At a meeting with leading companies in the sphere of aviation industry, agriculture, food production and defense, President Rumen Radev invited the French business to encourage the industrial cooperation and the technological transfer with our country. “This is a real opportunity to create mutually beneficial partnerships that all Bulgarian institutions support,” Rumen Radev was adamant.
Representatives of AIR France, Latecoere, Malterie Soufflet, Total, Nexter, Dassault Aviation, Thales and also the French branch of Coca Cola took part in the meeting.
Bulgaria is not a big country in terms of population, but it is big in terms of the high quality of young people and its labor force, the President said and recalled that the young people in Bulgaria always rank first at the international Olympiads in information technologies and mathematics, and the IT sector is among the most dynamically developing ones in Bulgaria. The Head of State further said that although our country was underestimated for a long time due to various issues, currently it is member of the EU, and a factor for political and economic stability and for attracting more investors.
Rumen Radev identified Bulgaria’s competitive advantages such as the low corporate tax rate, the low costs of settlement and production, the reforms towards the dual educational system, the stable macroeconomic indicators and above all the quality of the labor force. “Bulgaria’s location provides access not only to the common EU market, but also to the markets of the neighboring regions,” the President said and emphasized that Sofia Airport might become a logistic hub in Southeastern Europe for aircraft repair and maintenance.
According to the business representatives, our country ranks first in the Southeast European region in terms of the qualification of its workers. They briefed the Bulgarian Head of State on their companies’ activities and also voiced their intention to establish cooperation with Bulgarian companies or expand their business in Bulgaria. Furthermore our country will start producing parts and components for the aircraft industry in the near future. Also intentions were voiced for technological exchange and industrial partnership with Bulgarian companies in the defense sector.