Virtual meeting with partners from Athens Chamber of Tradesmen

Representatives of the management of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen, and the Bulgarian – Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry held an online meeting.

Tsvetan Simeonov, President of BCCI, opening the meeting noted the excellent relations with partners from the neighboring country, including the Union of Hellenic Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Thessaloniki Chamber of Small And Medium Sized Industries, regional business organizations and others.

The President of the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen Ioannis Chatzitheodosiou greeted the participants and drew attention to the development of the economic relations between the two countries.

The Athens Chamber of Tradesmen represents the interests of about 150 000 companies, including Bulgarian companies operating in Greece. The organization continues to serve its members despite the pandemic and the current global situation. It maintains relations with the chambers in Paris and Barcelona, ​​and has a partnership with the company Ali Baba through which it cooperates with organizations in China. According to the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen, Greek companies have a particularly large presence in Bulgaria - 5.6% of the country’s GDP is due to their activities. 1.4 million Greek tourists visited Bulgaria, and 1.3 million Bulgarians visited Greece last year. Important for the future cooperation between the two countries is the signed Memorandum for the construction of the IGB gas pipeline.

Simeonov, for his part, stressed the need to establish more north-south business ties in general. He shared that the BCCI supports and participates in the Three Seas Initiative, which aims to promote the development of infrastructure in the fields of energy, transport, digitalization.

According to the President of BCCI, the activity of Greek companies in Bulgaria is highly valued and they can count on the assistance of the BCCI. They have the opportunity together with Bulgarian companies to apply for various European projects, to use the services of the BCCI, to address the Arbitration Court in commercial disputes, etc.

Simeonov summed up that through joint efforts there will be better prospects for both countries in the EU and globally. He gave the example of the recent Balkan International Wine Festival in Sofia, which brings together organizers and participants from Bulgaria, Greece and many Balkan countries.

The President of the Bulgarian – Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry Savvas Karafyllidis, one of the initiators of the meeting, also joined the discussion. He offered assistance in boosting the exchange of economic and commercial information between the two countries.