“Bulgaria is determined to create a predictable, sustainable and transparent business environment. We are aware of our problems and are motivated to solve them.” This is what President Rumen Radev said, who together with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, met representatives of Bulgarian and German companies in Sofia. Rumen Radev emphasized that the German business has a sustainable and strong presence in Bulgaria and over 5000 German companies function in our country. Moreover, 30 percent of the 100 largest investors in Bulgaria are namely German companies.
Rumen Radev highlighted the young talented people as Bulgaria’s strongest competitive advantage and said that the development of sectors with a high added value is a factor for stopping the negative migration processes and for ensuring that those who have left Bulgaria will come back. “Bulgaria, with a population of seven million, ranks sixth in the world in terms of the sum of awards won at all national competitions in natural sciences. We are far ahead of Germany in this respect,” President Radev said.
In Rumen Radev’s view, the high value of the German investments in the Bulgarian economy is the result of the investments made in encouraging industry and real economy and it is namely such investments that guarantee a sustainable growth. “There is something more important than money in these investments – the new progressive model of relations that the German business has brought in Bulgaria. The model of the business-state and business-society relations. The third element pertains to the support that the German business offers us so that we can have a lower tolerance to the problems relating to quality,” President Radev said and hailed the good business practices which impose standards on quality and the business environment in Bulgaria itself.
President Steinmeier, for his part, commented that the increased economic indicators between the two countries are very impressive and called on the participants to hold an honest discussion, including one pertaining to possible problems. “The German companies would not be in Bulgaria, if the country did not develop as an attractive place for investments,” Steinmeier said and added that the representatives of the German companies would say that they need well-trained staff.
Tomorrow Rumen Radev and Frank-Walter Steinmeier will tour the production unit of the Lierbherr-Hausgerate Martisa company Ltd. in Radinovo, founded in 1999 in Bulgaria.