Qatar has expressed great interest and political will for investing in Macedonia, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said Monday.

In addition to the interest for investing in Macedonia, the meetings he and the Government's team had in Doha also reviewed concrete projects in the spheres of tourism, energy and construction. The PM expressed satisfaction with the visit, which has thus far exceeded his expectations.

"After yesterday's talks with representatives of the largest Qatar companies, I have also met with the Qatar's Emir and the Prime Minister. Yesterday we visited the Qatar Diar (agency that operates in construction, transport and development projects; Qatar Holding (state investment fund in public and private companies in sectors energy, industry and infrastructure, telecommunications and technology, real estate, trade and commodities) and Qatar Hassad (state agency for investments in the field of agriculture and livestock)," Gruevski said.

At all of those meetings with businessmen, as well as with the Emir and PM, our hosts expressed great interest in and political will for investing in Macedonia, Gruevski said.

"We have offered them several projects. We have not only dicussed the possibilities for investing in general, but also on numerous concrete projects, such as free trade zones we are planning to develop, other ones related to the energy sector and to construction of residential buildings," the PM said.

A Qatar special delegation will visit Macedonia to conduct an in-depth analysis on all aspects and details of the offered projects in the coming period, he added.

At the meeting with the Emir it was announced that Qatar was planning to open its diplomatic office in Macedonia, the PM said.

Gruevski said he was satisfied with the visit to Qatar, pointing out that the results exceeded his expectations.

"I am rather pleased by the meetings with Emir, PM and representatives of major companies. I believe that today's meeting with Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, as well as a presentation before another group of businessmen, will offer additional possibilities for bolstering the business cooperation between Macedonia and Qatar," Gruevski said.

This is the first visit of a Macedonian Premier to Qatar. Last year Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, visited Macedonia.