Bulgaria's Innovation and Growth Ministry works to attract investments in sectors with high added value for the country's economy, Innovation Minister Milena Stoycheva said on Thursday at a meeting with US Ambassador to Bulgaria Kenneth Merten and a delegation of 15 innovation companies from the US, as quoted in a press release by the Innovation Ministry. Stoycheva noted that 23 investment projects for BGN 251 million have been certified under the Investment Promotion Act since the beginning of 2023, and more than 1,500 new jobs are planned, 19 of which related to high technologies.
Among the sectors represented were healthcare, defence, information and communication technologies, renewable energy, finance and insurance, bioeconomy and biotechnology, construction, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, cyber security, among others. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Ministers of Innovation and Growth Veselina Mincheva and Martin Gikov and Bulgarian Investment Agency Executive Director Mila Nenova.
"Bulgaria is a good place for investment and innovation creation and development. We have macroeconomic and financial stability and we are a leading destination for attracting investors to the region," Stoycheva said. She noted that Bulgaria has talents for the development of high technologies, underlining that the country ranks third in the world in IT specialists per capita.
"The entrepreneurial ecosystem in Bulgaria is very well developed and one of the priorities of the Innovation and Growth Ministry is to support and promote it. We are working to create a basis for interaction between large companies and start-ups to increase their competitiveness," Stoycheva said. She presented the priorities of her ministry to promote innovation in high technology, artificial intelligence, the automotive sector, healthcare, culture and creative industries, microelectronics and mechatronics, the space sector, among others.
"The forthcoming signing of the Artemis Agreements between the Innovation Ministry and NASA will provide Bulgaria with an additional positive signal to international partners of the importance that Bulgaria attaches to the further deepening of its strategic partnership in the field of space technology," Stoycheva said.
Merten said that the Innovation Ministry had been an active participant in the Strategic Dialogue between Bulgaria and the US in September and that the arrival of the delegation of innovative companies was the result of good cooperation between the two countries.
/MT/
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