Turkey's economy minister says whoever invests in Macedonia will gain

BURSA (A.A) - February 2, 2011 - Turkey's economy minister said on Thursday that whoever invested in Macedonia would gain. Zafer Caglayan said Turkey and Macedonia had signed free trade and industrial zone agreements some time ago, and their bilateral foreign trade reached 400 million USD in 2011.  "Our aim is to raise our bilateral trade to 1 billion USD, and to increase our investments in Macedonia to 500 billion USD," Caglayan said during Turkey-Macedonia Trade and Investment Forum in the northwestern province of Bursa. Caglayan said Macedonia was one of the most important centers in Europe for Turkey, and whoever invested in Macedonia would gain.   Zafer Caglayan promised to raise Eximbank's loan to Macedonia to 100 million USD from 50 million USD soon.  Turkey's exports to Macedonia were up 14 percent and reached 299 million USD, while Macedonia's imports to Turkey rose to 92 million USD with a 82 percent year-on-year rise in 2011. Turkish companies have 180 million USD of investments in Macedonia.