site.btaBulgaria Participates in First AmChams Eurasian Economic Summit in Istanbul

The First AmChams Eurasian Economic Summit (AEES) took place in Istanbul on Octtober 24-25, where the three co-hosting AmChams of Turkiye, Greece and Bulgaria brought together nearly 240 representatives of governments, business leaders and media from 14 countries to discuss the strategic importance, value and potential for economic development of this region. The purpose of these business associations is to continue to promote the creation of new business contacts between the participants, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria.

Participants in the forum included Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacir, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy and Openness Kostas Fragogiannis, Turkish Investment Office Vice President Bekir Polat, Bulgarian Deputy Energy Minister Iva Petrova, InvestBulgaria Agency Executive Director Mila Nenova, US Department of Commerce Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs in Europe Michael Lally, US Consul General in Turkiye Julie A. Eadeh, AmCham Turkiye President Tankut Turnaoglu, President of American-Hellenic Chamber, AmCham Georgia Executive Director George Welton, AmCham Azerbaijan President Dayanat Sadullayev, Deputy Director for Turkey at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Sule Kilic, Senior Economist for Turkiye at the World Bank Claire Honore Hollweg, Black Sea Trade & Development Bank Director of Energy and Infrastructure Roman Matkiwsky, Charlie Morris, Economic Development Adviser for Central Asia in the UK Department of Foreign Affairs and Development, etc.

Deputy Energy Minister Iva Petrova presented Bulgaria's energy policy in one of the main panels, which discussed the energy map of the region, the Trans-Caspian Corridor, the diversification of gas supplies, and issues related to the security of energy routes. 

Petrova told BTA that Bulgaria has a key place in the energy map of the region.

"Energy is extremely important in the context of the new challenges in terms of energy security, which, especially in our region, is also linked to national security. This means sustainable, affordable, feasible energy supplies for our citizens and businesses. In the regional context, Bulgaria has a key place because, as a result of all the investments that have been made in recent years, partnerships that have been structured have actually contributed to Bulgaria becoming the meeting point, and henceforth it has to find its direction of transmission from Asia to Europe of all these transformational processes, of green energy, figuratively speaking diversification of gas supplies, secure routes, reliable suppliers are the important aspects in our country's energy policy, which I also highlighted to the participants."

For her participation Iva Petrova received a plaque from the organizers.

Mila Ivanova, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Investment Agency and Teodora Georgieva, Executive Director of the company operating the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (ICGB) also participated in the conference.

AmCham Turkiye President Tancut Turnaoglu told BTA that he was impressed by the Bulgarian participation at the forum. The idea of holding the summit of the American Chambers of Commerce was born as a result of the exchange of views between the AmChams administrations of Turkiye, Bulgaria and Greece. “The American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria has been actively involved and this makes us very happy, because Bulgaria, besides being geographically our closest neighbour, is attractive for cooperation in various sectors. As AmCham Turkiye, we are happy to have jointly and very successfully organized this first summit in Istanbul. Probably one of our next meetings will be in Sofia, hosted by our Bulgarian partners,” he said.