Mickoski meets German companies about "well-paid jobs", but not a single concrete figure came out of the meeting

A government delegation led by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski met German companies from North Rhine-Westphalia that already operate in Macedonia. According to posts by the prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski, the talks were about new investments, expanding economic cooperation and opening new, well-paid jobs.

The sectors were neatly listed: information and communication technology, renewable energy, healthcare, public safety, infrastructure and the digitalisation of industry. Nikoloski added capital investments and infrastructure projects. Germany, he says, is an important partner for new investment.

What wasn't listed matters more. The posts don't name the companies that sat at the table, and they mention no concrete projects, amounts or deadlines. A meeting with nameless "companies" is, for now, a photo, not an investment.

Deutsche Telekom: the numbers exist, but they're old

The only concrete numbers from the visit came from the other side of the table. In Bonn, the delegation met Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges and board member Dominique Leroy - according to the company, the first official visit by the Macedonian government to Deutsche Telekom. The company reminded everyone that it has been present through Makedonski Telekom for more than 25 years, with over 1.19 billion euros invested in infrastructure, and that it has 97.9 percent 5G coverage.

Those are numbers about what has already been done. As for what comes next, Höttges talked about secure infrastructure, trusted technologies and digital sovereignty - but not about a new investment with an amount and a date.

For years Germany has been one of the main countries where Macedonians live and work, so any German investment back home carries extra weight. But a job isn't created by a Facebook post. The real test will come when we can write down a company name, an amount and the town where people will be hired. Until then, the "well-paid jobs" remain a headline.