Economic Development, Governance and Enterprise Growth Project

22/07/2024

In today’s global landscape marked by post-COVID recovery and geopolitical shifts, foreign direct investment remains pivotal for driving economic and social development. However, countries face challenges like supply chain disruptions, production shortfalls, and modest global growth.

To tackle this question, the USAID Economic Development, Governance, and Enterprise Growth Project's Investment Transparency Activity organized an Investment Promotion Study Tour in Poland. Business chambers and associations from Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia attended, gaining valuable insights and strategies for successful investment promotion. Participants gained insights from Invest in Pomerania and the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) . They also learned from real-life case studies of companies that have invested in Poland, including Northvolt, Boeing, Wipro, Intel Corporation, Amazon, Visa, and more.

Thank you to all of our partners that made this study tour a success, and the private companies that shared their stories, guidance on investor needs and best practices in !

22/05/2024

Асоцијација за е-трговија на Македонија EDGE grantee is organizing a grant closing ceremony, followed by a panel discussion with representatives from several home e-commerce businesses who will share their tips & tricks for maximizing marketing efforts with minimal resources.
Don't miss this opportunity to access, network, and see how marketing works with few resources and good strategies to find a great deal for your e-commerce business 🚀
📍 Innox Skopje (Macedonia Square)
📅 Wednesday, 29.05.
⏱️16:00

As part of this event, the 30 supported businesses that open e-stores on domestic marketplace platforms as part of the "Digitally Fit for E-Commerce" project implemented by AETM, with the support of the USAID EDGE Project.

Маркетинг во е-трговија: Како со малку да направиш многу?🤔

Проследете панел дискусија со претставници од неколку домашни бизниси за е-трговија кои ќе ги споделат своите tips & tricks за максимизирање на маркетинг напорите со минимални ресурси.

Не ја пропуштајте оваа можност за учење, networking и согледување на тоа како можете со малку ресурси и добра маркетинг стратегија да остварите многу за вашиот e-commerce бизнис 🚀

📍 Innox Skopje (Плоштад Македонија)
📅 Среда, 29.05.
⏱️16:00

Во склоп на овој настан ќе бидат промовирани и 30-те поддржани бизниси кои отворија е-продавници на домашните маркетплејс платформи во рамки на проектот „Дигитално подготвени за е-трговија“ реализиран од АЕТМ со поддршка на Регионалниот проект на УСАИД за економски развој, управување и раст на претпријатијата – ЕДГЕ.

Задолжителна потврда на твоето присуство на https://forms.gle/rmicfviBSD3GTHj38

13/05/2024

USAID EDGE Project was acknowledged by the Macedonian E-commerce Association (Асоцијација за е-трговија на Македонија) for its contributions to the growth of e-commerce in Macedonia during the annual conference of the Macedonian E-commerce Association.

03/05/2024

Komuna Dibër - Municipality of Debar - Општина Дебар, the main grant partner in the “Discover Dibër and Debar” grant activitiy has constructed an information board that will serve as a vital route map for travelers, providing them with the necessary information to safely negotiate the roads. The Debar municipality also installed a hiker orientation sign next to the charming village of Elefce, which is 3.5 kilometers away, on the path that leads to Mount Deshat’s summit. Their grant partner from Albania, Municipality of Dibër is currently working on the signage along the trail, in the village of Arras, Albania.
Click on the photos below to check their progress

03/05/2024

The Macedonian E-Commerce Association (Асоцијација за е-трговија на Македонија), an EDGE grantee, hosted an after-work informative session in cooperation with Visa. The public call "E-commerce: Superpower for local businesses vol. 2" served as the basis for organizing the informational session. Twenty new micro, small, and medium-sized firms will receive support through this call to establish their own web stores, improve their digital abilities, and begin online sales.
Attendees got the chance to learn more about the requirements for applying to the open call, as well as to speak with some of the initiative's partners in person to learn about potential collaboration opportunities.

You can find more details for the public call on the following link: https://ecommerce.mk/visa-2024/

29/04/2024

Moderator of the event:

- Stephen Little
Senior Economic Officer at the USAID E&E Bureau

Speakers of tomorrow's event:

- Jasminka Varnalieva
EDGE, Chief of Party (COP)

- Saso Risteski
Senior Advisor, EDGE

- Blagoja Miloshevski
Senior Advisor, EDGE

- Blagoja Mukanov
CEO, of AgFutura Technologies

25/04/2024

Final Day of the Regional Cost Benefit Analysis Training

Twenty-seven public investment and procurement professionals from Albania, Kosovo, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine completed the comprehensive three-day training program on Cost Benefit Analysis. Topics on the final day focused on evaluations of high scale transportation and climate change projects, mitigating risks, carbon accounting, and prioritization of infrastructure investment under budget constraints.

The hands-on training aimed to enhance the skills of participants in assessing investment projects viability. By enhancing their capacity, the training ensures better allocation of public resources and smarter prioritization of development projects. Overall, it's expected to improve the effectiveness of public investment and procurement across the region.

24/04/2024

Day 2 of the Regional Cost Benefits Analysis Training

Professor Glenn Jenkins delivered an in depth presentation on performing economic analysis, including fiscal and market distortion corrections; monetization of externalities, and presented participants with useful tools for economic and financial evaluations. Case studies of investments in large scale water supply and sanitations projects were presented to the public investment and procurements professionals from Albania, Kosovo, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine.

Professor Mikhail Miklyaev proceeded with a presentation focusing on Distributive Analysis and Stakeholder Evaluation, and Cost Effectiveness Analysis. Specific case studies illustrating the application of cost effectiveness analysis in renewable energy projects were discussed and major risks in energy projects and lessons learnt were presented.

The afternoon session featured panel discussions and presentations highlighting the experiences of Georgia, Moldova, and Montenegro with large-scale investment projects and public-private partnerships. This led to lively conversations where participants exchanged experiences, discussed challenges they faced, and shared some of the region's best practices.

23/04/2024

Happening now! USAID EDGE Investment Transparency buy-in activity gathered 27 public sector professionals from ministries of finance and public procurement and public-private partnership agencies as well as ministries in charge of large capital investment projects for a three-day training on Cost-Benefit Analysis. Participants representing the public investment sector of Albania, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine are learning how to plan, budget, and invest their public resources in a more transparent and cost-beneficial manner.

U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Montenegro Nicole Otallah, and the Head of Public Investment Policy Department in Government of Montenegro Jelena Jovetic, opened the regional training. The training is being delivered by former Harvard professors from the U.S.-based Cambridge Resources International Inc.

Topics of the Day 1 include:

✅ Efficient Public Investment Management
✅ Cost Benefit Analysis for public investments and public-private investments
✅ Investment Criteria from the point of view of investors, financiers, and government
✅ Public-Private Partnership Projects

29/02/2024

The Glimpse of the Balkans – New Regional Tour: The Times of the Antiquity
The Western Balkans, situated between the Danube River and the Adriatic Sea, represents true crossroads of civilizations; it is the last patch of Europe with roads less travelled – the bridge between pre-history and history, East and West, it hides layers and layers of history: from Mesolithic Iron Gates culture of Lepenski Vir, remnants of Illyrian fortifications from Iron Age, early Greek colonies of the antiquity, to Roman strongholds and outposts and finally the last glimpses of the Byzantine Empire.
The beginning of history is often shrouded in myths and legends. Tales from ages long ago tell stories that are woven into the fabric of Europe. The Western Balkans is a place where the great civilizations of antiquity left their mark, and impassable mountains protected their remains from millennia that have passed.
This tour is a product of the partnership between Robinson Travel, Sarajevo Insider, and Montenegro Adventures.
The project The Glimpse of the Balkans is supported by Economic Development, Governance and Enterprise Growth Project

28/02/2024

In February, the Macedonian E-Commerce Association (AETM) and their partner, the Albanian E-Commerce Association (AECA), organized B2B events collaborating with local marketplace platforms and stakeholders as part of the "Digitally Fit for E-Commerce" grant initiative. These events were conducted simultaneously through separate online sessions, held in North Macedonia and Albania respectively.

During these sessions, each marketplace platform introduced themselves and detailed their terms for collaboration, covering aspects such as customer base, delivery options, commission structures, and promotional channels, among others, to the participating stakeholders. Similarly, each stakeholder showcased their businesses along with the products or services they currently offer or intend to sell online.

Post-event, participants were provided with presentations from all the marketplace platforms, empowering them to make informed decisions regarding the platform best suited for launching their e-shops. Moving forward, there will be support provided for the easy establishment of e-shops on the chosen marketplace platforms in both countries.

Асоцијација за е-трговија на Македонија
Albanian E-Commerce Association

28/02/2024

👀 "Can I help with checking the routes?" 🗺

Many of you are generously offering help with checking the 🚲 route. Thank you for your good will, but let's briefly say why we cannot accept such help.

As cyclists, we have different views on what "passable for as many different cyclists as possible" is. Where one person will enjoy pushing the pedals in first gear on a ragged macadam uphill, another will angrily push a bicycle with luggage into the blackberries under the road 💩🤬. Therefore, it is essential that the entire route is seen - and evaluated - by the same eyes.

It is also important that, in addition to recording the GPS tracks (this is really not such magic these days), we also ✍️ record the beginnings and ends of the macadams, mark the specifics and points along the route, water taps, for example 💧

You may not imagine that after finishing the research trip, the work continues behind the computer; it is necessary to 'clean up' the GPS tracks, for example from the time when we had to turn 🚳 due to an impassable road (you don't want to repeat our mistakes), and arrange the POIs 📍 in a meaningful way. For this part, it is ideal to have the same person do it on the field and on the computer.

And then there is the photography 📷 and video recording 🎥 of the route for the purpose of an informative and useful website and app.

WE DO NOT CLAIM 😛 that some of you could not do all of this, but since we do not (yet) know each other, let this form of cooperation wait a little 🤠

However, we will be happy to receive feedback from everyone who will be making the trip once the itinerary is finalized and published.

Again - thank you for your understanding.

On the photo you can see the edge of 'Peštersko polje', the largest and highest karst field on the Balkan Peninsula, in the west of Serbia near the border with Montenegro. A very unique, rawly beautiful landscape 💚



Economic Development, Governance and Enterprise Growth Project
GIZ Albania
Sustainable Rural Development
Feel Slovenia
RECONOMY