bekteshi the unreserved support that Slovenia gives to North Macedonia in terms of getting a date for EU accession negotiations.
“At the Brdo summit we managed to include the EU enlargement in the declaration. Slovenian requests were to include specific dates as well. We will do everything, even during Slovenia’s EU Presidency, to resolve issues, but we hope that you will find a solution with the neighbors. Slovenia unreservedly supports North Macedonia in starting EU accession negotiations,” Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek, stressed.
Source: MIA
