A conference entitled “Good Practices for an innovative corporate Welfare” was held in the BCCI

The topic of welfare was in the focus of an international conference organized by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria and Confindustria Bulgaria with the support of the Embassy of Italy in Sofia.

The event achieved its main goal - consideration of various practices in the field of well-being, social assistance, CSR from the public and private sectors, and an emphasis on their practical application.

Krasimir Dachev, Vice President of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry opened the event and pointed out that the Chamber has been working for the welfare of Bulgarian companies for 128 years. Well-being has many different manifestations, but the Chamber of Commerce focuses on the socio-economic side of it – what is the level of satisfaction gained from connections with others and with communities. Of primary importance for its achievement are the degree of satisfaction of people's needs and requirements, the level of justice in the distribution of income and wealth, of social responsibility and social commitment, etc.

In economics, welfare is seen as a characteristic of the economic system or its ability to generate a common good for individuals. GDP per capita is an indicator that represents the welfare of the country. For Bulgaria, it is BGN 24,252 for 2022, which is nearly 3 times less than Italy's GDP. The country is among Bulgaria's leading commercial and economic partners. “The interaction Bulgaria – Italy is very close and the exchange of good practices is a normal development of relations within this conference.” said Dachev.

The Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Nikolay Pavlov confirmed at the opening of the event that the Ministry of Economy and Industry will continue to support the welfare of Bulgarian enterprises with various measures. Companies will be able to introduce digital technologies into production processes, improve their resource efficiency, their environmental indicators and adopt the production and distribution of green products.

During the conference, Pavlov recalled the public support directed at businesses to overcome the consequences of the covid pandemic. "A number of measures were taken, including the provision of grants for small and medium-sized enterprises and support through financial instruments," said Pavlov.

He added that measures were also taken to control inflation and expressed hope that all this will contribute to increasing the well-being of both companies and citizens in Bulgaria.

The forum was attended also by the ambassador of Italy H.E. Giuseppina Dzara, the president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria Alessandro Geretto and the president of Confindustria Bulgaria Roberto Santorelli.

The topics covered by the event were welfare - examples and perspectives; welfare as the engine of a new entrepreneurship; possible synergies between public and private welfare; welfare as a response to new social risks; decision-making for social policies in times of pandemic, crisis and resilience.

Representatives of companies and business organizations from Italy and Bulgaria - Dal Ben Spa, Kuminiano Fruit, Generali Bulgaria, Fantastico Group, BRAIT, Olymp Safety Equipment presented their welfare cases giving concrete examples of the application of innovative measures for taking care of their staff, clients, partners, the region and the society.