Background
Since the end of the Greek embargo, which lasted between February 1994 and September 1995, Greece has become one of the most important business partners of the Republic of Macedonia. Greece is the fourth most important investor in the country (12.1% of total foreign direct investments), behind the Netherlands, Slovenia and Hungary.
The acquisitions of Stopanska Bank by the National Bank of Greece, the OKTA refinery by Hellenic Petroleum, and the mobile operator Cosmofon by the Greek Cosmote Group are some of the largest Greek business undertakings in the Republic of Macedonia so far.
According to an interview by then Finance Minister and today's prime minister Nikola Gruevski Greek investment took off after other Western investors were scared off by the 1999 Kosovo crisis:
In the 1999 Kosovo crisis, Western investors and trading partners escaped. Greek investors, who know this region better, came in and picked up enterprises at bargain basement prices. I hope investors from other countries learned the lesson. Since the current crisis started, we have sold our biggest bakery – Zhito Lux – and our biggest fairgrounds – Skopski Saem – to Greek and Slovenian investors. The new owners of Macedonia's largest bank, Stopanska Banka, (National Bank of Greece) are planning to increase the capital.
Additionally by 1999 Greek exports to the Republic of Macedonia had reached the $1.32-billion mark.
Read more about this topic: Greek Investments In The Republic Of Macedonia
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