NEWS

President Plevneliev: We Would Like to Become a Preferred Outsourcing Destination for the French Companies

The trade between Bulgaria and France has been worth more than one billion euros in the past ten years. It has increased by 61.2 percent in the same period, and the French investments in Bulgaria exceed 1.3 billion euros. This is the information President Rosen Plevneliev provided at a meeting with representatives of the French business, organized by the French-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce. The meeting set the beginning of the Head of State’s official visit to Paris. The French Republic is Bulgaria’s strategic trade partner and our country has attached priority importance to the development of the bilateral relations, Rosen Plevneliev emphasized.  

“I hope we will see more French investors in Bulgaria in our increasingly high-tech industries. I think that our success goes through establishing sustainable and successful trade partnerships. It is namely integration that makes our progress possible,” the Head of State said. In the President’s opinion, at difficult times such as the current one, when the vote at the referendum held in Great Britain shakes the foundations of the EU, it is even more important to recall that our successes are common, that everyone benefits from integration and cooperation, while populism and nationalism bring losses not only to us, but also to the next generations.   

The Head of State said that our country was emerging as a regional hub in the car industry, the outsourcing industry and in the ICT sector. An increasing number of foreign companies prefer Bulgaria as a destination for exporting services and productions. The sector has achieved considerable growth in Bulgaria, and about 40,000 jobs have been created in the past years and the expectations are that their number will reach 60,000 by 2020. President Plevneliev recalled that Bulgaria won the best outsourcing destination award in 2015, and is among the top ten countries in the world outsourcing destinations.

“We would like Bulgaria to become a preferred outsourcing destination for the French companies,” the Head of State told the French business.

The president said that the excellent communication network, the well-prepared staff and the country’s traditions in the ICT industry are the factors that have made Bulgaria a regional leader in this sector. About 5,400 companies are active in the IT sector and about 1,500 companies - in the Information Services sector.
 
So far the share of the sector in our country’s GDP is 3.3 percent and the trend is set to increase. 65 percent of the Bulgarian ICT products are exported and they are highly competitive on the global market. The companies in the branch have created more than 35,000 jobs so far and a further about 30,000 software specialists are expected to be trained in Bulgaria by 2020. The Head of State also recalled the relieved procedure for hiring staff from abroad – the EU Blue Card, which also addresses the issue of the provision of specialists in the industry.     

President Rosen Plevneliev said that the tax rates, low labor costs in Bulgaria and the country’s strategic location between Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East are Bulgaria’s advantage for the French business.

The Head of State told the representatives of the French business that Bulgaria “does not turn a blind eye to the challenges.” “We should complete the already launched reforms in the justice, education and administration sectors, so that their functioning is not a hindrance to the development of the business. The responsible and sustainable policies are those that would allow the country to unleash its economic potential. Bulgaria is working to that effect. We are paving the way to an up-to-date electronic management and the citizens and business will soon see the results of that,” President Plevneliev said.   

The Head of State’s program in the French capital will continue with a meeting with French President Francois Hollande. Later Rosen Plevneliev will talk with the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria, and also with the Speaker of the National Assembly Claude Bartolone. President Plevneliev will also meet representatives of the Bulgarian community.