The City of Skopje and Stip, Gazi Baba and Bogdanci municipalities get certificates on business friendly environment thus ranking them among top investment destinations in Southeast Europe (SEE).
The certificates have been awarded Monday at the 4th Regional Congress on Business Friendly Environment in South East Europe in Podgorica, which is organized by the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro and National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) supported by GIZ Open Regional Fund for Modernization of Municipal Services.
Bogdanci mayor Anastasija Olumceva said that certificate will mean systematization of conditions and obligations which municipality should fulfill in order to faster and more efficiently attract potential investors.
Executive director of the Association of the Units of Local Self-Government of the Republic of Macedonia (ZELS), Dusica Perisic said that Business Friendly Certificate program gives guidelines to cities on how to create a good business environment and introduce standards for an efficient and transparent local government and for investors wishing to move or expand their businesses.
She said that out of the 12 international criteria that municipalities should meet to get this certificate the most important for her is the Business Council, partner relationships with the private sector, as well as services offered by municipality as number and structure of the employees.
Moreover, certificates were also granted to 11 local self-governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska, Croatia and Serbia. So far, 26 local self-governments that successfully fulfill the standards of a business friendly environment got certificates and in Macedonia Veles and Strumica have already received this certificate.
Regional Congress is to present today the selected local governments from Montenegro to join the pilot program in their country.
Twenty institutions and organizations from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro are part of the regional network which contributes to strengthening of the regional cooperation.
Macedonian Minister of Local Self-Government Shiret Elezi participates at Monday’s regional congress in Podgorica.