AmCham Macedonia Summer 2017 (Issue 54) | Page 3

Summer 2017 / Issue 54 Dear AmCham Macedonia members and friends - Thank you for picking up the summer 2017 edition of AmCham Macedonia Magazine. This issue focuses on advertising ethics and builds on a recent event we hosted to start a local con- versation on this issue. In addition to expert ar- ticles from each our panelists from that event, we’ve included insights on a variety of other hot topics from our member experts, a summary of recent calls for corporate income tax reform by local economists and more. In recent advocacy news, we submitted our committee research on amendments made to 20 key economic laws to the new Ministers of Finance, Economy, Justice, and the Vice Prime Minister for Economic Issues. The analysis highlights the need for improved public con- sultation and provides specific improvement proposals to a number of these laws made by our Lawmaking & Enforcement Committee members. We were also recently honored to be the only business association to attend a kick-off meet- ing on the preparation of the government’s 2018-2020 National Economic Reform Pro- gram (ERP) a process that the European Com- mission supports in all enlargement countries. This exercise is meant to help candidate coun- tries and potential candidates to enhance their economic policy and its governance as well as their “institutional and analytical capacities and to prepare them for participation in the EU’s multilateral surveillance and economic policy coordination procedures upon accession.” I was encouraged to see the new Minister of Finance taking this process very seriously and that our previous ERP comments have already been an- alyzed as an input into this coming round. Finally, I received confirmation from the Min- ister of Finance’s cabinet that our comments helped shape the 2017-2020 Government Work Plan (analyzed in detail in this issue). My team and I look forward to continuing all forms of cooperation with members and part- ners this fall and wish all of our readers a rein- vigorating summer vacation. Sincerely, Michelle Osmanli Executive Director AmCham Magazine is a quarterly publication of AmCham Macedonia. No reproduction of any materials published in Emerging Macedonia is permitted without the explicit written permission of AmCham Macedonia. The articles in the magazine express the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of AmCham Macedonia, its members, board of directors or staff. While AmCham Macedonia makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all published information, AmCham Macedonia is not responsible for errors or omissions. The magazine is available on our web site: www.amcham.com.mk EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Michelle Osmanli • PHOTOGRAPHER: Elena Fidanovska • DESIGN: Zoran Inadeski Cover: McCann Skopje • ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: [email protected] AmCham Macedonia Magazine 3