During the Turkish roadshow in September 2014, the then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski announced the factory for production of medical instruments, an investment by the company Istem Medikal.
The government delegation announced that in the technological industrial development zone in Skopje Istem Medikal would be producing medical equipment, catheters, urological systems and other medical products. Several months prior, the VMRO-DPMNE Accountability Report made for the 2014 elections stated that this investment would be in the amount of eight million euros, but this number was increased by two million during the roadshow.
According to the announcements, the Istem Medikal factory in Bunardzik was supposed to initially employ 150 people and another 100 several years later, or to generate a total of 250 new jobs. The Turkish company was planning to start constructing the factory in October of that year, one month after Gruevski’s roadshow in Turkey.
This was preceded by a Contract for the lease of state land and a government decision for state aid dated January 2014, which were approved by the Commission for Protection of Competition in August the same year, one month before the official announcement of the Turkish investment.
However, at the end of 2014, the government terminated the contract for state aid with Istem Medikal, because the company breached the contract by failing to start constructing the factory within nine months from the date of signing of the lease contract for the land.
Thus, today, Istem Medikal has only one employee in Macedonia and noncurrent assets of approximately 25,000 euros.
The Agency for Foreign Investments informed BIRN that the companies Matek and Total have merged with the company Istem Medikal and they have procured land in TIDZ Skopje, but all three companies were previously announced as separate investors.
“Due to the crisis in Turkey they postponed the investment for one year. The owners expect to start implementing the investment in Macedonia in 2017”, stated the Agency.