News
10/20/2022 02:03
Today in Brussels, the explanatory screening meeting for Chapter 20, "Enterprises and Industrial Policy", is being held, at which the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Maricik said that we have a high level of compliance in this area and that the Government is committed to creating a favourable and attractive business climate for investments and conducting business, through developing strategic frameworks.
Maricik pointed out that the EU Directive to combat late payment is related to many strategic documents that enable a favourable business climate and principles for economic development and economic growth, instruments to support competitiveness, growth, innovation, internationalization and sectoral policies, stressing that the Government is dedicated to creating a favourable and attractive business climate for investments and conducting business, by developing strategic frameworks in this area.
- We also adopted the National Strategy for Small and Medium- sized Enterprises 2018-2023, and it is important to mention that we are in the process of developing the Strategy for Smart Specialization, as a new strategy for innovation and competitiveness. This document was developed in close cooperation, following the methodology of the Joint Research Centre, and we expect it to be finalized by the end of this year, announced Maricik.
As the main strategic document, Maricik referred to the Industrial Strategy of the Republic of North Macedonia 2018-2027, which integrates the measures from the Economic Growth Plan and focuses on the development of the manufacturing industry.
At the screening meeting, it was pointed out that in the past years North Macedonia has been working on transposing the relevant EU legislation into the Macedonian national legislation and that a high level of compliance has been achieved, and in that context, Deputy Prime Minister Maricik said that the Law amending the Law on Financial Discipline, in addition, compliant with the Late Payment Directive (2011/7/EU), has already been adopted by the Government and is now in a parliamentary procedure.
Regarding the pressure faced by the Government in the past years from the COVID-19 and the energy and food crises, Maricik pointed out that it had a strong impact on companies and emphasized the importance of harmonizing government policies and instruments to support companies in their work, transition and growth.
- Regarding the response to the crisis we faced, as a Government we offered companies a comprehensive package of measures to help them in the time of Covid and developed a set of measures to combat pressure from energy prices, said Maricik to the representatives of the European Commission.
After the conclusion of the meeting on Chapter 20, the explanatory screening meeting on Chapter 29, "Customs Union", will also be held.