Tsvetan Simeonov: The future government should start working to facilitate the import of employees. Promises have recently been made on that topic

Event was a continuation of the round table held jointly with the Indian-Bulgarian Business Chamber on the unused opportunities for importing labor.

The meeting was officially opened by Tsvetan Simeonov, President of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who shared that the increase in wages due to the lack of sufficient labor is not a constructive way for the development of the Bulgarian economy, because it does not give perspective. Qualified labor and innovation are needed to increase productivity and successfully catch up with our European partners, he also stated.

The President of the BCCI emphasized that sufficient qualified and unskilled labor is needed in Bulgaria in order for the country to catch up with its lagging behind within the European Union. „In terms of growth rates, we are more or less OK, but in terms of volumes, as a perspective, we need to move forward a lot“, said Simeonov.

He stated that the BCCI continues to work to facilitate the access of Bulgarian companies to labor force from abroad as well, pointing out that this is part of the long-term task of the organization to solve this issue. Simeonov noted that the problem is not only for Bulgarian companies, but also for those in Europe and the USA.

The President of the BCCI recalled the round table held on the import of personnel from India, where it was decided to convene the working group at the Ministry of Economy and Industry in a short period of time, pointing out that this did not happen. Simeonov stated that the Chamber's efforts will continue with the new government. Whatever government is formed, the task of facilitating the importation of labor and facilitating the implementation of business plans for expansion, for increasing production, for accepting more orders, must be fulfilled, said the chairman of the BCCI.

Slavi Slavov, Human Power BG project manager, presented the activities of the company, which has been working in the field of labor import since 2021. He introduced the meeting participants to the entire process – from the selection of the right people, through the preparation of documents and procedures to the arrival of the workers in the country. What he defined as extremely important is the preparation of a strategy for each specific company, as well as the specific language courses that Human Power offers to workers from April this year, with the aim of familiarizing them with basic terms in the Bulgarian language in the various sectors of the economy. Iliyan Stankov, The Prime Academy, shared more about language training.

Sandesh Ariel, owner of a Nepali recruitment agency, a partner of Human Power BG, presented the profile of Nepalese workers - peaceful and calm, loyal, executive and very hardworking. He shared that they quickly adapt to the new environment and just as quickly enter the work.

The meeting continued with a discussion in which business representatives from various sectors participated: logistics, transport, construction, chemical industry, production, etc. Questions were raised about the opening of a bank account for foreigners, the issuance of a public transport card, the amount of remuneration, medical insurance, etc.

As before, BCCI will continue to monitor the topic and inform about upcoming initiatives related to easing the conditions for importing labor.