TheStar.com - News - U.S-born Macedonian sells free-trade mission to the Western world

TheStar.com - News - U.S-born Macedonian sells free-trade mission to the Western world: "Macedonia, one of the world's least-populated countries, is an unlikely candidate to take on the world's largest, China.

But Gligor Tashkovich, its feisty Cornell-educated minister for foreign investment, wants the former Yugoslav republic of 2.2 million people to become the dragon slayer of the globalized economy, taking its place alongside Singapore as a booming industrial mini-state.

'We have wage rates as low as China, and lower transport costs,' says Tashkovich, a 42-year-old communications expert who was born in New York state. 'We have the lowest cumulative taxes in Europe, and we have more than 40 free-trade agreements from Iceland to Turkey, a market of 650 million people.'

In Canada this week on a whirlwind trade tour, he is hoping to attract investors who will launch businesses from computer hardware to food-processing plants. And, he says, rejecting Macedonia's sales pitch is not an option.

'I don't accept no as an answer. If people ask why they should consider Macedonia, I tell them it's because we're offering a better deal.'

Tashkovich is a true blue believer in Macedonia, with a family history to prove it. His grandfather, for whom he is named, was a prominent politician whose civil engineering firm built the parliament and presidential buildings in the Macedonian capit"