German Ambassador Visited BCCI

The Ambassador of Germany to Bulgaria Matthias Hopfner paid a visit to the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 19 th of January 2010 and discussed with the Chairman of the Chamber Tsvetan Simeonov some issues of common interest.

The BCCI had conducted a brief research among its 4,500 direct members concerning the attitudes of Bulgarian firms making business with Germany. M-r Simeonov presented the results of this consultation, which appeared to be emphatically positive.

Not even one from the interviewed Bulgarian companies had expressed concerns or reported difficulties in its business relations with German partners. This is a plain illustration that in Bulgaria German investors are accepted as strategic and reliable partners, stressed Tsvetan Simeonov.

Another theme of the conversation was the official visit of the Chairman of BCCI in Germany, as a part of the delegation accompanying the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in Berlin from 24 th to 26 th of January.

Two official meetings with eminent German business representatives are foreseen: in DIHK (the German Chamber of Industry and Trade) and in Ostausschuss: the Eastern Comission of German Business, an influential business organization fostering high level relationships with the Eastern Europe countries.

M-r Simeonov shared with the German guest his expectations concerning new business opportunities emerging for Bulgaria along with the growing interest of the European Union toward Black Sea zone. Also an increased investment activity from Asian countries could be recognized – especially regarding the Bulgarian Black Sea ports. Bulgaria is a good place for making business also thanks to its favorable tax legislation.

The German ambassador expressed his awareness of the considerable advance on the business field achieved by the new Bulgarian government, but also emphasized that namely a progress in the sphere of jurisdiction and internal security could mostly contribute to the Bulgarian attractiveness as investment destination.

The European Commission expects from Bulgarian authorities not only to focus on fighting the “rogue” criminality (drugs, abductions, assaults) but also to tackle the economic criminality on the highest level, which phenomenon is closely related with high corruption perception.

Tsvetan Simeonov accepted the rightness of these remarks and confirmed the attitudes of Bulgarian business for faster amendment of the public prosecution and criminal laws.

As a whole there are reasons to be optimistic about more German investments in Bulgaria – stated the Ambassador. The focal sphere of investment activity between Germany and Bulgaria seems to be the infrastructure development. With respect to this Bulgaria gives a positive signal by improving its public procurement procedures, thinks Matthias Hopfner.

HE Matthias Hopfner and the Chairman of BCCI agreed to extend the cooperation and to enhance the informational exchange between institutions in favor of both Bulgarian and German business.