site.btaEconomy Ministry: Campaign to Enhance Bulgarian Business Presence on Scandinavian Market Starts

Economy Ministry: Campaign to Enhance Bulgarian Business Presence  on Scandinavian Market Starts

Stockholm/Sofia, August 18 (BTA) - The active promotion of Bulgaria and encouraging direct contacts between Bulgarian and Swedish businesses will be at the focus of a campaign aimed at discovering new opportunities for Bulgarian companies on the Scandinavian markets, Bulgarian Economy Minister Bozhidar Loukarski and his Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, Mikael Damberg, agreed during Loukarski's working visit to Stockholm, the Bulgarian Economy Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The Bulgarian business sector is suffering from a serious lack of information about the opportunities the Swedish market can offer. This is among the main obstacles for increasing its presence, especially in sectors with significant potential for Bulgarian exports, Minister Loukarski noted. Unlike the big companies, SMEs do not have the resources needed to research on their own the opportunities for entering the Scandinavian market, he added. According to him, one of the main reasons for the lack of information for businesses is the closing of the Swedish embassy in Bulgaria, along with the fact that this country remains outside the focus of the activities of Business Sweden's regional representatives, who are responsible for encouraging cooperation between Swiss and foreign businesses, and attracting foreign investments. The two ministers have agreed to refer these issues to the relevant institutions. Representatives of the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency are scheduled to confer with their colleagues from Business Sweden and seek ways to enhance cooperation between the two organizations in support of SMEs.

Taking into account the Swedish market's perspectives for development, including as an entry point to the whole Scandinavian market, the Commercial and Economic Section of the Bulgarian Embassy in Stockholm is preparing a series of business to business meetings, during which Bulgarian and Swedish companies can establish direct contacts.

Loukarski noted that efforts must be made to target sectors in which Bulgarian products have traditions and competitive advantages. These include machine building, electronics and electrical equipment, the food industry, wine and spirits production, the furniture industry, textile and information and communication technologies.

A two-day business forum in the field of information and communication technologies will be held in Gothenburg this October as part of these efforts. A similar meeting was organized a few months ago for companies from the textile industry, which was very well received by businesses from both countries. Over 50 Bulgarian companies attended the event, said the head of the Commercial and Economic Section at the Bulgarian Embassy in Stockholm, Galateya Kolikova.

The two ministers have discussed opportunities for improving the market positions of Bulgarian wines, which are very well received on the Swedish market. The Swedish policy of importing alcoholic beverages via tender procedures remains an obstacle. The market share of Bulgarian wines on the Swedish market has been decreasing in recent years, due to the limited number of tenders open to Bulgaria. No such tender was opened in the past year, which brought the market share to under one per cent, compared to two per cent a few years back. Minister Loukarski and Minister Damberg have discussed the possibility to review these restrictions.

Bilateral trade between Bulgaria and Sweden has increased by 13.7 per cent in 2014 from a year earlier, reaching the record-high 289.2 million euro (0.6 per cent of Bulgaria's overall bilateral trade for 2014). Both imports and exports have seen growth in 2014 for a second consecutive year, with Bulgarian exports to Sweden rising by 28.9 per cent and reaching the record-high 139.6 million euro. Imports have also increased by 2.5 per cent, reaching 149.6 million euro.