site.btaUPDATED Burgas Hosts Bulgarian-Turkish Business Forum

A Bulgarian-Turkish Business Forum with bilateral meetings was held for the second year in a row in Burgas on Friday. The forum took place at the International Congress Center Burgas and was organised by the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency, together with the Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Innovations in digital agriculture, biotechnology, digital healthcare, nanotechnology, energy and educational technologies, green economy and logistics were presented at the forum.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, March 8, special attention was paid to female entrepreneurship in Bulgaria and Turkiye, with discussions on how women-led businesses in the two countries could jointly shape a better future.

Among the people attending the business forum were Tolga Orkun, Consul General of Turkiye in Burgas, Fikret Ince, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alcomet AD and Honorary Chairman of the Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Radoslav Rizov from the Directorate-General for European Competitiveness Funds at the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, and Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov.

Following is a soundbite.

Fikret Ince, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alcomet AD and Honorary Chairman of the Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Turkiye's road to Europe passes through Bulgaria. The first stop on this road is Burgas, which is an important, strategic place - it has an airport, ports and a mayor who supports us in everything. We must develop our investments here. Burgas is an important gateway for Turkiye not only to the EU, but also to the world. For 30 years, I have been developing business in Bulgaria and I want to say one thing - this country welcomes us as brothers, for which we are very grateful. One of the most important advantages of the country is that it has macroeconomic stability. The currency is stable and inflation is within tolerable limits. There is predictability in Bulgaria, which is very important for a business along with the location. There is also a competent workforce here, especially in the technology sector. There are low costs for enterprises and the banking system is very good, investment loans are offered in EUR and BGN with very good interest rates.

Tolga Orkun, Consul General of Turkiye in Burgas: Bulgaria is a very important country for us, because over 150 Turkish companies operate here. The investments made by Turkiye in Bulgaria amount to over BGN 2.5 billion. More than 1.5 million trucks cross the Bulgarian-Turkish border every year, and the total number of all vehicles exceeds 3 million. This shows how strong the economic ties between Bulgaria and Turkiye are. Our ambition is to make these connections even more successful. Our common goal is to increase trade and investment between the two countries, which in turn will increase employment. We have already had a number of bilateral meetings, which we consider extremely successful. A new platform for cooperation between Turkiye and the rest of the Balkan countries was also established. Through it, bilateral and multilateral actions in the Balkans in the field of economic cooperation will be supported. In Turkiye and Bulgaria, women should be actively involved in business. We are grateful for the added value they create in all areas with their hard work. 

Radoslav Rizov, DG European Competitiveness Funds at the Ministry of Innovation and Growth: The Ministry of Innovation and Growth sets extremely ambitious goals for the coming years. All of them go through the active cooperation between all countries in our region. The priority in the future will be high technologies and green entrepreneurship, which will help attract the most valuable capital in our country, namely human capital. Active cooperation between business and scientific circles, which are the main engine for the development of innovations in all spheres, is extremely important for the fulfilment of our goals. The Ministry of Innovation and Growth has the necessary tools to achieve them - the Bulgarian Development Bank, the Fund of Funds, the SMEs Promotion Agency. Opportunities are provided by both EU programmes to which our country has access - Operational Programme (OP) Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises and OP Research, Innovation and Digitalisation for Smart Transformation. Under these two OPs alone, BGN 4.5 billion will be invested in our country by 2029.

Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov: I thank the Bulgarian SMEs Promotion Agency and the Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry for choosing our city again for this prestigious event. Two Turkish companies have already decided to start their production in Burgas industrial zones, because of the proximity to Turkiye. One of them is Brotex Technical, owned by the Turkish company Texan, which chose the area in Bulgarovo for a factory for assembling metal elements. In the Industrial and Logistic Park - Burgas, a production base for Monseat is already being built for the production of hall seats. Thank you to our Turkish guests for sharing wonderful reviews from Burgas! It is always nice to hear good things about our city.