Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Simone Filippini, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Macedonia Fatmir Besimi, PUM Country Co-ordinator for Macedonia Johan van der Berg and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Perica Ivanovski addressed the representatives of the business community at the reception organized on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of PUM Programme in Macedonia.

In her address Ambassador Filippini emphasized the advantages of the PUM Programme which offers concrete support from leading Dutch experts who are easily accessible to the Macedonian companies. Minister Besimi expressed his gratitude for the Dutch support to the Macedonian business sector and especially for the support offered by the PUM Programme to the small and medium enterprises, while Deputy Minister Ivanovski spoke about the positive experiences from the co-operation with the Dutch institutions and companies in the field of agriculture, horti and floriculture. According to Mr. Johan van der Berg, the number of Macedonian companies interested in the programme has increased by double in 2009 compared to the past years, thanks to the companies with positive experiences from such a co-operation. He called on the Macedonian companies to use this instrument for support as much as possible since it enables them to achieve visible results in a very short period of time and with minimum effort and funding.

Representatives of Feydom, Uniplast and Labako shared their experiences and the results from the co-operation with the Dutch experts through the programme.

Download the press release on the event  here.