Minister Bogdanov discussed with representatives of the World Bank Group the opportunities for cooperation in managing and attracting investors in industrial zones in Bulgaria
Minister of Economy and Industry Bogdan Bogdanov and Minister of Finance Asen Vassilev discussed the opportunities for American investment and job creation in Bulgaria with representatives of leading American companies, including TESLA, Honeywell, Northrop-Grumman, Lockheed Martin, FedEx, C4V.
Minister Bogdanov, Minister Vassilev, Bulgarian Ambassador to the USA Georgi Panayotov with Lockheed Martin Vice President for International Business Relations Raymond Piselli
During their official visit to the United States of America, the two also met with the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Vice President for Europe, Ms. Marjorie Chorlins, and participated in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the organization. American businesses expressed interest in investing in the high-tech, energy, innovation, electric vehicle and medical products sectors, as well as in the military industry in Bulgaria.
Minister Bogdanov stressed that since 2017 trade between Bulgaria and the USA has been growing, with bilateral trade reaching a historic peak of over USD 2 billion in 2022. ‘Bulgaria wishes to continue and develop this positive trend. Our country is interested in attracting American capital investment in high-technology manufacturing and high value-added services. They will contribute to the efficiency of the Bulgarian economy and create highly-skilled and well-paid jobs. We are counting on US direct investment to develop economic sectors capable of withstanding strong competition and adopting the business practices, ethics and technologies of foreign investors,’ the economy minister said.
In his words, the information and communication technologies sector is one of the most promising areas for attracting American investments in our country. The USA is a world leader in this sector and more and more American companies are directing their activities to Bulgaria. There is also huge potential in renewable energy generation and storage technologies.
A special focus of the meetings was the inclusion of Bulgaria in supply chains, which would create opportunities for higher value-added production.
For his part, Finance Minister Asen Vassilev pointed out: ‘American businesses are welcome in Bulgaria if they are looking for qualified staff, but if you need cheap labour, you’d better stay at home,’ Minister Vassilev told the representatives of large companies. He highlighted the investment advantages of our country, pointing out that for the first time the current government has started to support Bulgarian and foreign investors for capital projects with the maximum state aid allowed by the EU.
During his working visit to the US, Minister Bogdanov and Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Nikolay Pavlov also held a meeting with representatives of the World Bank Group. They discussed the opportunities for cooperation in managing and attracting investors in the industrial zones in Bulgaria and the construction of new zones using public-private partnership.
In a meeting with Diep Nguyen-van Houtte, director of climate innovation at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) headquarters of the World Bank (WB) Group in Washington, it was revealed that the institution is providing funds for the strategy development and analysis of these projects. The institution can be a partner, alongside the World Bank, in assessing, managing and structuring public-private partnerships in emerging industrial zones, on the one hand, and being an investor in them, on the other. The corporation also assists various countries in attracting new investors to the zones it manages. Opportunities for cooperation and attracting investors in the construction of energy storage systems and infrastructure projects were also identified.
Minister Bogdanov pointed out that the cooperation with the IFC and the World Bank will be important to improve the perception of businesses and investors towards this way of business development. Their active participation will support the process of building transparent rules of engagement between the administration and the private sector.
The representatives of the World Bank Group highly appreciated the actions of the Bulgarian government for the development of industrial zones and infrastructure projects. They highlighted their extensive experience in this field, specifically in the area of public-private partnerships.
At the meeting the World Bank Group representatives assessed Bulgaria’s competitive advantages as excellent for the requirements of Asian manufacturing investors, which IFC is ready to attract and finance. It was agreed that an IFC team would visit the country to continue the talks and sign a Memorandum of Cooperation in the areas of the talks.