Seventh meeting of the Club of Joint and Foreign Chambers
The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted the Seventh meeting of the Club of Joint and Foreign Chambers. The main theme of the meeting was the investment climate in Bulgaria and the upcoming amendments to the Bulgarian Investment Promotion Act in support of production and services with high added value, increasing regional economic activity and job creation.
The Executive Director of Invest Bulgaria Agency Borislav Stefanov gave a presentation on the topic. According to the World Investment Report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2013 – 2014 foreign direct investments (FDI) worldwide are expected to return to their pre-financial crisis levels. There is a dynamic growth of investment in mining sector, while it is significantly lower in industry and services sector. Another interesting fact shared by Mr. Stefanov was the major change of the profiles of investors and beneficiaries over the past 20 years. The tendency is for the developed countries to invest in developing countries. Unfortunately, the poorest countries in the world still do not receive foreign direct investment.
In Bulgaria in recent years there has been a significant change in the structure of FDI. There has been a considerable drop in construction, real estate and financial sector, while in all other sectors investments grew. There has also been an increase of intercompany loans as compared to the same period of previous years.
The President of BCCI presented the results of the second edition of the classification of Bulgarian Commercial Service Offices and conclusions about the cooperation of Commercial Service Offices with Bulgarian companies which explore foreign markets and establish contacts with foreign partners.
Traditionally, after the official part the meeting continued with an anonymous wine tasting to select the “Wine of summer 2012”. 9 Bulgarian and Austrian wines were tasted, among which 4 white, 3 red and 2 rose wines. The tasting was moderated by Ms. Galina Niforou, founder and Chief Manager of the wine consultancy company “Oinorama”. Based on the given marks the following winners were announced:
White wine - Gruner Veltliner “Ried Sandgrube” 2011 – Austria
Red wine – Orbelus “Getika” 2010 – Bulgaria, vineyards in Melnik