site.btaEconomy Minister Karanikolov Discusses Investment Opportunities in Bulgaria with German Business Executives

Sofia, September 7 (BTA) - "Germany is a strategic and leading foreign-trade partner of Bulgaria, and German companies are reliable investors because they assume long-term commitments," Bulgarian Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov said here on Thursday at a meeting with representatives of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations. The committee affiliates over 200 enterprises and represents the interests of German companies in 21 countries of Eastern Europe, Karanikolov's Ministry said in a press release on Thursday.

The participants in the meeting praised the progress of two-way trade, which reached a record 6,637 million euro in 2016 and is expected to perform even better in 2017. The prospects for future investments were discussed, along with the interest expressed by German companies in transport infrastructure, mechanical engineering, car parts manufacture, high technology, food processing and other sectors.

Karanikolov familiarized the guests from Germany with the measures that the Government and his Ministry have taken to ease the administrative burden and facilitate investments in Bulgaria, the work on setting up new industrial zones in the country and addressing the shortage of skilled labour. The country's efforts in digitizing the economy were highlighted as well.