Energy, construction of real estates, agriculture and tourism i.e. tourist free zones are the four key areas in which Qatari companies have showed great interest. A delegation made up of representatives of different sectors and companies has announced a visit to Macedonia in April to provide information involving potential projects for investing, said Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski Tuesday in Doha as he was concluding his two-day visit to the State of Qatar.

He stated that Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry, Mohammad bin Saleh Al Sada at a meeting held yesterday voiced interest in the project for ensuring a participation of 49% in the Macedonian Power Plants company, ELEM, through recapitalisation.

"Qatar is definitely interested. The construction of new hydro power plants, thermal and gas power stations is an investment that will provide 49% of the company ELEM. I'll say once again that this is part of our election and governmental programme and preparations have been launched last year. Qatar has showed great interest in this project because it is a major project according to its standards. The others, such as the Vardar Valley or secondary gasification, are smaller projects, however there is still interest for them," PM Gruevski said.

The Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry on his part said the meeting with Gruevski was "very successful", stressing that their talks focused on cooperation in several areas - energy, gasification and potential partnership in other projects.

"We've agreed to resume our talks in Macedonia in April, when a Qatari delegation of technical and commercial experts will arrive to review details on possible partnerships," Mohammad bin Saleh Al Sada said.

On Tuesday, Premier Gruevski met with representatives of Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Airways to discuss cooperation opportunities.

"The idea of opening 20 gas stations in Macedonia was deliberated with Qatar Petroleum. The company will send a representative in Macedonia to inspect locations. Some of them have been already prepared and procedures for the remaining ones will be completed if it maintains its interest," the PM stated.

At a meeting with Qatar Airways, participants reviewed the possibility of Macedonia i.e. Skopje to be a transit destination for its flights bound to other European cities.

Gruevski underlined that the government delegation visiting Qatar on Monday held a meeting with Qatar's Emir and a presentation was held before a group of Qatari companies on Macedonia's investment opportunities.

The Premier said the visit to Qatar was "successful, exceeding any expectations." "I think the two-day intensive visit to Qatar will hopefully yield results in terms of investments in Macedonia and new jobs and in relation to strengthening our political ties with the opening of a Qatari embassy in Skopje," PM Nikola Gruevski stated.