site.btaEconomy Minister Loukarski Invites Chinese Investors to Industrial Zones, Sofia Tech Park

Economy Minister Loukarski Invites Chinese Investors to Industrial Zones, Sofia Tech Park

Suzhou, Southeastern China, November 24 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Government voices its strong support for the partnership initiative between China and the countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). "The most important result of such partnership for us would be an increase of the Chinese investments in Bulgaria and the two-way trade," Economy Minister Bozhidar Loukarski said at the session of the Fifth China-CEE Economic Forum in Suzhou, quoted by the Government's Press Service. The forum is dedicated to the development of the industrial parks.

The Economic Forum is held in the sidelines of the 4th Meeting of Heads of Government of China and CEE, held in the 16+1 format.

Loukarski presented Bulgaria as an excellent place for business offering considerable economic and logistic advantages for the Chinese companies. As he put it, the strategic location and good infrastructure relations position Bulgaria as the Eastern door of Europe.

The Minister outlined mechanical engineering, automobile industry, electronics and electrical engineering, information and communication technologies, chemical and pharmaceutical industry, agriculture and food processing industry, as well as the joint construction of industrial zones and technological parks as sectors of priority importance for Bulgaria, which could possibly attract Chinese investments.

He extended an invitation on behalf of the Bulgarian Government to the Chinese companies to invest in the Bulgarian industrial parks either as strategic investors or as individual investors in specific sectors.

In particular, Loukarski presented the Bozhourishte Economic Zone, run by the state-owned National Company Industrial Zones. Bozhourishte is located near the capital and covers an area of around 2.7 million sq m. It has well developed infrastructure and is oriented towards production, logistics and services.

Sofia Tech Park was advertised as the first scientific and technological park in Bulgaria, offering excellent possibilities for extension of the operation of Chinese R&D centres in Europe. The main activities carried out in the Park are in the field of ICT, natural sciences - biotechnologies, foods and agriculture, green energy and clean technologies. The facility is owned by the state.

The Trakiya Euro-Chinese Economic Zone was presented as public-private initiative, including nine municipalities, six industrial zones and three clusters in the Plovdiv Region, Central Bulgaria. So far, the Zone has attracted investments of over 1,000 million euro and over 110 leading foreign and local companies. The purpose of the facility is to establish a bridge between Europe and China and evolve into a centre of industry, trade and modern logistics. It is strategically located at the Trakiya Motorway connecting Europe with Turkey and the Middle East. Minister Loukarski voiced hope that the upcoming granting of a concession for the management of the Plovdiv Airport will support logistics and the promotion of business in the region. The first stage of the development of the Zone envisages investments to the amount of 150 million euro.

The Plovdiv Logistic Hub aims to combine the increasing cargo traffic from China to the EU with integrated logistics and an aviation project through e-trade. The project's competitive advantages are in the integration of its components - the Plovdiv Airport, the nearby economic zones and the Free Trade Zone - thus offering an one-stop shop for Chinese importer-companies, the Economic Minister said. In his opinion, these advantages, combined with the favourable economic, tax and price regime, render Bulgaria competitive compared to the other European points of entry into the EU market.