Let’s start from here, Istanbul

DANELA ARSOVSKA President of Macedonian Chambers of Commerce

As President of the Macedonian Chambers of Commerce, which is a union of 33 chambers of commerce and 30 organizations and is the largest business association in the country. The business sector gave their confidence in me and a a second term mandate to lead the national chamber as the first female president in Macedonia and the Balkans, and at the moment of election, as one of three women presidents of national chambers of commerce in Europe. 

In addition to devotion in developing the private sector, we pay extreme attention to international cooperation, foster good relations with diplomatic missions and work with chambers of commerce and organizations from 5 continents representing the International Chamber of Commerce in Republic of Macedonia as well. With Turkey we continuously maintain and nourish exceptionally good and friendly business relations on all levels. 

As the only representative from Macedonia at the 2015 G20 Summit in Antalya, i had the unique opportunity to share and convey firsthand the challenges and opportunities for our country in order to keep pace with global economic trends. For the private sector we provided access to the Asian market, a market of over a billion consumers as a result of the cooperation with the most powerful business organization in China, the All China Federation which represents over 4 million companies. 

In Macedonia, for the first time in 2017 we brought the Global Women Leaders Summit, which at the highest level was attended by over 300 prominent women leaders from five continents, representatives of politics, the diplomatic corps, the corporate elite. 

The business sector in the country is facing great uncertainty on the one hand from the domestics political instability, and the other from external factors such as the difficulties in the economies and recession in neighboring countries, but mainly the migrant crisis and the wave of refugees to our southern border. We are witnessing a large scale crisis and extreme changes taking place globally. A fact regarding the future of our economy as a landlocked country is to have is having to face the challenge of the unknown, the flood of refugees now stuck on our southern border. This situation has affected not only our economy, but also all European countries on the path of corridor 10 are affected by the crisis caused by blockages in the road and railway. This has a certain and deep impact on energy, trade and transport industry. In such circumstances, international businesses refrain from investment and development as well from implementation of project activities, which create additional long-term slowdown in the affected countries economies. These social events have a direct negative impact on the global economy as well. The cooperation between Euro-Asia countries is quite important, because we need to find an alternate solution to overcome these mentioned challenges, but in the meantime not allow these challenges to stop the development. Sharing knowledge about business, investment, advanced technology, innovation and leadership should be a leading engine for sustainable economic development and reduce the gap between developed and less developed countries.

Necessary investments in renewable resources, greater use of bio-gas and bio-diesel, solar energy, “tele-health”, intelligence between machines, electric vehicles, environmentally friendly homes, emotional engineering, energy and natural resources, innovations in telecommunications, circular economy. Economic integration in these areas should be a requirement for more dynamic global economic development, in stability and continuity. The only way forward to the future is through a developed economys in conditions of healthy environment and increasing the use of modern technology in all segments of life. 

Let us create new added value, new products and business opportunity potentials as a result of the technological advances, use the available resources to improve life in the 21st century. Let’s start from here, from Istanbul the bridge between Europe and Asia.