Domestic companies part of a digital networking platform with global supply chains

The Directorate for Technological Industrial Development Zones (TIDZs) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with expert and financial assistance will help domestic small and medium-sized suppliers to increase competitiveness for cooperation with investors from the zones and to connect with global supply chains. . Small and medium suppliers from the country together with companies Serbia and Albania will be part of the 100 companies that will initially be connected with large international companies through a digital platform.

The cooperation and partnership agreement between the Directorate for TIDZ and IFC, which was signed today, should provide domestic companies with most of the cake that is created in the technological industrial development zones.

- In 2020, a pandemic year, the total volume of economic activity in the zones was 3,4 billion euros, in 2019 this cake was 3,7 billion euros, and according to the figures we have now published for the movements in 2021, and it is expected that this cake will be over 4 billion euros. Our goal as a country is how to provide domestic companies with a greater share in this cake. What we have now as data shows that it is insufficient and is not more than two to three percent in the total volume of the economy here in the zones, said Jovan Despotovski, Director of the Directorate of TIDZ.

A program will be prepared, clarified, which will provide advisory and financial assistance to domestic companies to raise the level of technological readiness and to be competitive for entry and cooperation with large international companies within the technological industrial development zones, as well as regional, European and world markets.

The cooperation with IFC, explained Despotovski, is a step towards securing a larger share of domestic companies. The first step is the platform where, among other things, domestic companies from the Republic of Northern Macedonia have the opportunity to register and be assessed and evaluated as eligible by international experts in terms of how much and where they can enter for cooperation. The second segment, he stressed, is very important and refers to how to help and encourage domestic companies to improve their level of technological readiness, increase the skills of employees and provide all the necessary certificates and certificates of quality that they need to enter this value chain, that is, to take part of that cake, said Despotowski.

Ari Nam, IFC Regional Director for Central and Southeast Europe, said the goal was to improve competitiveness for greater regional co-operation.

- The connection of local small and medium enterprises with the chain of large global companies is in order to improve competitiveness. The cooperation with the Directorate of TIDZ will enable to adopt its own program that will help small and medium enterprises, Nam said, pointing to the fact that in Northern Macedonia there is an entry of many foreign investors, as well as opportunities for development of domestic companies.

Magdalena Shuljakova, IFC representative in the country, pointed out that international companies are looking for ways to integrate more local companies in their production process.

- There are a large number of international companies that are slowly coming to the region and consider it attractive and therefore think that they could come here with their products. However, we concluded that although there is a lot of competition in this region, there is a young and educated workforce, labor prices and services are quite low, there is a problem that many companies in the region, small and medium, were not enough integrated into the so-called global value chains, said Shuljakova.

The first of the three components of the program is the platform that will connect suppliers, from the region, with large companies present in the Western Balkans and beyond. It will be prepared from next month and in the pilot phase in the next six months will be included 100 suppliers from Serbia, Northern Macedonia and Albania, as well as buyers who are already present in the Western Balkans but who are not.

- If before there was a problem for companies to find where and who the buyers are, now there will be a market on a digital level where they can meet, said Shuljakova.

In addition to improving the skills and technical capabilities of suppliers, work will be done on preparing regulations that will help domestic companies and foreign investors to work better. Activities are also planned with the banks to be able to pay for financial products that will help small and medium enterprises to finance the projects. The funds for the realization of the program were provided by the Swiss Agency for Economic Development

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