Address by the President of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Dear Members, Partners and Supporters,

Ahead of us lies a busy and dynamic year 2025, charged both with positive emotions, due to the forthcoming celebration of the 130-year anniversary of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and with negative circumstances like the continuing military conflicts in the proximity of Bulgaria - in Ukraine and in the Middle East.

Nevertheless, we are working steadily and have expectations for completing the preparatory process for the introduction of the Euro as national currency and for continuing the steps towards our accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The regular General Assembly of the Chamber, held in June 2024, ascertained and approved the remarkable implementation of the ambitious Guidelines on the BCCI Activity and the financial and organisational actions for the period 2019-2024; for the next five-year period, the General Assembly assigned the task to implement even more ambitious Guidelines with Additions and to perform organisational and financial activities for providing sufficient funds to apply these Guidelines.

We should note the completion, although to a more modest extent, of the annual priorities of the Association of the Bulgarian Employers' Organisations and the good coordination with the members of the Association on key issues of the economy and social dialogue in our country - a practice which has to continue.

All this would not be possible without the trust that you place in us and the support you give to our initiatives and ideas.

The last few years have taught us that the hard predictable political situation in Bulgaria shall not be an obstacle to achieving the goals and objectives of BCCI as the first assistant and ally of the business in improving the economic and investment environment and facilitating the implementation of the plans of the managers, despite the lack of predictability and the continuing postponement of important reforms due to the frequent change of governments. Overcoming the obstacles with good sense and strength, BCCI will continue to work for stable governance in collaboration with all institutions which assist in doing this.

We will continue our partnership with leading international organisations such as the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris - for the issue of electronic Certificates of Origin and ATA Carnets, with Eurochambres, with the Balkan Chambers Association, etc., and we will use their capacity and capabilities to facilitate the activity of our members. Also, the summer of 2025 will witness that we will be host to the Annual Meeting of the European members of the World Trade Centres Association.

We will improve our connections and contacts with the GS1 International Organisation in order to provide detailed and valuable information about the products of more than 4,900 Bulgarian companies, which is accessible from any spot on the planet and is in a form suitable to make a decision to enter into trade negotiations.

The Court of Arbitration at BCCI will continue to expand and improve its Lists of Arbitrators and the rules governing arbitration procedures for the legal cases under consideration. Furthermore, the international cooperation with arbitration courts from all over the world will become more active, too, so as we are as high as the best. The purpose for that is to reduce the time limits for dispute settlement, cut the costs to the parties, connected with the execution of the legal cases, and, most importantly, to achieve fairness and stability of arbitral decisions.

No doubt, working every day to give information to Bulgarian businesses duly, to provide quality service to companies and to protect their interests, we will continue to be leaders for Bulgaria both as a social partner and as a reliable member of the International Organisation of Employers – we ate doing all this together with the regional chambers and their expert teams and members.

We expect that the synergy with the joint chambers, with the other chambers, with the business councils and with other similar non-governmental organisations continues to expand and develop so that, together with the responsible state structures, we make Bulgaria an even more attractive place for business and investments.

Let 2025 be a year of satisfaction with successfully implemented projects and a year of prosperity both in public terms and in personal lives.

Tsvetan Simeonov
Chairman of the Managing Board of
the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry