Macedonian premier says businessmen will reach 650 mln consumers by investing in Macedonia

ISTANBUL (A.A) - January 30, 2012 - Macedonia's prime minister said on Sunday that businessmen would reach 650 million consumers by investing in Macedonia. Nikola Gruevski called on Turkish businessmen to invest in his country, and said those investing in Macedonia would reach 650 million consumers because Macedonia had free trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and some other trade agreements with Balkan states. "Macedonian government is exerting utmost efforts to rehabilitate business opportunities in order to attract foreign companies," Gruevski said during a working dinner hosted by Turkish-Macedonian Business Council in Istanbul. Also speaking in the meeting, Turkish Environment and Urbanization Minister Erdogan Bayraktar said his ministry was eager to cooperate with Macedonian counterparts on environment and urbanization. Trade volume between Turkey and Macedonia was 311 million USD in 2010, and it climbed to 380 million USD in 2011.