site.btaSofia Hosts Bulgarian-Greek Business Forum

A Bulgarian-Greek business forum was held in Sofia on Thursday. The event was organized by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Athens Chamber of Commerce, the Greek Federation of Enterprises, the Bulgarian-Greek Chamber and the Trade Department of the Greek Embassy in Sofia.

BCCI President Tsvetan Simeonov said that the cooperation agreement signed last year between the BCCI and the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry already has already acquired "real-life dimensions". Simeonov pointed out that the Greek delegation is not only made up of representatives of companies from industries traditionally close to Bulgaria, such as food and construction, but also high-tech, tourism, security and safety.

In the words of caretaker Economy and Industry Minister Petko Nikolov, the common challenge for Bulgaria and Greece is to work towards achieving the goals of the Digital Decade 2030, which is a European programme that has connectivity as one of its four pillars. According to the Economy Minister, close cooperation and the exchange of ideas and best practices at government and business level are very important to support the process of drawing up national strategic roadmaps to meet the Digital Decade goals.

He cited data showing that in 2023 bilateral trade amounted to over EUR 4.5 billion, with Greece ranking fourth among Bulgaria's trading partners. In the current year, for the period from January to June, two-way trade is about EUR 2.5 billion, which is a guarantee that the total trade will be bigger this year, the Minister said.

He added that Greece is also one of the strategic investors in Bulgaria and the amount of Greek investments in this country at the beginning of this year totaled EUR 3.5 billion, while the figure for the first quarter of 2024 alone neared EUR 80 million.

In the words of Greek Ambassador Alexios Marios Liberopoulos, in recent years Bulgaria has been perhaps the most important economic and trading partner of Greece in the Balkans. He highlighted as positive developments also the advancement of trilateral relations between Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, as well as the liquefied natural gas terminal in Alexandroupolis. Ambassador Liberopoulos added that 2023 saw an increase of Bulgarian tourists to Greece by almost 42% compared to 2022. Greek tourists to the country also increased to over 1,100,000 people, or an increase of 25%.

The Ambassador also recalled a recent initiative by the Ministers of Energy of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania to address the region's electricity price disparity with prices in Central and Northern Europe.

According to figures he presented, Greece's exports to Bulgaria in 2023 amounted to EUR 3.5 billion, with fossil fuels, oils, plastic products, tobacco, metals and ores being of major interest. The food sector is also showing considerable development.

"The Bulgarian market provides many wonderful opportunities for further development in logistics, in technology, in new areas and on our strong foundations we have the opportunity to further advance in sectors such as food, building materials, environmental solutions," said Athens Chamber of Commerce President Sophia Kounenaki-Efraimoglou.