Every day we ask ourselves what else we can offer our members

The Management Boards of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Bulgarian Entrepreneural Chamber in Building signed a Memorandum for encouragement of construction entrepreneurship, as a continuation of BCCI’s efforts to include the economic category ”construction entrepreneur” in the National Classification of the Republic of Bulgaria, as of this year.
 

The President of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Tsvetan Simeonov said that the reliable and competent construction entrepreneurs will play an even bigger part in Bulgarian economy. BCCI supports the efforts to strengthen the position of construction entrepreneurs and to make this so important economic sector more transparent to people – efforts that BCCI makes for its other members as well.

Mr. Simeonov gave several examples of chambers of commerce. All around the world chambers of commerce with voluntary membership prevail. After the changes a number of chambers in Europe whose membership was exclusively obligatory, such as Hungary and Slovenia, have proceeded to introduce voluntary membership. In May last year, Serbia adopted an act which gives chambers two years to transfer to voluntary membership. The Netherlands, which have a mixed membership system, have also headed for voluntary membership in the chambers of commerce. According to some preliminary unconfirmed reports, in Spain – one of the strongholds of obligatory membership – the tendency for voluntary membership is also palpable. That is why we appreciate cooperation with all organizations immensely, including the Construction Chamber which operates in the same sector. Therefore, we and our partners, every day ask ourselves what else we can do for our members. 

We shouldn’t underestimate the system we have chosen – the register is of significant importance. The fact that someone is entered in it, will give more security to the trade partners and clients. We shouldn’t forget also that the companies entered in the register will enjoy a good reputation among the other institutions, including banks. I hope that the interest rates will be lower as well, because in this case part of the risk of choosing a bad bank customer is avoided.

   “I am glad that in 2011 the Management Board of the Bulgarian Entrepreneural Chamber in Building, with the strong support of the BCCI, has managed to obtain the ”construction entrepreneur” category. We were struggling to have it legitimized on our market for a lot of years and that is why this is a huge success for us”, the President of the Bulgarian Entrepreneural Chamber in Building, Mr. Nikolin Gavrailov said. Naturally, this led to the next logic step – to register all Bulgarian companies which recognize themselves as construction entrepreneurs. And of course, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry of which we are members, agreed to sign this Memorandum for cooperation, in addition to the other help they have given us. More precisely, I mean the legislative changes for which the Bulgarian Entrepreneural Chamber is fighting together with BCCI’s Parliamentary Secretary and experts, in order to enter in the register all companies which recognize themselves as construction entrepreneurs. This Register, which was approved by the BCCI, is public and will give a huge advantage to all companies entered in it. You know that BCCI is a member of EUROCHAMBRES and this is another leap for the construction entrepreneurs – besides being legitimate, to win their place in the real market some day. As far as the criteria, which the Management Board of the Bulgarian Entrepreneural Chamber adopted, are concerned – they are simple. Everyone who wishes to be recognized as a construction entrepreneur should have a registered company with subject of activity contracting and construction. They need to manufacture and sell one product related to construction, e.g. concrete articles, panelboards, high-altitude construction, irrespective of whether the company is medium or large, etc. They should have one employee with a technical degree – e.g. an engineer, a technician or an architect. They should have no financial obligations towards the state institutions. We invite everyone who meets these criteria to register in this Register at the BCCI. I hope that in the first half of the year the market will unfreeze and there will be more foreign investments in our sector. As you know the first real investments in Bulgarian market came from our sector. To overcome the crisis we hope that the bank institutions will give loans with lower interest rates. Today, by signing this Memorandum, we call on all construction entrepreneurs to register, so that they can enter the public space and anyone can have an access to their services. 

20.04.2011