Foreign investors will open new plants in Vinica, Sveti Nikole and in other cities across Macedonia, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski announced Wednesday after the opening of a plant by a Dutch company in Kocani.

“A plant has been already built in Ilinden. Dutch companies are coming and the more of them are coming, the better it is for us, not only because they open new jobs, but also because afterwards we have something to show to other Dutch businessmen,” Gruevski said.

There’s no better advertisement for the country than this, according to him.

“It is always very difficult to start from scratch, when there is no other foreign company, for example from the Netherlands, Germany… Once investors come and see familiar people, when they ask how they are doing, then they feel much more secure to reach a decision on investing in Macedonia. We need this and that’s why the unemployment rate drops in Macedonia,” Gruevski stated.

The company Anthura B.V will invest over EUR 6 million and open 300 jobs in the plant for breeding of orchids and ornamental plants for the global market.  After launching the plant's construction in late 2013, Anthura already employs 150 people.

Anthura breeds and reproduces Anthurium and Orchids both for the pot plant and cut flower. The company has facilities at locations in the Netherlands, Germany and China with over 700 employees, while its annual turnover exceeds EUR 50 million.

The Government, Gruevski added, strongly supported every step of the company that today results in a EUR 6-million investment.

Once starting to work with its full capacity, the plant is expected to produce goods for export in amount of EUR 10 million.

After the Netherlands, Germany and China, Anthura B.V today in Kocani is opening its new plant, said the company’s owner Ivan Van Der Knaal

“Not only we have people involved with regards to breeding, laboratories and production, we also have people in sales, marketing, planning, technical support and financial and human resources. In the past 40 years, from a small family business, we were transformed into a leading company on the global market for breeding and reproducing Anthurium and Orchids. Various Anthura products are being manufactured around the world every day,” he stated.