NEWS

President Rosen Plevneliev held talks in Munich with representatives of the business circles in Bavaria

Bio-agriculture, food industry and tourism are among the sectors in which Bulgaria and Bavaria can work together. There are also good prospects for making investments in the sphere of machine-building, information and communication technologies and clusters. Bulgaria and Bavaria can also cooperate in modernizing ports along the Danube. This is what was said at a meeting held between President Rosen Plevneliev and the leadership of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Bavaria. The organization is the biggest of a total of 80 chambers of commerce in Germany, members of which are more than 380,000 companies.

In the past two years the balance of trade has been positive, which Bavaria interprets as a sign of a higher quality of the Bulgarian goods, the representatives of the Chamber said. Statistics show that the trade increased by 22 percent in 2012. The automobile cluster, which is also an example of a successful cluster policy, was pinpointed as a successful model of cooperation.

Peter Driessen, CEO of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Bavaria, said that the family enterprises lie at the basis of the success Bavaria has achieved, continuity there is a priority and a long-term prospect. Peter Driessen further highlighted the importance of continuity and political stability in Bulgaria, as well as the necessity to continue conducting reforms in Bulgaria. As for the Bulgarians working in Germany, Peter Driessen commented that the unemployment rate among our compatriots is 7.4 percent, given that the unemployment rate in Germany is 7.7 percent, while the unemployment rate among the foreigners in the country is 14.7 percent – twice higher compared to the unemployment rate among the Bulgarian citizens.

President Rosen Plevneliev recalled that Bulgaria and Bavaria are successfully working together on the Danube strategy, in the justice and domestic affairs sector, as well as in the security and defense sectors.

Officials from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Bavaria invited the Bulgarian business circles to attend the fairs devoted to infrastructure, water sector, energy efficiency and investment projects, which are part of the program of the International Fair in Munich.