site.btaEconomy Minister Karanikolov Meets with Czech Trade Minister Havlicek

Sofia, September 19 (BTA) - In 2016, commercial exchange between Bulgaria and the Czech Republic stood at nearly 1 billion euro. This emerged at a meeting Tuesday between Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov and Czech Trade Minister Jiri Havlicek, who is paying an official visit here. The two ministers opened a Bulgarian-Check business forum with more than 60 participants, organized by the Bulgarian Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

Karanikolov said that the Czech Republic is among the top twenty leading partners for Bulgaria. In the past ten years, Bulgarian exports grew from 95 million euro in 2007 to 402 million euro in 2016, which is indicative of the interest of Bulgarian businesses in the Czech market.

During the meeting it emerged that bilateral exchange reached 958 million euro in 2016 up from 543 million euro in 2007.

Czech Trade Minister Havlicek noted the potential for advancing cooperation in the automobile industry, IT, medicine, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Havlicek said that in 2016 Bulgaria was among the top partners of the Czech Republic and that Bulgarian companies can serve as subcontractors for Czech companies.

The two also discussed possibilities to boost investment and experience exchange in the development of industrial zone and high-tech centres.