site.btaNisava Regional Chamber of Commerce Involves over 500 Companies from Bulgaria and Serbia

In 20 years of participation in EU programmes, the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Nisava Administrative District has involved directly over 500 companies from Bulgaria and Serbia, with more than 2,000 employees participating in various activities, said Zoran Markovic, Service Sector Coordinator of the Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Nisava, Pirot and Toplica Administrative Districts, at the cross-border conference on the "Europe in the Balkans: Common Future" project in Belgrade on Friday.

He pointed out that the role of the Regional Chamber of Commerce is to promote the economy in the country and abroad, to represent the members' interests before state institutions, and to present the interests of the economy and business during Serbia's EU accession process. The goals of the Chamber are to improve the lives of citizens who live in the border region between Bulgaria and Serbia, and to promote business interests. The Chamber also supports companies in an indirect way, as there are currently more than 100,000 registered active companies in Serbia, of which nearly 4,500 are based in the Nis region.

Markovic cited data showing that Bulgaria ranked 15th in terms of trade in the Nis region (2.3%) in 2023, in 18th place (1.9%) in 2022, in 17th place (2.1%) in 2021, and in 17th place (2.2%) in 2020. "Today, trade with Bulgaria stands at about EUR 50-60 million per year," noted Markovic.

The BTA project "Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future" is supported by the European Commission. It aims to foster a better understanding of the role of cohesion policy in the Balkans; to raise awareness of projects funded by the EU through the Cohesion Funds; promote dialogue on the results of the projects at local level and boost civic participation in issues related to cohesion policy. 

The project is funded with EUR 348,871. To achieve the project's aims, BTA is using a media mix and expects to reach out to between 700,000 and 1 million people in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkiye. 

The series of conferences under the project was launched on December 20, 2023 in Sofia. The programme until August 2024 envisages BTA-hosted discussions in the cities of Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Samokov, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, Yambol, Kardzhali and Haskovo, as well as cross-border conferences in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje and Thessaloniki.